(Reprinted from the July 2023 issue of New York City Jazz Record)
Drummer Srdjan Ivanovic has led a peripatetic musical life. Born in Bosnia, he spent part of his childhood in Greece before going on to earn two music degrees in the Netherlands and study on scholarship in New York—ultimately to land in Paris, his base of operation today. These diverse influences coalesce on Xénos (Rue des Balkans/Absilone/Socadisc), the debut album from his quintet by the same name.
By Ivanovic’s own admission, this June release leans more toward rock than jazz, with smatterings of punk (“Gusta Mi Magla”), ska (“Gianni Mou Sta Xena”) and traditional Balkan sounds (“Tvoite Ochi”). No matter—Ivanovic’s rhythmic muscularity more than holds it all together. Jovana Krstevsak, a superbly versatile vocalist, also does some heavy lifting, switching languages with each new groove. This sort of cultural collision only underscores the album’s purpose, imbedded in the title: “Xénos” means “foreigner” in Greek, and the band, through such synergistic expression, seeks to transcend the experience of the outsider.
Jazz is, of course, uniquely suited to this task given its historical inclusivity, and Ivanovic can claim legions of output in more jazz-centric formats. Besides Xénos, two recent additions to his already-extensive discography include 2021’s Sleeping Beauty (MoonJune Records/Coolabel) with his polyglot Blazin’ Quartet, featuring nine of Ivanovic’s exquisite modern jazz compositions, and 2019’s Frame and Curiosity (MoonJune Records) with Nikolov-Ivanovic Undectet, an eclectic 11-person ensemble that handily finesses highly nuanced big band charts.
Undectet’s aesthetic derives much of its richness from arrangements by Vladimir Nikolov, the Macedonia-raised composer who co-leads the group with Ivanovic. Like the ever-active drummer, Nikolov likes to juggle multiple projects at a time, including another large-scale ensemble—Schime/Muzikon, formed a few years ago through the merger of the jazz quartet Schime and the 20-piece string orchestra Muzikon. Last year Nikolov’s arranging skills (well-honed during stints with prestigious performing institutions such as the Metropole Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Belgrade Philharmonic, Berlin Art Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and the BBC Radio Orchestra) found delightful expression in 2022’s Melange (Sequoia), Schime/Muzikon’s inaugural recording.
The album comprises four compositions by Schime members Luka Ignjatović, the group’s saxophonist, and Sava Miletić, its pianist. (Bassist Boris Sainovic and drummer Pedja Milutinovic complete the ensemble.) Given the sophistication of Ignjatović and Miletić’s orchestral writing, it’s surprising that this project represents their first foray into third-stream composition. The balance between the two musical forms—classical precision and jazz spontaneity—never falters: the sweetness of the first piece, “Dawn Tranquility”, a halcyon air that yields to the quartet’s harmonically jagged solos, stands in contrast with the moodiness of the second, “Let Go of Control”, with its introspective sax lines and ominous, whispery orchestral accompaniment. Next, on “Heart in a Book”, a groundswell of florid string lines lifts Ignjatović’s melodic, emotive sax solo, and on “Doti Suite”, a near-filmic work in three movements, the motion segues from rushing excitement to romantic longing to improvisatory exultancy with nary a stumble. A prime example of avant-garde concertizing.
Schime drummer and Serbia-born, LA-based jazz composer Pedja Milutinovic recently borrowed Ignjatović and Miletić both as players and co-composers for his own record—Creality (A.N.D.R.). On this February release—Milutinovic’s second record under his own name—he brings a jazz artist’s love of musical diversity to his composing and a technophile’s knowledge of electronic wizardry to his arranging. On the title cut, for instance, he somehow manages to integrate a wild panoply of aural impressions—oozing synth, relentless cadence, Indian solfege, and buoyant horns. No less impressive is his use of Eastern European folk melodies in a smashup of forward-looking musical technologies on “Balkan Traffic” or his bright arrangements for sax, trumpet and guitar on “The Future Is Ours” or his imaginative layering of oscillating sax and keyboards on “Spinal Dance”. For Milutinovic, electronica is clearly more than a mere ornamental device; it’s the musical cement that gives each track its structure.
The album’s title, a seeming portmanteau of “reality” and “creativity”, encapsulates Milutinovic’s desire as “a jazz composer in the digital age” to push his collaborating musicians deeper into originality. Samples, computer software programs, electronic enhancements—all of these have a place in the modern jazz composer’s toolkit, he suggests. “But you also have to know when to stop relying on artificial intelligence and bring in the human dimension”, he wrote in the liner notes. He’s right in this; it’s something of a relief when he opens “New Imaginaries” with simple acoustic guitar. Just a little breather before the digital frenzy begins—thrilling as that frenzy is.