19th Jazz Cerkno, May 22th - 24th 2014
It is probably difficult to find an artistic expression having as many different
definitions as jazz does. There are quite some connoisseurs who expose its nomadic
nature, since many jazz musicians often leave their native lands and seek inspiration
in the new homelands.
Such practices are the rule rather than the exception and in a metaphoric way they
are also present at a local level, where domestic musicians in a nomadic way move
from one band to another, with genre classifications of those bands as various as
possible. At the Jazz Cerkno festival, we like to hear exactly this type of colourful and
versatile music that arises in the creative clash of diverse cultures and histories. It
would be hard to find such a variety of music in one place as in this year’s Jazz
Cerkno festival program. Here in Cerkno you can hear a wide range of approaches
and poetics: from big band renditions of Balkan music, through offbeat pairings of
jazz and art rock, reggae, funk, or noise on the one hand, and the classical music,
atmospheric soundtracks and Brazilian rhythms on the other, all the way to the
enigmatic spontaneous improvisations, which are one of the pillars of joyous jazz
music in the first place.
All jazz roads lead to Cerkno!
www.jazzcerkno.si
Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. (main stage)
Žan Tetičkovič and Big Band RTV Slovenija "OASIS"
(SLO, BUL, MKD, CRO, SRB)
Žan Tetičkovič drums, composer
Theodosii Spassov kaval
Vlatko Stefanovski guitar
Filip Novosel tambura
Marko Črnčec piano
Milan Nikolić double bass
Tadej Tomšič conductor
For his new project "OASIS", the young Slovenian musician Žan Tetičkovič decided to
cooperate with Big Band RTV Slovenia conducted by Tadej Tomšič and some
distinguished soloists. Tetičkovič is studying at the renowned New York's New School
for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He has twice received the prestigious ASCAP
award for composition (2012 and 2014). The OASIS project is based heavily on the
Balkan motifs, so in addition to the up-and-coming Slovenian pianist Črnčec he
invited a couple of world-class virtuosos in this area. Bulgarian Theodosii Spassov is
considered the best instrumentalist on the traditional flute kaval, and Macedonian
guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski is a unique story in combining jazz, folk and rock. Filip
Novosel comes from Croatia; he tackles jazz with the somehow unusual instrument tambura! There are plans to publish the album with this concert's recording in the
second half of 2014.
www.zan-music.com
soundcloud.com/user3560159
www.rtvslo.si/bigband
theodosiispassov.com
www.vlatkostefanovski.com.mk
www.filipnovosel.com
www.markocrncec.com
Thursday, May 22, at 8:30 (main stage)
Peeping Tom
(F, S, D)
Axel Dörner trumpet
Pierre-Antoine Badaroux alto saxophone
Joel Grip double bass
Antonin Gerbal drums
After their first album, the trio Peeping Tom (est. in Paris in 2008), was joined by the
esteemed German trumpeter Axel Dörner, known for the exceptional management
of extended playing techniques. The album titles, File Under: Bebop (2009) and
Boperation (2011), partly show the quartet's musical intentions. The basis of the
band's music is bebop (mostly by pianists; amongst others they play tunes by H.
Nichols, C. Parker, T. Monk and B. Powell), boldly transformed through the prism of
free improvisation. Thus, the Peeping Tom's music is full of turns, deconstructing and
reconstructing of the initial structure. "This is how the jazz tradition will live on as a
breathing entity rather than a fossil." (Ken Waxman, Jazzword)
The concert is organised with the support from the Goethe-Institute Ljubljana.
www.umlautrecords.com/group/peepingtom
vimeo.com/31506860
www.freejazzblog.org/2013/04/peeping-tom-boperation-umlaut-records.html
Thursday, May 22, at 10 p.m. (main stage)
Žoambo Žoet Workestrao
(SLO)
Ivo Poderžaj bass, voice
Gregor Belušič guitar, voice, monotron
Marjan Stanić drums
Andrej Fon saxophone, keyboards, reeds
Aldo Ivančić sound, effects
The band, which has been active on the Slovenian alternative scene for more than
20 years, nourishes a rarely found eclectic sound, equally inhabitated by quite
diverse genres, from hardcore and noise through art-rock and new wave all the way
to folk music, jazz and free improvisation. Despite the diversity the sound remains
constantly recognizable, and their concerts burst with energy, unpredictability and
plenty of humor. Their last album Soap for Sweatshops (Zavod Sploh, 2012), with a
guest appearance from our good acquaintance Martin Küchen, has gained excellent
reviews. Dušan Jesih in his writing for the Slovenian national TV website said: "Their
music is out of time, but at the same time incredibly alive and important for today,
as in a strictly musical sense, as well as in their message in the broader sense."
www.sploh.si/soap.html
zoambo.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/zoambo.workestrao
www.rtvslo.si/kultura/poslusamo/zoambo-zoet-workestrao-soap-forsweatshops/281657
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFGgzmEHSq4
Friday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. (main stage)
EMIR A3
(USA, F)
Barre Phillips double bass
Lionel Garcin saxophone
Emilie Lesbros vocal
Twice we will have an opportunity to listen to the legendary American bassist Bare
Phillips (born in 1934, and now living in France), who tackles his bass in many ways,
none of which are conventional. Apart from the Saturday solo recital at the Music
School, he will play with his trio EMIR A3, a kind of basis for his larger EMIR A9
ensemble. EMIR A3 was originally formed to seek out and develop individual
expression in a group context. The trio plays spontaneously composed music built
from a collective memory and immediate discoveries; they have played at many
prestigious venues in France, such as the Festival Pannonica, at the Magic Cinema in
Paris (a homage concert for Robert Kramer), at the Theatre Pave in Toulouse, etc.
This will be the trio's first concert in Slovenia.
www.barrephillips-emir.org
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-1o-9BDtwQ
Friday, May 23, at 9 p.m. (main stage)
Robert Jukič "LIFE"
(SLO, B, A)
Robert Jukič double bass, composer
Toine Thys saxophone
Wolfi Rainer drums
In the recent years Robert Jukič has established himself as one of the most versatile
Slovenian musicians; in addition to jazz (the critically acclaimed album Operation
Charlie), he has successfully debuted in singer-songwriting (the double album
Dobrote iz skrinje zarote, 2011) and also played other genres, combining them in his
conceptual projects. Such is also his last year's album Life, with 36 musicians from 9
countries, where Jukič takes a jazzful walk through a variety of genres from pop to
opera. In Cerkno, music from the album will be presented in a more concentrated
form designed for the international trio Robert Jukič "LIFE". "Robert Jukič is (…)
something completely special. (…) Life is in every way a great, bold and mature
record." (Jure Potokar, Pogledi)
www.robertjukic.com
www.pogledi.si/kritike/robertovo-zivljenje
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUCNsq96ZaY
Friday, May 23, at 11 p.m. (main stage)
Naked Wolf
(NL)
Felicity Provan voice, trumpet
Seb El Zin voice
Yedo Gibson baritone and tenor saxophone
Mikael Szafirowski guitar
Luc Ex bass
Gerri Jäger drums
The Dutch band is comprised of musicians from different countries, who have been
active on the new jazz, avant-rock and improvisational music scene. Naked Wolf play
(with) a mixture of genres, with jazz improvisation as an exposed feature, although
the multi-layered and tense texture includes also glimpses of alternative and
psychedelic rock, traditional music and noise. The music moves from the more
subdued, subtle moments to rowdy and disorderly improvisations, from long
outstretched passages to the rapid interchanges in mood and rhythm. All the band
members are mainstays in the alternative and impro-scene, including Luc Ex, a
former bassist of The Ex, and Yedo Gibson, whom we know from the band Caetitu
and from the explosive collective Royal Improvisers Orchestra.
revvolf.wordpress.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXQrKnUHRhQ
Saturday, May 24, at 5 p.m.
additional concert, music school
Barre Phillips – solo (double bass)
(USA)
Twice we are going to be convinced how dextrous this legend of jazz and improvised
music is, since he will perform on the main stage with the trio EMIR A3 (Fri, May 23),
as well as at the traditional solo recital. Barre Phillips, an American now living in
France, is one of the doyens of jazz and improvised music (born in 1934). In the
1960s he played with legendary jazz musicians such as Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy or
Marion Brown. In 1968 he published the influential solo album Journal Violon, which
is considered the first solo album of a double bass player and at the same time the
world's first album of solo improvisations. "There is a dancer's grace and
concentration in Phillips's playing, an internal balance and rhythm that (…) makes it
virtually impossible to separate man and instrument." (Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD)
www.allmusic.com/artist/barre-phillips-mn0000115985/biography
www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/3pcz
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2yebig-jXI
Saturday, May 24, at 9 p.m. (main stage)
Eivind Opsvik "Overseas IV"
(N, USA)
Eivind Opsvik double bass, composer
Tony Malaby saxophone
Brandon Seabrook guitar
Jacob Sacks keyboards, electric organ
Kenny Wollesen drums
The Norwegian double bass player Eivind Opsvik has been living in New York since
1998; he is active in several projects, also as an experimental musician and in a
singer-songwriter duo. His band Overseas is his main "work in progress" project that
he started in 2002 with the idea to bring together old and new sonorities. Opsvik
seeks inspiration, among others, in old classical music, specifically Baroque; while
jazz is at the bottom of his cross-genre approach, he also introduces elements of
atmospheric soundtrack and offbeat progressive and art rock. The result is
suggestive and firm, but nevertheless fluid and elusive mixture, which the magazine
All About Jazz described: "Opsvik's bold writing deftly juxtaposes nostalgia and
modernity, yielding a truly unclassifiable hybrid".
eivindopsvik.com
eivindopsvik.bandcamp.com/album/overseas-iv
www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=41875
Live performances
from Nublu NYC:
http://youtu.be/hepnRBydRiU
from Le Poisson Rouge, NYC:
http://youtu.be/xoBOvWhyKdo
http://youtu.be/o4_oQUJdrYo
http://youtu.be/0iM-H2yfqqw
Saturday, May 24, at 9 p.m. (main stage)
São Paulo Underground
(BRA, USA)
Rob Mazurek cornet, electronics
Guilherme Granado keyboards, samplers, voice
Mauricio Takara drums, cavaquinho, electronics
Rob Mazurek is one of the pillars of the Chicago new jazz scene, while in the last
decade he has worked en route Chicago-São Paulo. In his home town he founded the
Chicago Underground Collective, which has taken on different forms, from duo to
orchestra, and in the Brazilian metropolis he further develops his idea of playing with
a smaller ensemble that combines jazz, electronics and a variety of genres. In São
Paulo Underground music the heritage of Brazilian tropicalia - blending of the
diverse genres, both modern and traditional - plays an important role. The tropicalia
principles are similar to Mazurek's idea of multi-layered music that constantly eludes
the rules and pigeon-holes. From the energetic postbop through postrock
atmospherics and film fluidity to the cosmic noise of Sun Ra. "Post digital, post
industrial psychedelia." (The Wire)
www.robmazurek.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/saopaulo.html
radiostudent.si/glasba/tolpa-bumov/s%C3%A3o-paulo-underground-beija-florsvelho-e-sujo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJXQyfawj4c
Saturday, May 24, at 11 p.m. (main stage)
DKV Trio
(USA)
Hamid Drake drums, percussion
Kent Kessler double bass
Ken Vandermark tenor and baritone saxophone, Bb clarinets
For the first time in Cerkno we will host the DKV Trio - exactly in the year the band
celebrates its twentieth birthday -, rightly described as the most energetic jazz
"power trio". Members of the trio are among the most prominent representatives of
the Chicago scene in which they participate with various ensembles. They are also
very active on the international scene, most often in bands with Scandinavian and
other European musicians such as the famous Brötzmann Tentet. They are also
experienced in (post)rock and reggae, as well as in traditional music. All these
canalize in their high-energy music in which the powerful mixture of modern jazz is
layered upon funky grooves with a touch of rock, reggae and more.
www.allmusic.com/artist/dkv-trio-mn0000952847/biography
www.freejazzblog.org/2013/12/dkv-trio-plus-mats-gustafsson-massimo.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKJkdMQjCv8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ6Rppc9VnI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mNuTXHJFl4&feature=youtu.be&a
Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24
street performances at different Cerkno streets and corners
Kar Češ Brass Band
(Cerkno)
trombones: Marko Obid, Matija Mlakar; saxophones: Tadej Bizjak, Jaka Ahačevčič;
trumpets: Florjan Kobal, Matjaž Lenarčič Buco / Damijan Valentinuzzi; tuba: Rok
Šinkovec; snare drum: Alen Bogataj; bass drum: Matija Purgar; percussion: Pegam
Podobnik
In a similar way as we did with the Sardinian band Tumbarinos de Gavoi, we have
now invited the Cerkno skilled musicians from Kar Češ Brass Band to play at
spontaneous street performances. Kar Češ Brass Band, playing for over 15 years, is
known as the first and only Slovenian brass band which almost exclusively plays the
white-hot street jazz of New Orleans. The band has performed at many renowned
international festivals such as the Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows in Belgrade,
Jazzfest Gronau (Germany), Femuka Festival (Spain), Haizetara Festival (Spain),
Saalfelden (Austria) and Mikser Festival (Serbia) and in Slovenia at Druga godba and,
of course, Jazz Cerkno.
www.karces.com
www.facebook.com/KarCesBrassBand
twitter.com/karcesbrassband
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0_vnk8N8aY
from Monday, May 19, to Saturday, May 24
music workshop for children "Voice and Body"
klub C.M.A.K.
concert: saturday, May 24, 10 a.m., in front of Hotel Cerkno
Tutors: Blaž Celarec, Boštjan Gombač
(SLO)
This year's workshop will be quite different from the ones in previous years. As the
workshop title partly reveals - "Voice and Body" - music at the workshop will be
created only by means of voices and bodies, without any "classical" musical
instruments or sound objects. The two tutors, Celarec and Gombač, will teach the
participants how to explore dimensions of the human voice and show how and in
what ways voice and body can be used as an instrument. As the tutors themself
describe the workshop: "You will be surprised to realize that we carry one of the
most complex instruments everywhere and always with us."
The workshop is organized with help of the Cerkno Primary school and their music
teacher Vanja Lampič.
The registration fee costs 40 €.Please register until May 9 via email
blazcelarec@gmail.com.
"Musicians in Cerkno" photo exhibition
opening: Fri, May 2, at 7 p.m., Bar Gabrijel
Jože Svetičič
(SLO)
We have prepared an exhibition of our prominent photographer Jože Svetičič who
has been documenting the concerts at the Jazz Cerkno and Keltika festivals for
almost ten years. Svetičič, who comes from Cerkno, began his photography work
with taking pictures of flowers and sunsets but then he realized that "he cannot take
a decent photo, if there is no person on it". Therefore, he began shooting concerts.
He will exhibit photos of "musicians who had been making a racket at the Jazz
Cerkno venues", mostly in black and white technique, because he believes it suits
them best.
Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24
Dario Cortese
(SLO)
"Wild Food During Jazztime" workshop
It appeared that edible wild plants have a wider appeal than only edibility since
almost each of them possesses some kind of healing quality, not to mention the
psycho-activity in the person's body (and mind). Typical wild edibles from Cerkno
region are introduced, prepared and consumed ‘on the spot’ so to say.
Duration: each day from 4 to 5 hours. Announcement of participation in advance is
obligatory until May 16, t 031 601 630, e 1630@porezen.si.
Workshop fee: 25 € per day.
Meeting time & place: 11 a.m., Bar pr' Gabrijelu entrance.
divjahrana.si
Saturday, May 24, at 11 a.m.
Hotel Cerkno
The working group of listeners, Jazz Cerkno and Nova Muska magazine kindly invite
you to a public round table
podcast "Periphery vs. center"
moderator: Igor Bašin – BIGor
For many years the Nova Muska online music magazine has been organizing round
table discussions on a particular topic or issue, which are recorded and published as
podcasts. This year the podcast will be part of the festival program and also the
theme - "Periphery vs. center"- will be of particular interest for our festival, which
has a specific place among Slovenian festivals, both because of its geographical
remoteness from the centers and the music presented at the festival. The podcast
guests will be protagonists from the Slovenian music scene (festival organizers,
program managers in cultural centers, clubs, etc.) who will try to answer questions
such as "Is periphery handicapped in comparison to centers?", "Do the people in the
centers even know what's going on at the periphery?" or "Could the centre live
without the periphery and vice versa?".
novamuska.org