Born in Belgrade into a family of music-lovers, and raised on the classics of such composers as Ravel or Debussy, Bojan Zulfikarpasic has always been devoted to cultivating the fertile soil of music, working with its multiple roots to obtain some curious hybrids... like this "umus"Humus", "the most 'rock' album I could record", whose title is very explicit: "I became a peasant when I moved out of the Paris suburbs," he says. "I went out to the countryside. That's where 'humus' comes from; it takes you back to the idea of fertile ground. 'Humus' is about a guy thinking about urban music in a rural environment. It's quite a paradox."
Many different approaches, one vision: that was the way Bojan Z became a reference in "French jazz" but, let's make no mistake, this free spirit of the well-tempered piano has continually sought to turn the gates of jazz into a wide-angle focal, and he's given jazz all the resonance of the ancient popular traditions of his native country. After "Quartet", "Yopla" and "Koreni", "Solobsession" and "Transpacifik"... Bojan's whole discography†argues in favour of music open to everyone, beginning with his recent recording "Xenophonia", a strange album streaked with saturating electricity and even muddier blues, a record that took him even further from orthodox jazz, but closer to the essence.
The same can be said for his new album, which...
(Read More)Born in Belgrade into a family of music-lovers, and raised on the classics of such composers as Ravel or Debussy, Bojan Zulfikarpasic has always been devoted to cultivating the fertile soil of music, working with its multiple roots to obtain some curious hybrids... like this "umus"Humus", "the most 'rock' album I could record", whose title is very explicit: "I became a peasant when I moved out of the Paris suburbs," he says. "I went out to the countryside. That's where 'humus' comes from; it takes you back to the idea of fertile ground. 'Humus' is about a guy thinking about urban music in a rural environment. It's quite a paradox."
Many different approaches, one vision: that was the way Bojan Z became a reference in "French jazz" but, let's make no mistake, this free spirit of the well-tempered piano has continually sought to turn the gates of jazz into a wide-angle focal, and he's given jazz all the resonance of the ancient popular traditions of his native country. After "Quartet", "Yopla" and "Koreni", "Solobsession" and "Transpacifik"... Bojan's whole discography†argues in favour of music open to everyone, beginning with his recent recording "Xenophonia", a strange album streaked with saturating electricity and even muddier blues, a record that took him even further from orthodox jazz, but closer to the essence.
The same can be said for his new album, which comes as a reminder-for those with short memories-that on his arrival in Paris, the pianist from Bosnia had a strong liking for electric keyboards, and he was a star-turn with Trash Corporation, a short-lived band of monster players who swung like the devil-all of them borderline cases-and were full of promise. 2009 still carries traces of that experiment carrying an after-taste of non-fulfilment: collective research into sound, rather than strict discipline in the playing... "On 'Humus' I used the method we'd tested on 'Xenophonia' or, in other words, it was the luxury of letting the tape-reels spin. I like to be able to get the freshness of a balanced sound that's not deliberate; the sound that just comes easily with the desire for it. I like capturing that magic moment when musicians let themselves go, with no pressure on them."
It all began in 2004, even before "Xenophonia". "I heard Scottish drummer Sebastian Rochford at the Bath Festival. One of the mainstays of the punk instrumental group Acoustic Ladyland. He was really tight, with all the UK beats played straight. He knocked me out!" It moved Bojan Z to work together with someone so that the right questions would be asked about what they were doing: "The type of sound-palette that I've liked ever since I started... it had been at the back of my mind for a long time. I adore that sound, but what could I do with my little piano?"
He managed to provide some of the answers when he began playing a Fender Rhodes at the 2007 edition of the festival called "Jazz ‡ La Villette". Julien Lourau was booked to play there-the saxophonist had been a friend and conversation-partner for around twenty years-and Bojan Z was given carte blanche. "I jumped at the chance to bring in Sebastian, because he doesn't just play punk, he plays jazz, too." The drummer wasn't the only guest; Bojan hooked up with Josh Roseman, a fine trombonist on the downtown scene and also a musician with a reputation for stepping outside established codes. Plus one more: they were joined by an old trash accomplice, Christophe "Disco" Minck, whose electric bass finalized this brand-new quartet. "That bass alone symbolized the aesthetic changes that had gone down." The quartet went on to play in Belgium after the festival, and "from then on, the idea of making a record together never went away." The record finally happened in the following spring (2008).
When Bojan Z took the group on tour in Europe, there was one change: Ruth Goller, an Italian bassist from London, had replaced "Mr. Disco": "Sebastian gave me the idea; she'd just joined Acoustic Ladyland. With Ruth in the group there aren't as many frills; she's the mainstay, and the others gravitate around her." When April came, Bojan Z's adventure began: he locked himself away inside a studio in Meudon just outside Paris, together with sound-engineer Philippe Teissier du Cros, a great listener. The message was to dig deeper into the sound-groove. This was the concept of the album: a kind of punk jazz-funk that alternated melodic subtleties and pulsating rhythms, non-academic harmonies and a zest of Balkan echoes.
At the controls, Bojan Z varied his pleasures: basic Fender Rhodes, Fazioli and XÈnophone, the weird instrument he'd built on his own using parts of various electric pianos. The repertoire consisted of nine tunes that were powerfully embedded in an earth-quaking groove, yet filled with moments of dreamlike calm. "Humus" is again an occasion to clarify the aims of a leader now more than ever in direct contact with his research, an explorer at the heart of his subject: "Jazz or not jazz, I don't know. There's a lot of improvising. Our approach is definitely open to the unexpected." Just ask those who've heard the new tape recorded by the prolix pianist last April 25th at the Salle Pleyel in Paris... That night, the room-a "classical sanctuary"-gave Bojan Z a standing ovation. He'd shared an idea with his audience: the most accurate, least conventional, most open idea of the emergency that exists in contemporary jazz.
(Shrink Text)
