Belgrade Jazz Pageant
(Dom Omladine live performance halls, 24-29 October 2023. Pageant round-up and images by John Watson)

“I by no means thought we might be enjoying at a time like this,” stated Israeli tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur. “However the music is about love.” 

He didn’t need to spell out what he was referring to, nor was he going to completely keep away from mentioning the devastating scenario in his house nation. “To say nothing just isn’t sufficient,” he informed his viewers. The music, as all the time, would communicate for itself. And what highly effective, passionate music he and his quartet create – tonally superb, and delivered with unmatched sensitivity and technical brilliance.

Tzur is undoubtedly essentially the most unique saxophonist to emerge on the worldwide scene in current occasions – with the mushy, delicate texture to his tone, a top quality saxophonists know as “sub-tone”, wrapping the pure metallic resonance of the instrument in a feathery, flute-like envelope of sound.

For a saxophonist to ship this sound on the decrease register of the instrument just isn’t unusual, however Tzur manages to create it throughout all of the registers, even to the best notes.

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Since I first heard him in live performance (on the Pancevo Jazz Pageant in Serbia), he has additional developed a extra fiery dimension to his enjoying – at his Belgrade Pageant live performance there have been raging passages of lengthy notes which jogged my memory principally of John Coltrane’s basic “Alabama”.

Tzur, based mostly in New York for a number of years, has a very marvellous group in pianist Nitai Hershkovits, bassist Petros Klampanis and drummer Cyrano Almeida, and so they carried out themes primarily from their new ECM album My Prophet, in addition to works from earlier discs equivalent to Right here Be Dragons and Isabella.

The thirty ninth Belgrade Jazz Pageant featured, because it all the time does, an enormous number of up to date bands on the Dom Omladine live performance halls – established artists plus many rising stars, naturally together with many teams from the Balkans.

The principle corridor (Velika sala) featured musicians together with U.S. pianist Gerald Clayton, Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer in duets with soprano saxophonist and fellow Pole Adam Pieronczyk, Norwegian free-improvisation specialist Paal Nilsssen Love along with his Massive Unit, Serbian saxophonist Max Kochetov with Italian trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso, American trumpeter Dave Douglas along with his Presents Trio, and Austrian saxophonist Fabian Rucker.

Upstairs within the massive clubroom Amerikana, the programme supplied Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, New Zealand-born saxophonist Hayden Chisholm (who relies in Belgrade), and American saxophonist Isaiah Collier along with his band The Chosen Few, plus a number of rising up to date teams and free-improvising artists.

And for the final night time of the competition there was a short lived change to the bigger live performance corridor MTS Dvorana for U.S. guitar legend John Scofield’s Trio and Italian saxophonist Stefano Di Battista’s group.

Pohjola’s quartet – pianist Kirke Karja, Danish-born and UK resident bassist Jasper Hoiby and drummer Olavi Louhivuori – performed works from their new album Monkey Thoughts (Version Information) with super drive. The trumpeter has an excellent sense of construction in his solos, delivered with actual ardour and technical mastery, notably within the thunderous tune “Social gathering In The Attic”. An actual spotlight of the competition.

Kochetov’s collaboration with trumpeter Bosso was a pleasant opener for my go to to the competition – superbly crafted traces on soprano saxophone mixing completely with Bosso’s gloriously heat sound. Mozdzer, his face fully hidden by a curtain of lengthy hair, opened his duets with Pieronczyk in a reasonably restraIned manner, however the efficiency caught fireplace with a dynamic Brazilian theme, with small chains on the piano strings for rhythmic emphasis.

I have a tendency to search out many free improvising teams reasonably predictable, paradoxically, and although I had larger hopes for Paal Nilsssen Love’s Massive Unit, little of nice worth appeared to emerge. And when the group started a Japanese-inspired theme, excessive pitched notes on the accordion had been amplified so loudly that it turned too painful to remain within the corridor.

The next night time Rucker’s quintet supplied nothing however brilliance – an enormous number of up to date types, and good co-ordination between the musicians.

Highly effective as Rucker’s group was, American rising-star tenor participant Isaiah Collier’s quartet The Chosen Few supplied an overwhelmingly supercharged efficiency upstairs in Amerikana. I by no means had the possibility to listen to John Coltrane dwell, regrettably, however Collier fully evokes the immense spirit of Trane’s sound and basic quartet idea, and it was great to listen to it revived. Sensibly, the younger tenorist introduced unique items reasonably than themes from Trane’s personal repertoire, and it was immensely efficient. The rhythm part of pianist Benito Gonzalez, bassist Micah Collier and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode created a wonderful storm of sound for the saxophonist to majestically re-create Trane’s sweeping traces and large tone.

The efficiency by trumpeter Dave Douglas and his Presents Trio – guitarist and electronics performer Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang – supplied moments of musical pleasure, with Bhatia creating digital soundscapes to underpin the acoustic devices. However this type has been achieved far more successfully for a few years by Scandinavian musicians embrace trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer and guitarist Eivind Aarset. Douglas’s considerably awkward try to re-think Billy Strayhorn’s basic “Take The A Practice” merely ended up derailing it.

On the ultimate night time, at MTS Dvorana, the entertaining Italian saxophonist Stefano Di Battista and his quartet impressed with clean variations of compositions by Ennio Morricone, and far good humour. Guitarist John Scofield sounded a little bit sick relaxed within the efficiency which adopted, although he and his trio – bassist Vincente Archer and drummer Invoice Stewart – have gained widespread acclaim for his or her new ECM album Uncle John’s Band [read more on this with Morgan Enos’ LJN interview with John Scofield]. 

There have been, nonetheless, two notably excellent items: Carla Bley’s “Lawns”, and a strongly funky tune known as “Masks”.

Scofield’s voice sounded considerably croaky when he made his bulletins, however he declared that the trio could be “completely satisfied to play all night time, however it’s a must to go to mattress.” 

In truth, the viewers had the selection of going again to Dom Omladine for late night time performances by French artists, with the imaginative singer Leila Martial performing duets with cellist Valentin Ceccaldi, and saxophonist Sylvain Rifflet and his quartet Troubadours very successfully mixing jazz improvisation with unique Japanese sounds.

LINK: Pageant web site