Sakobi is a new project of bandmates from the Vilém Spilka Quartet: Radek Zapadlo on saxophone, Vilém Spilka on double bass and Martin Kleibl on drums. And since they’ve already been working together for a long time in other groups, they are closely connected as musicians and friends. Radek Zapadlo has been successfully active on the Czech jazz scene for more than two dozen years, currently mostly alongside Matej Benko, Ondřej Ruml, and the Cotatcha Orchestra, as well as his own formations Four in Blue and the Vilém Spilka Quartet. After eight years at the Brno Philharmonic, Martin Kleibl oscillates between genres ranging from classical to pop; he plays in the OK Percussion duo with European-class marimbaist Martin Opršál, accompanies singer Petr Bende and is the driving force behind the Vilém Spilka Quartet. For the purposes of the Sakobi project, Vilém Spilka, changed his main instrument, the guitar, to the double bass, which he began to devote himself to during the covid pandemic. The trio will christen their debut recording released by Bivak Records at the concert. All members participated in the album not only as players, but also as composers. Zapadlo contributed the melancholic dum Cesta za modrým sluncem; the song Na cestě penned by Martin Kleibl, on the other hand, is a typical uplifting Latin jazz piece. Vilém Spilka supplies the rest of the repertoire, his individual opuses revealing his varied musical and non-musical inspirations—from his native Brno to Japan, which is also referred to by the cryptogram in the band's name. The debut record is entitled Banzai! in the spirit of Japan—i.e., something like shouting Hurrrá or Yeehaw! Stylistically, the album is more or less unclassifiable, drawing both from the traditions of jazz and other African-American styles, as well as from folk music not only from Moravia. Sakobi is a unique project not only in terms of its repertoire; the trio, consisting of saxophone, double bass and drums, is a relatively unique concept on the Czech scene, which provides space for intensive musical communication and the free expression of its individual members.

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