Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Kopač, Jaka
Label: Barnette Records
Release: 2016
Rating: 4/5
Alto saxophonist Jaka Kopač, a Celje native and a driving force behind the local Džjezz festival, is becoming a rising star of contemporary jazz on the international stage. At home in Slovenia, he is slowly taking on the role of one of the central figures of the domestic jazz scene within the new generation of musicians.
A talented musician armed with the knowledge and experience he racked up early on at the Sibelius Academy (Finland), through collaborations with many musicians and musical projects both at home and abroad, and which he has lately been gathering especially in New York, he has this time invited even bigger names to join him on the new album, which is of course a reflection of the growing standing of his musical activities. With his quartet (the lineup is rounded out by drums, double bass and piano alongside the sax), he presents his second studio album, »Present Thoughts«. The new album reflects the musician’s maturing, mirrors the current musical goings-on in New York, and compared to his ambitious debut, it feels even more focused, more complete in its musical vision and more detailed in sound. With the exception of the cover of Say It (Over And Over Again) , »Present Thoughts« is entirely Kopač’s own music.
The quartet isn’t uncovering a musical revolution, and nobody expected it to. What it does offer is the experience of a jazz »comedy«, where it’s not hard to pick out the masterful blend of the musicians’ intuitive, feel-driven responses with their schooled, well-practiced skill, which runs through every move on this album. The album is marked by a relaxed performance and an easy interplay of highly perceptible communication, a solid dialogue between the instruments. Jaka Kopač himself clearly leads the way with his solo improvisations on the album. He doesn’t just shine at delivering bravura escapades of soloistic seasoning, which you have to be ready for at all times, but also brings a sense of sophisticated approach, into which the master of the alto sax draws us in completely unpretentiously as he conjures up the feeling the instrument gives to the messages of the songs. The remaining three, keeping watch beside Jaka, breathe with him as one body and instinctively step back when he gets room to stretch out solo. It’s also clear that the other three building blocks of the sound picture get enough space to show off their jazz soloing chops, and the band doesn’t lose the thread, or the focus, for even a moment.
»Present Thoughts« is a pleasantly lively ride down the runway of traditional jazz tradition, which the quartet, with Jaka at its center, successfully pours into the modern jazz scene of today. There’s no room on it for the »wonders« of musical experimentation that would lead toward the avant-garde or even flirt for a moment with elements of free jazz. So this is an album that seeks the favor of a broader jazz audience. It looks for contact with the thin dividing line between musical complexity and accessibility, held together by the guiding motifs of a polished format.
Jaka Kopach New York Quartet – Challenge:
Lineup
Jaka Kopač – alto sax
Orrin Evans – piano
Vicente Archer – bass guitar
Willie Jones III. – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Nina Strnad – vocals on track no. 2
Production
David Stoller
Track list
1. Thunder
2. Twin Brothers
3. Flying High
4. Hope
5. Shiki
6. Easy to Remember
7. Challenge
8. Say It (Over and Over Again)
