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Vasko Atanasovski ADRABESA Quartet

Foto: Roland Holzwarth

Do. 28. September 2006
PKS-Villa - Bad Ischl

Vasko Atanasovski (SLO) - saxs, flute
Simone Zanchini (I) - accordeon
Roberto Bartoli (I) - bass
Krunoslav Levacic (CRO) – drums
Crossover Jazz mit viel südlichem Flair

Das Vasko Atanasovski ADRABESA Quartett begeistert in der Ischler PKS Villa

Wieder mal ein kleines ganz großes Jazzereignis aufgrund der Initiative der Ischler Jazzfreunde. Starker Jazz – Südföhn bei einer fulminanten Darbietung des slowenisch – italienischen Quartetts rund um Saxophonist und Flötist Vasko Atanasovski. Wenn die Levante und damit das Licht des Südens auf solideste Jazzkenntnisse treffen und die beiden Pole sich so richtig anziehen, beginnt es gleich mal zu funkeln. Dann bekommt der zeitgenössische Jazz eine richtige Initialzündung und das Publikum ist nicht mehr zu halten. Atanasowski setzt mit seinen Leuten zum emotionalen Großangriff auf das Publikum an. Simone Zanchini phrasiert sich am Akkordeon gekonnt durch das scheinbar unerschöpflich Reservoir dieses Instruments. Der Bass von Roberto Bartoli wird zum notwendigen akustischen GPS durch die Metren dieses Gebräus.
Sehr groß war also die Begeisterung der Zuhörer am vergangenen Donnerstag im wunderbaren und stilvollen Ambiente der PKS – Villa. Starker Applaus für eine kongeniale Mischung und dringliches Fordern nach Zugaben.

Roland Holzwarth - Salzkammergut Rundschau, 4.10. 2006

Furios balkanesk!

Am 28. September 2006 gastierte Vasko Atanasovski mit dem Adrabesa Quartet in der ein wenig verwunschen wirkenden Villa und zeigte dem Publikum, was er unter (Balkan)jazz versteht. Atanasovski an den Saxofonen und der Querflöte zog mit seinen Mitspielern, Simone Zanchini am Akkordeon, Roberto Bartoli am Bass und Krunoslav Levacic am Schlagzeug eine beeindruckende Show ab, bei der kein Fuß still blieb und das Publikum ganz einfach nicht genug bekam von der hochverdichteten Musik, die die balkanischen Einflüsse nicht verleugnete, zugleich aber meilenweit von dem trendigen Balkanjazz entfernt klang. Sensibel entwickelte sich aus den, vor allem in den hohen Registern an den Saxofonen, gespielten Themen mitreissende Stücke von gewaltiger Strahlkraft. Je schneller sich die Rhythmen, genial am Schlagzeug Krunoslav Levacic, gebärdeten, umso intensiver brüllten die Blasinstrumente und umso mehr forcierte Roberto Bartoli am Bass den Fortgang der Kompositionen. Simone Zanchini legte über die Soundimpressionen den Klang des Akkordeons und nützte alle Möglichkeiten seines Instruments. Das Zusammenspiel der Rhythmusgruppe war eine Herausforderung an die Hörer. Schneller und schöner geht es wohl nicht mehr. Die einzige Ballade, die an diesem Abend zu hören war, von Vasko Atanasovski an der Querflöte getragen, zeigte auch die durchaus vorhandene melancholische Seite der Musiker. Hervorragend.
 

akro - Kulturwoche.at (Kulturbrief 1706)

When Music Escapes the Reins

-Gregor Bauman / DELO (main Slovenian daily newspaper)-

Concert of ethno-jazz music

Vasko Atanasovski Adrabesa

Club Cankarjev dom, January 1, 2005

Full-bloodedly

        Vasko Atanasovski doesn't leave anything to chance. His attitude towards composing isn't hermetically artificial style that only resuscitates the shades of jazz history anew. In his exposition, he is an extremely flexible and inventive musician; thus each project of his is based on an intimate axis of individual reliving of a certain genre or tradition. On the one hand, there is reflection of a space impregnated with improvisational content, on the other, communication, attached to the fluid currents of heritage.

        Delicate (re)interpretation evokes the feelings of the past; yet it presents them in the light of today, with simultaneous improvisation on a carefully set theme. Thus we share, irrespective of the size of the ensemble, the full-blooded music in which we discover ethno-roots of various latitudes and their phrasing in contemporary abstract spheres. Atanasovski has shown a genuine vitality, particularly in his later work. Over a three-year period he released three CDs–Heat Flower, Suite de Passion and the recent Tanatos Eros–that are, without exception, placed on a domestic jazz pedestal. The last of these (Tanatos Eros) was also in the limelight of the author’s evening.

        The journey portion of Mini EP Eros Tanatos that Vasko presented to a select circle in the middle of last summer has already sketched in the guidelines of the project. The author’s vision of a strong international ensemble, empowered by the girl’s vocal range, follows the outlined path. The deficit of the latter demanded some changes, in particular the essential rearrangement adapted for a quartet. The first surprise is that on the whole the sound lost none of the required components. It has retained the entire, recognisable ethereality and has faithfully followed individual initiatives or group playing.

        The beginning, as is suitable for an artist’s evening, belonged to the artist himself, who led us on an imaginary journey from the Orient to the Balkans via the alto saxophone. The sense of detail strung together the whole palette of ethno-motifs, which freely wandered around and were recognisable or remained somewhere in the background. Although crucial roles were played by Kruno Levačić (percussion) and Roberto Bartoli (contrabass), it is necessary to emphasise the emotional accordionist Simone Zanchini, who added sound alluvia from the Mediterranean pool. In this way, music is enriched with vivid components. However, it was once again obvious that Vasko’s music is only fully alive when he loosens the reins and allows the music to go her own way. He sets the foundation for them, gives them an impetus, and then lets them freely circle between enthusiasm and improvisation. His performance becomes the domain of witty interplay and soloistic interventions, quite apart from the leading instrument.

        The ensemble Adrabesa inspired us with three sets saturated with agreeable dynamics, contemporary concepts, sound plots and their disentanglements. The sum of individuals was a well-trained team that is familiar with suchlike stylistic combinations (Kruno and Simone, for example, are also part of the Tamara Obrovac ethno-jazz ensemble). Vasko Atanasovski is patiently but persistently becoming one of the most innovative musicians in our region. The flute-playing, which is frequently missing in contemporary jazz derivatives, is also of considerable assistance to him.

Izola, a musical evening with the Vasko Atanasovski Adrabesa Quartet

The Sunny Harmony of Ethno-jazz

Maja Pertič - Primorske novice (daily newspaper of Slovenian sea side region)-

Jazz and ethno, a charming yet unusual music combination that can only rejoice in the performance of the greatest maestros, reached its goal on Saturday in the overcrowded Manzioli Palace in a form of a sensitive performance by Vasko Atanasovski.

        The audience was enraptured and taken on a two-hour journey that will be remembered for its exceptional energy, flexibility and cheerfulness on the stage, which is more the exception than the rule at such concerts. Vasko Atanasovki, author of music, saxophonist, clarinettist and flute player, the leader of the project (just one of many) and his well-trained international musical company–two Italians, Simone Zanchini on accordion and Roberto Bartoli on contrabass, with Krunoslav Levačič from Zagreb on drums–presented music from the latest album Tanatos Eros that is still “hot” because the CD was released by the Goga publishing house in Novo mesto only a few days before the concert. The young musician Atanasovski once wrote that every day he wakes to a new challenge, and that playing his music means awakening from grey stale waters. The concert reflected this thought; thus, on the Izola stage we were witnessing a harmonic musical dialogue that, to a certain degree, aroused the delusive sensation of complete improvisation, the challenge between the creators of the sounds that were even curious at times. The call for a creative duel between harmonies and rhythms that emerged mainly because of jazz technique, and the interlacing of the Balkan melodics that would perfectly suit one of Kustorica’s movies, bewitched the listeners and sometimes even amazed them. The audience was particularly enchanted by the originality of the interpretation by Simone Zanchini’s, who enticed sounds from his accordion and from various other near-by-sound-producing objects, such as a “magic” nylon sack, that melted into a tuneful whole and won thunderous applause for the musical creation Yellow Sky. The band played the shorter version of this composition again and was rewarded with generous applause that enthroned Atanasovski as one of the most promising (despite his age–27–he has gained an international reputation) and “sunny” jazz artists. In his last project he plays with the elements of classical European music, jazz, flamenco and čardaš, as well as with the melodics of Balkan and eastern music. The performance of the Vasko Atanaskovski Adrabeasa quartet is the first in a series of concerts that have been arranged by the Italian self-managing community in Izola. The concerts comprising the rest of the project, which was drawn up by Luciano Kleva, will follow over the next few months.

Club Cankarjev dom

Inspired Interplay

-Mario Batelić – DNEVNIK (one of Slovenian main daily newspaper)-

        Musicians from the Styria region occupy a special position on the local jazz scene, which in recent years has been lively and quite refreshing. From this region has come an inspired combination of jazz and various types of traditional music–African, Arabian, Indian, Balkan and Oriental. Among the prominent agents on this scene, is Vasko Atanasovski, saxophonist and flute player, leader of numerous ensembles and collaborator with others, as well as a contributor to four authorial albums and a mini album. His last CD Tanatos Eros just released by the Goga publishing house, had its concert presentation last Friday at an author’s evening in the Club Cankarjev dom.

        Even though Atanasovski recorded his album with a larger ensemble, called the Adrabesa Ensemble, he appeared on stage with a quartet comprising himself, two Italian musicians, the accordionist Simone Zanchini and contrabassist Roberto Bartoli, and the Croat Krunoslav Levačič (on percussion), who is the only one of these artists not participating in the album).

        The smaller, more intimate ensemble freed up the musicians’ hands and ears, allowing them to introduce the album material differently, in more sophisticated arrangements, and left plenty of space for experiment and improvisation. In this way, the elements of Balkan and Oriental music that Atanasovski includes abundantly in his music served more as a base, a “musical key” within which inventive, elaborated improvisational inserts occurred. These frequently, apart from the original manner characteristic of traditional jazz practitioners, assumed the role of a frame for the musical happening on the stage and weren’t (merely) a passage from one musical motif to another. Consequently, the compositions were inspired at one time with rollicking and then, at another, with extremely melancholic Balkan music that, in the inspired interplay among the quartet, achieved genuine metamorphosis and was revived on a different level; instead of dancing tunes, the compositions tended towards sensitive tones, to a dallying with tender, barely perceptible sounds, noises, tiny shades, quests for the equilibrium among the instruments, and contrasts in volume. Less proved to be more; the smaller ensemble has, instead of reproducing the music from the album, set off on a journey towards an expansion of the music into the sound field. Such a quest can often be perilous, but this time it bore a delicate, often fragmentary, yet perfected and brilliantly performed net of sounds. This required attentive, heightened and devoted listening from the quartet on the stage as well as on the part of the audience. Particularly when the musicians toyed with silence, teased them with silent playing, tested its indulgence, its boundaries, and delightedly and willingly wove their sound around it. Although at the performance level roles were equally distributed within the quartet, beside the leader of the ensemble accomplished Zanchini distinguished himself too. He proved once again that the accordion can be quite a versatile instrument that can assume different roles–from rhythmical, the role of carrier of the sound to the creation of unexpected noises. Atanasovski demonstrated that he is not only a musician with a strong authorial seal, but also an excellent ensemble leader and a brass-player with a recognisable sound.

Vasko Atanasovski presents CD Tanatos Eros

Mature Jazz with Numerous Ethnic Influences

The start of the tour in Maribor, along with the repertoire from the latest CD, indicates new projects

-Darinko Kores – Jacks / VEČER – daily newspaper of city Maribor-

        Although quite young, Maribor brass player and composer Vasko Atanasovski has gained wide musical experience through realisation of his own projects as well as through collaboration with various ensembles. However, experience does not mean his playing is routine; on the contrary–he endeavours to enrich each performance with a bit of novelty, freshness and uniqueness. Currently, he is presenting his latest CD Tanatos Eros (which continues and upgrades the previous one with a similar title Eros Tanatos) at Slovenian clubs. Yet this is only the official story, not completely reflecting the real situation. For it is obvious in the performances of this slightly altered ensemble, new publishing projects are already arising.

        Last Wednesday he presented the recent CD at the jazz club Satchmo in Maribor for the first time. With Atanasovski (saxophones and flute), two Italian musicians Simone Zanchini (accordion) and Roberto Bartoli (contrabass) played, as well as Nino Mureškič (percussion) and Igor Bezget (guitar, Arabian lute); an ensemble which was, according to the CD, only slightly curtailed. We were listening to improvisationally intense and most of the time very dynamic ethno-jazz, occasionally even danceable, but gently lyrical at times – a combination of various musical influences. Atanasovski (probably because of his origins) obviously favours the syncopated rhythms characteristic of Macedonian folk music. Very noticeable are influences from Arabian and Oriental melodics and tone systems in general, but also those of Balkan and gipsy music with (a strand that has until recently been less dominant in the music of Atanasovski) the components of traditional (East) European Jewish Klezmer, together with North American updates (from the New York avant-garde scene, also the most radical); and of recent European (above all Italian) street and coffee-house bands.

        The music of Atanasovski and his colleagues is firmly anchored in contemporary jazz. The result is a certain joyous spontaneity in the improvisation during performances. The latter is sometimes taken to extremes (by all ensemble members, who intermittently indulge in convincing, even virtuoso solo inserts. However, this never approaches “ego-tripping onanism”; the playing remains within the boundaries of listenable and is organically integrated into the entire composition and performance. In Maribor, particularly Bezget distinguished himself, perhaps because he didn’t have to save his strength for a continuation of the tour. This goes for Mureškič too; who performed on his manly folk percussion instruments, considerably less West African in flavour and more “European” that we are accustomed to, yet with a sufficiently dominant authorial note. To the great sadness of the enthusiastic audience, the performers in Satchmo limited themselves only to material from the newest CD; they consented to just one addition in the form of a slightly different repetition of one of the compositions.

        As an extension of the tour around Slovenia (taking into account the international nature of the ensemble), we can expect another trip abroad. The most far-reaching event was probably the Friday performance at the Club Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, where Mureškič was adequately replaced by Krunoslav Levačič with his “industrial” set of drums. The change was reflected in the repertoire as well as in the quite different performance of the same musical works. Ethnic elements receded into the background, and there was more (simultaneous) experimentation too, which for the most part proved successful or at least perspective. This inevitably indicates new arrangements, most likely to be captured in the foreseeable future in the form of a compact digital record on a round plastic disc. During improvisational interaction, there were perhaps small lapses. However, these were probably entirely intentional, since musicians in the Ljubljana performance (which, together with two intervals, lasted almost three hours) included some comical flashes of wit.