I did not believe they would really send me to prison.
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Vladimír Kouřil was born on November 10, 1944, in Těšetice near Olomouc. He moved to Prague with his parents in 1949. During his studies at the secondary technical school, he became interested in foreign music, especially the rock one. Vladimír started to study at the Czech Technical University in Prague; however, he has never finished his studies, as he found himself more into the music industry. He found a job at the water management institute and later became a planner at the company named Metrostav. At the turn of the 60-s and 70-s, he stood at the foundation of the Jazz Section – a club associating lovers of the jazz music, organized under the auspices of the official Union of Musicians. Besides organizing festivals, the club used to publish prints and books that bothered the Communist regime – especially as the Jazz Section’s organizing and publishing activities had enjoyed increasing public acceptance. Vladimír, along with other officials of the Section, had become a target of interest for the State Security, whose officials repeatedly conducted home inspections at their houses. This targeted pressure that focused on the destruction of the Jazz Section culminated in 1986 with the arrest of its officials, together with allegations of an illicit business. Vladimír was sentenced to a ten-month immediate imprisonment. His stay in prison caused him serious health problems; he had to undergo kidney transplantation and still bears lasting consequences up to these days. After the revolution of November 1989, he has devoted himself to writing about jazz music.
