Label: Nika Records
Release date: October 2, 2020
Production: Primož Grašič
Album length: 59.25 min
Genre: Jazz
Rating: 10/10
Last October, Slovenian jazz drummer Ratko Divjak celebrated his seventieth birthday. To mark the occasion, Nika Records put out a special CD that rounds up the essential character of Ratko’s musical being, and of his playful, sprawling jazz vocabulary. Think of it as a kind of pocket guide to the musician’s world, even if you have to keep in mind that before jazz, Ratko started out in the rock sphere, and in one of the most distinctive bands of the days of the late, lamented common country, one that left its musical mark on the first half of the seventies: Time.
With friends, then. Under the production baton of Slovenian jazz guitar brilliant Primož Grašič, Ratko’s longtime partner in crime from the Big Band RTV Slovenija, eleven jazz standards were put to tape between 2017 and 2019, ranging from the days when bebop took the initiative to the days when jazz fusion was all the rage. The company is made up of jazz aces who are very active, recognized abroad too, and who are really part of the cream of the crop of Slovenian jazz right now. Ratko has spent countless nights on stage with these guys, so there’s nothing left unsaid or undone between them. And that’s exactly what this compilation birthday CD radiates.
Art Farmer, Gary Burton, Stan Getz, Joe Pass, N. H. O. P. Pedersen, Sal Nistico, Albert Mangelsdorf, Dave Libman, Tony Coe, Ferdinand Powel, Gianni Basso, Richard Davis, Joe Pass, Mike Stern and Steve Swallow are just some of the names from the international jazz scene Ratko has worked with over his rich and exuberant musical career. That, let’s call it “being in demand,” only confirms his great mastery of the jazz drumming craft.
The CD has eight tracks. Seven are covers of jazz standards written by some of the biggest names in world jazz (among them Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Herbie Hancock), and the last one is an original by Milan Stanisavljević, who also plays piano on this album. The company is downright stunning, if not fantastic. The dialogues the instrumentalists enter into, the chemistry between them, the organic sonic warmth, the spacious soundscape, where, especially in the emphasized moments dominated by bebop, it’s not hard to picture those smoke-filled rooms of the mid-’40s somewhere in the nightclubs of Chicago. These gentlemen don’t lack dynamite or sharp, witty solo content for a second. The common thread and the focus are all in place, and nobody gets shot off into the fields of avant-garde jazz adventures, which the guys could well afford. But that’s for another time.
The album “Ratko Divjak & Friends For 70 Years” is not only a document dedicated first and foremost to the persona and work of drumming grandmaster and legend Ratko Divjak, but also a slice of jazz that never stops entertaining, thrilling and enriching you inside as you listen. It’s an exposé of the brilliant musical bond between the instrumentalists, each of whom gives a track his own individual note. His own tone. Especially in the parts reserved for sprawling acrobatics of playful improvisation, where there’s no shortage of inventive, quick maneuvers and top-notch stretching of the tracks, and where the instrumentalists reveal their mastery as big musical talents on an individual level. Of course, the album is also generously stocked with moments where the guys give Divjak room to move, and he shows off his exceptionally layered jazz craftsmanship, accompanied at every step by great feeling and finesse, and an incredible knack for adapting to situations as the compositions develop. A sense for coloring each individual strike in a different way, depending on the elemental nature of the statement the chosen track makes. That something that wins over pretty much everyone with Ratko’s playing. The demanding listener, as well as the random passerby who, say, in the mid-nineties stopped by the club Gajo on Beethovnova ulica in Ljubljana for a drink, with a jazz crowd on the soundtrack, among whom Ratko often appeared on the club’s stage too. It’s always been that way, and may it stay that way for many years to come. 70 years of a drumming legend and jazz drumming ace, here’s to the next seventy. May he keep being this spry, creative and healthy. Cheers, Ratko!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Butterfly (H. Hancock)
2. Full House (W. Montgomery)
3. Is There A Jackson In The House (C. Jackson)
4. Wayne’s Thang (K. Garret)
5. Midnite Blue (K. Burrel)
6. My One And Only Love (G. Wood)
7. Seven Steps To Heaven (M. Davisl)
8. He Exactly (M. Stanisavljević – dedicated to Ratko Divjak)
Musicians:
Ratko Divjak – drums
Adam Klemm – saxophone on tracks 3 and 8
Lenart Krečič – saxophone on tracks 2, 5 and 6
Milan Stanisavljević – piano on tracks 3 and 8
Marko Crnčec – piano on tracks 1, 4, and 7
Gregor Ftičar – piano on tracks 2, 5 and 6
Primož Grašič – guitar on tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5
Robert Jukič – double bass on tracks 3 and 8
Tadej Kampl – bass guitar on tracks 1, 4, and 7
Goran Rukavina – bass guitar on tracks 2, 5, and 6
