After the well-deserved critical acclaim that followed the release of Imogen Ryall Sings the Charles Mingus/Joni Mitchell Songbook last year, Imogen Ryall is back again with another stunning new album, this time in partnership with pianist and composer, Emil Viklický.
Recorded just a few months after the sessions for the Charles Mingus/Joni Mitchell Songbook, Imogen was adding her lyrics and vocals to Emil’s music alongside long-term musical partner and saxophonist Julian Nicholas for this her second Rubicon Jazz album Songs.
With Songs having been released a few short weeks ago and already receiving positive reviews, I was fortunate to catch up with Imogen, Emil and Julian just prior to the quintet heading off to Prague for a series of concerts to find out more about their collaboration.
Perhaps we should start at the beginning. How did the three of you all meet initially?
Julian Nicholas: Emil first came as a guest tutor to Porthcawl Jazz Summer School in 1990. He re-visited in later years, but also made it an annual project to bring some of us Brits over to teach at the big summer school at Frydlant. I met the great Scott Robinson (Maria Schneider; Steely Dan) there, and performed alongside Steve Houben (Brussells Conservatoire) for President Klaus in the Palace on Emil’s 60th birthday. Our album Food Of Love [1995] is what first sparked Imogen’s lyricist’s ear into gear on Emil’s wonderfully dramatic melodies, and I asked her to perform in an edition of my band with Emil in January 2019, at Ropetackle Arts, Shoreham.
I know that you and Emil have worked together over the last thirty years or so and the rapport is clear to hear. How and when was the idea conceived to add Imogen’s voice, and was this with the idea of forming a new quintet?
JN: Imo has always very generously contributed lyrics on my material and became an integral part of my band’s sound. Imo and I are /do /have always looked for material that appeals to us both in its melodic, harmonic and rhythmic interest to incorporate into sets in my band, Anöna Trio, Cloggz, or on pick-up gigs. It’s a way of tributing an artist, too. On our album There Will Be Time, for instance, Imo wrote and sang a lyric on Bob Wellins’ swinging classic, C.U.C.B. This served to homage one of our truly great artists who lived and worked among us, locally, and was a dear friend. When it came to Emil’s material, it was the gift that kept on giving in Lockdown 2020, and pretty soon it was obvious to us that we could record a full album of his material, something which excited me, given his generosity to me over the years.
Emil’s melodies and Imogen’s lyrics sound as if they were always meant to be together. I understand though that ‘Conjurology’ had a previous existence under the title ‘Halloween’, are there any other of the songs on the album that have been recorded or performed previously?
JN: ‘Aspen Leaf’, ‘Porthcawl’, ‘Hallowe’en’ and ‘Not Yet’ all appear on Food Of Love [1995]. ‘Gone With Water’ appears on Spring Awakening [2010]. Emil has recorded and re-recorded these tunes as part of his ongoing repertoire and live recordings over the years, but they have not been grouped together and performed in a studio as actual ‘songs’ before.
Imogen, how did you approach writing lyrics to Emil’s music? Did you take inspiration for your words from existing titles of the compositions, or were songs titled after the lyrics were written?
Imogen Ryall: Yes, I did get inspiration from the original song titles and I also talked with Emil about what inspired him to write these compositions. Julian often talked about his friendship and musical collaborations with Emil over the years and he gave me a couple of the albums they had recorded together which included tracks like ‘Porthcawl (Fair)’; ‘Not Yet’ and ‘Na Osice(Aspen Leaf)’ and it was these versions in particular that really helped inspire the stories and the feelings behind the lyrics.
The music has been some time in gestation, and I believe initial lyrics and music were being prepared during lockdown. How was the process of working remotely managed as opposed to being able to meet up and try out ideas in rehearsals?
IR: During the first lockdown when literally everything stopped, it was great to be able to do something positive and creative with Emil sending tracks he’d recorded and Julian and I adding vocals and sax from our respective ’home studios’ but as restrictions started to lift, Julian and I were able to get together and start working on arrangements and better recordings, whilst regularly checking in with Emil along the way!
One of the pleasures in listening to the album is that it is very much a collective sound. No sense that it is vocalist and rhythm section but a collaborative group where the solos are integral part of the story of each of the songs and continue the narrative of the lyrics. Were the compositions arranged quite strictly, or is the resulting music based on performing the music together and letting the compositions evolve organically?
JN: A bit of both ….in his piano trios, Emil has developed inner rhythmic structures, answering phrases, ostinatos and counterpoint parts to his pieces over the years. On the day, in the studio, we might adjust tempo and feel to gain access to a desired nuance or framework for the song, and then arrive at underpinning some of Emil’s figures with the bass, drums, sax and voice, too. Remember Petr has been Emil’s mainstay bassist for around 20+ years, as far as I’m aware – and Petr appears on our album 1 2 3 4 [recorded in 2012, released in 2020] – so he comes deeply embedded in the arrangement frameworks for Emil’s material. Other organic elements ‘happened’ in the moment, like spontaneous ideas from Imo and the working of phrases around her delivery, and decisions to double an ensemble line or provide or withhold an answering phrase, or contribute sax on an intro…
The music is very rich and varied, yet some of the lyrics having hidden meaning. I’m referring to ‘Porthcawl Fair’ where all may not be as first appears?
IR: The original title of this haunting tune by Emil was originally simply, ‘Porthcawl’’. I added ‘Fair’ after I had read about the famous yet rather ill-feted fair ground in the town. It was a very popular amusement park from the 1920s onwards until there were a series of accidents involving the rollercoaster and then a tragic suicide which finally closed the park in the 1970s. The lyrics reflect on the feelings of excitement and fear as you wait to descend on a rollercoaster and the turmoil of emotions one might be feeling from the same vantage point but with a more tragic intention to end one’s life. Of course, the listener will make their own mind up about what it might mean for them!
In addition to his work as a jazz pianist, Emil is highly regarded as a classical composer. It is interesting that the only non-original song be ‘A Short Way from Home’ written by Czech composer Zdeněk Fibich in an adaptation of his work ‘Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences, Op. 41/139’. Why did you select this particular piece, and how did you set about writing the lyrics?
IR: The way Emil played this piece on the recording he sent suggested a gospel feel and so that did rather dictate the content and the idea that a lot of gospel music and lyrics are concerned with feeling lost and looking for or finding your way ‘home’ or indeed, back to a God of one’s understanding.
Another interesting song choice is ‘Na Osice (Aspen Leaf)’ for which Imogen has translated the traditional Czech lyric, and Emil has composed the music. What is the story behind this song?
IR: Spoiler alert! It’s not an exact translation! Emil should probably take up the story here!
Emil Viklický: Well, I told Imo only a brief summary of the lyrics, the mood, the emotion. These old lyrics are usually about love – lost and found, sadness, weddings, funerals, etc. but I always said that it was not necessary to translate original lyrics and that I would prefer new lyrics, perhaps sometimes similar in emotion and mood.
The classic example is the song “Dawn Devayne”. I got inspiration from a short story by crime fiction writer Donald Westgate. The story was called ‘Ordo’. American marine Ordo Tsupikos found his former young wife, he divorced a long time ago, now a Hollywood star under a different name, Dawn Devayne. Imogen turned the story into something completely different, and probably even better.
Can we assume, hopefully, that the three of you will continue working together and that this will be an ongoing project? And do you have plans to take the quintet out on the road?
JN: We will always find ways of making things happen; we’ll do our best to sort out a UK tour for 2025-26 – and we do have our UK launch gig on Nov 4 at the Chelsea Pheasantry. In the meantime, we are touring Czechia for a 6 date tour of festivals and great clubs from 8th to 13th October and Emil is also returning for a special gig TBA before Christmas at Jazz Café POSK.
For more information visit imogenryall.com & juliannicholas.co.uk
You can find more about Emil at Emil Viklický (viklicky.com)
Click here to read our review of Emil Viklický / Imogen Ryall – Songs
