Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Matkovič, Igor
Label: ZKP RTV Slovenija
Release: 2016
Length: 61:17
Rating: 4/5
Composer, producer, pianist, but first and foremost an established Slovenian jazz trumpeter, Igor Matkovič is back with a new album after a string of different musical projects and collaborations. Among other things, we remember him as part of the horn section (for a short while) of the revived Slovenian music legends Mladi levi.
This time Matkovič doesn’t step out as a solo artist, as was the case with the album »Sonic Motion« (2012), which means the new album »State Of KU« is a fresh musical story too, and a new chapter in Matkovič’s musical career. Igor completely shook up the lineup for the new record. For his newborn quintet, he brought in the hugely experienced and prolific musician Milko Lazar, who took over electric piano, classical piano and all other keyboard feats; then Jani Moder, a master of guitar fine-tuning with layered musical depth; Jošt Drašler, a versatile and colorful bass improviser; and Bojan Krhlanko, one of the most talented drummers of the younger generation in Slovenia.
So you’d expect some flirting with “electricity,” even rock, maybe a shift toward avant-garde approaches or (at least in the basic ideas) jazz fusion. In short, the wide and hard-to-pin-down cumulus of musical backgrounds the individual members of the quintet come from was a real challenge for Igor. Would players with such enormously broad musical horizons even click with each other, find the smallest common denominator in the search for a musical dialogue, and, in the end, the most interesting question remains: what would come out of it? What kind of music would be made?
»State of KU« achieves a perfect balance of expression and sound within the quintet. The building blocks create a one-of-a-kind musical experience ruled by a constantly respectful language of symbiosis, of exchanging ideas, of acceptance and contemplation.
The new experience carried Igor well beyond the traditional jazz frame. The opening Rewind is surprising right away with its simple rhythmic key, and even more so once Moder’s electric guitar chimes in. Milko Lazar delivers just a simple motif at the start, which, in its neoclassical approach, is really the foundation of the composition’s solid format, and Igor’s trumpet nestles into that motif very quickly and skillfully. What’s interesting is that the musicians measure out their moves with great feeling, calmly, unpretentiously, with no eruptions that would scatter seas of machine-gunned notes across the improvisational structures. Most of the time the trumpet and electric piano are caught in a kind of “trip-oid” trance that, in the glow of spontaneous mutual awareness, or chemistry, if you like, conjures up a mystical backdrop at moments. The music develops spontaneously, reacting to unexpected turns, yet what’s interesting is that within that spontaneity the musicians never lose the focus of sensing each other. It’s right in those moments, where the melody unfolds slowly, layering and blending long-held tones bit by bit, that the rhythm section finds tons of room to fill the available space with its kinetics, space that keeps opening up on the album for Drašler and Krhlanko. In Circle, Drašler also deftly works in a violin bow on the double bass, which gives this moment of the album its own character and deepens the mystical mood even more. Circle, the second part of the piece Spontaneous Conversations Part I., is typical for its multi-layered stacking of sound elements. The band slowly builds an incredibly rich sonic backdrop over the basic motif, only to let it go in the closing section with incredible softness. That’s just one proof of how finely tuned the musicians’ approach is in executing the material on »State of KU«.
This quintet is far from saying its last word. You can feel on the album that it could reach for an even bigger dose of experimentation, one that might lead toward avant-garde and jazz-fusion territory. Let’s hope they stick together for another album or two, because this quintet, armed to the teeth with incredible talent and experience, delivers excellent seeds of development that could surprise even the most demanding jazz gourmets in the future.
At moments, the quintet’s approaches, on which the development of improvisations is based, mostly exploratory trumpet melodies that clearly break away from the established forms of the old jazz school, recall the innovations Miles Davis reached for in the days of his jazz pioneering. In interactions with the electric piano, the quintet occasionally gives off a sense of flirting with the electric era of Davis’s work. Still, Igor Matkovič Quintet never lose control of what they’re doing for a second, and they keep a clear motivic focus throughout the album.
So let’s stay a while in the one-of-a-kind world of jazz created by the album »State of KU«, which is listenable, delicate, refined and altogether special. A record that stuns with the incredibly patient and distinctive dialogue between the instruments of a unique jazz body called Igor Matkovič Quintet.
Igor Matkovič Quintet – “State Of KU” (short excerpt and album presentation):
Lineup
Igor Matkovič – trumpet
Jani Moder – guitar
Milko Lazar – piano, Rhodes, celesta
Jošt Drašler – double bass
Bojan Krhlanko – drums
Production
Igor Martkovič
Track list
1. Rewind
2. Spontaneous Conversation. Part I.
Talu:
3. I. Opening
4. II. Circle
5. Krhlanko’s Chant
6. Ode to Ephemeral Lake
7. Spontaneous Converstation: Part II.
Silent Struggle of a Young Son:
8. I. Anticipation
9. II. Window
10. Moment in Solo
11. Seven
