NajPonk - solo piano

Event information

Czech Pianist and composer Jan Knop has answered to NajPonk since his school days when he his name was declared best for spelling backwards! The piano came into his early life with Classical music, but he found Jazz to be more responsive to his musical personality.

NajPonk is a regular on the Czech Jazz scene. He is happy performing as part of a trio, or, solo. There is an Eastern European slant to NajPonk’s take on the great Jazz classics, while his own numbers, like, Nine Eleven 2001, reflect the times that he lives in. For NajPonk they have not always been easy, and his number, Luggage Room Little Blues reflects a period when he shut his piano lid and went off and literally worked in a luggage room.

NajPonk’s musical influences run deep, with traces of Thelonius Monk, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly and Bud Powell. He has recorded with legendary bassist George Mraz and his regular Czech drummer Martin Sulc, and is interested in Elgar!

Sunday 14th February – Valentine’s Day – will launch his new solo piano CD – Just For My Friends at The Vortex in Dalston