Jiří Traxler

Jiří Traxler ( born March 12, 1912 in Tabor, Austria - Hungary, † August 7, 2011 in Edmonton ) was a Czech- Canadian jazz and swing pianist, composer, lyricist and arranger. He is regarded as one of the early protagonists of swing music in Czechoslovakia. Traxler was the last living musician who collaborated with the Czech composer Jaroslav Jezek. In 1951 he emigrated to Canada and lived most recently with his wife Jarmila in Edmonton.

Biography

Traxler was born in 1912 in the Bohemian Tábor, which at the time was part of Austria - Hungary. He began his musical training as a child in the Music Institute in Tábor. During his high school years he played in the dance band The Red Ace Player. After his graduation at the high school he began to study law, which he broke for the sake of music.

From 1935 to 1937 Traxler joined as a member of Gramoklub Orchestra in Prague, with the first recordings also emerged. Two of his compositions - Feelin 'Low and Short Story - were part of a series of recordings that were recorded in 1936 for the label Ultraphon. His foxtrot A Little Rhythm was the signature tune of the orchestra. In 1937 he became a member of the Copyright Association Ochranný svaz autorský ( OSA).

1938 began his brief collaboration with Jaroslav Jezek and his Swing Band. Traxler wrote for Ježeks band, four compositions, including Full Moon 's Music and Noisy serenade were recorded for Ultraphon. The other two compositions ( Roaring in F and Blues ) took Jezek 1938 for the Prague Radio. The sheet music and arrangements for the songs were lost. In January 1939, the collaboration between the two musicians was terminated when Jaroslav Jezek was forced to emigrate to the United States, after the Nazis had occupied the country during the Sudeten crisis.

The late 1930s and early 1940s Traxler worked with the ensembles Blue Music (1938 /39) and Elit Club (1942 ); besides, he was engaged as a composer of modern dance music at the Prague publishing house MOJMÍR Urbanek. In 1939, he signed a five year contract with the publishing house of the singer and bandleader RA Dvorsky. As a member of the RA Dvorsky Orchestra Traxler appeared on stages in Bohemia and Moravia. He also had the role of arranger, song lyricist, translator and supervised the concerts and radio recordings of the orchestra. In 1948 he returned to Urbanek -Verlag, after his contract was terminated prematurely with the expropriation by the communist regime of Czechoslovakia. At the same time he played in the Karel Vlach Orchestra.

1949, a year after the communist coup, Traxler composed music for the comedy Moje žena Penelopa; the performance was banned by the authorities immediately after the premiere as "politically undesirable ". In the same year he decided to leave the country. After a short stay in West Germany, he emigrated in 1950 to Canada, where he worked as a composer and arranger in the coming years. He lived in Montreal and worked in the main job as a technical draftsman for Canadair Ltd..

Traxler 1982 published his autobiography Já nic, já muzikant ( Do not Blame Me, I'm Just a Musician) in the Czech- Canadian exile publishing house Sixty - Eight Publishers, which was directed by Josef Škvorecký. In 1995 he and his wife moved to Edmonton in Alberta, Canada.

2009 turned the Czech Ondřej Havelka musicians the film documentary Poslední mohykán ( The Last of the Mohicans ), which tells the life story of Jiří Traxler.

Awards

• Masaryk Prize (2006 ) of the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada ( České a slovenské sdružení v Kanade ) for deserving personalities of Czech origin.
• 2009 - Award for " contributions to Czech music " of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of Music Authors and Publishers ( Ochranný svaz autorský ( OSA) )

Works

During his career in Czechoslovakia around 150 titles Traxler were recorded on record. The total number of his compositions is around 200

Film Music

• Eva Tropi hlouposti (Eva makes stupidities, 1938) with Kamil Běhounek.
• Za tichých nocí (In the Quiet Nights, 1941) - jazz arrangements for three compositions by Rudolf Friml.
• Sobota ( Saturday, 1944) - music and lyrics, with J. Stelibský.

Music for the Stage

• Hledá se zlato - music and lyrics
• Tak jako v nebi (1947 ) - Music with Petr Kareš
• Moje žena Penelopa (1949 )

Songs

• Hádej, Hádej
• Jedu nocí
• Soumrak
• Padají hvězdy z nebe
• Bloudění v rytmu
• Nám to nevadí
• Bile mraky

Recordings

• Hold Jiřímu Traxlerovi, CD ( FR0167 -2)
• Kamil Běhounek, Jiří Traxler - Swing Time, CD