Jaroslav Jezek was born in Prague 1906 and studied at the Prague Conservatory, graduating in 1927. He studied music during the period of the new freedom with its' influence of American jazz and dance on Czech composers which can certainly be seen in Jezek's works. From '28-38, Jezek composed music for 20 plays and revues performed at the Liberated Theater where absurdities of the times-moral hypocrisy, the mistakes of democracies and the inanities of totalitarianism-especially of the Nazis, were humorously skewered. He composed waltzes, tangos, charlestons, rhumbas, and jazz for his admiring Czech audiences. During WWII he moved to New York, possibly because his past criticisms of the Nazi Party would have landed him in prison. He continued to compose there in 1939-41. He died in New York in 1942. The Bugatti Step was written to commemorate Czech racing car driver Eliska Junkova's 2nd place finish in a Swiss mountain race in '27 in her huge Bugatti touring car, seen at 2:08 in this vid. Thanks to former yt contributor KSPM who originally uploaded this music and introduced me to Jezek.
Author: preservationhall01
