The Followers

1. Oh, Lady Be Good! (1924) 2:28 (George and Ira Gershwin)
2. Nevertheless 2:57 (Harry Ruby, Bert Kalmar)
3. Swaller-Tail Coat (1933) 3:28 (Clarence Williams)
4. Body and Soul (1930) 3:52 (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green)
5. Swing Guitar (1942) 2:46 (Thomas Waller)
6. Livin´ High (1925) 3:14 (Maceo Pinkard)
7. Horizontal 2:45 (David-Ricca)
8. Divorce Me C. O. D. 2:53 (Merle Travis)
9. Close Fit Blues (1927) 3:08 (Clarence Williams)
10. No Vacancy 2:45 (Merle Travis)
11. Chocolate Avenue (1933) 4:51 (Clarence Williams)
12. Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don?t Love Nobody But Me) (1924) 2:25 (Jack Palmer / Spencer Williams)
13. Bois de la Cambre (1943) 3:24 (Gus Viseur)
14. So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed 2:58 (Merle Travis)
15. Candy Lips (1927) 2:51 (Mike Jackson / Jack Lauria)
16. Autumn Leaves (1945) solo clarinet 2:54 (Joseph Kosma)

Juraj Blaha – tuba
Patrik Fičor – percussion, washboard
Richard Fičor – resophonic guitar, archtop guitar
Pavol Hoďa – voice, clarinet, soprano sax
Boris Lenko – accordion
Robert Neuszer – „Neuser“ plectrum banjo, akulele

Arrangements by Richard Fičor (1 – 15) podľa/based on:
Benny Goodman Quartet (1, 4)
Pat Flowers & His Rhythm (2, 7)
Merle Travis (8, 10, 14)
Roger Etlens & Son Ensemble (5)
Clarence Williams? Blue Five (6, 9, 12)
Clarence Williams and His Orchestra (3, 11)
Gus Viseur (13)
Clarence Williams – Jazz Kings (15)

Arrangements by Pavol Hoďa (16) podľa/based on: Luis Armstrong Old Stars – live in Belgrade 1977
Recorded at the PAVLÍK RECORDS Studio, 1 – 2 November 2007
Musical supervision: Leonard Vajdulák
Sound engineering and mastering: Rostislav Pavlík and Richard Fičor
Sleeve-notes: Richard Fičor, Boris Lenko
Photographs: Martin Pavlík
Graphic Design: Martin Vojtek

Hudba súboru The Followers

Music of The Followers There is a beautiful phenomenon in art – time. Time determines quality, evaluates, throws away, returns. Jazz, the miracle of 20th-century music, was born out of the music of immigrants, as a mixture of cultures, habits, and a different need of expression on the new continent. In art, the first are not always the best. Usually, the outstanding ones process the invention of their predecessors. Music of The Followers goes back to the latter. To those who invented it, whose ideas form the fundament of contemporary jazz, country music as well as contemporary classical music. Indeed, the fundaments of this music are fantastic. Pure, sincere, original and fresh. Time has brought it back because it deserved it. The Followers look for the roots and discover ideas of first jazz players, first improvisations, new harmonies, and new style. Their music returns to plasticity, improvisation based on new fundaments, just like the 17th-century common practice. For freedom, liberty and improvisation are mankind’s most spontaneous manifestations. They re-emerge after a long time and thus this music reacts to the new world of freedom. It brings the miracle of difference, of venture, of imagination, giving also new opportunities. And it becomes the vehicle for a new and magical music…

Published with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic