ALIVE

It is incredible the high amount of talented musicians around the world whose music claims to be discovered, and fortunately, the enthusiasm of Leonardo Pavkovic or Moonjune Records is helping them to reach new frontiers and get some new fans from different parts of the world. Me, as Mexican, am delighted to have been introduced to Vasil Hadzimanov Band's music, a project from a country I am not really familiar in the musical and cultural way of things. This Serbian keyboard player has been making jazzy music for several years, but as you can imagine, this álbum is my introduction to his music, so despite it is a live and not an studio album, I am happy with what I listen here.

Alive, released in 2016, is an album that features 8 songs and a total time of 72 minutes when one can really enjoy a first class session of jazz fusion, rock and experimental music in which the saxophone plays a main role. It opens with "Noctural Joy", a long song that provides virtuoso passages that come mainly from the same Hadzimanov and from the sax player David Binney, creating at first slow and delicate passages, but later they turn into an explosive combo in which the listener (me, this time) want to move head and move at the music's rhythm. "Zulu" is a favorite of mine, a track that since its first seconds remind me of some old fusion monsters such as Weather Report or Return to Forever. After three minutes of vertigo they calm down and give us an interesting passage with some ethnic reminiscences in which we can listen to some kind of chants while sax interplays with some noises; later the music begins to flow once again, making a crescendo until it reaches a climax. The percussion are wonderful along with the bass notes in the whole track.

"Odlazim" is an enigmatic piece. At least the first times I listened to it I had quite different experiences, because the very first one I felt lost without a direction, but then I could notice its mysterious beauty with some hidden sounds that produce dark atmospheres and a sense of uncertainty, so one don't really know what will happen next. To be honest, I was always expecting a climax here, but it does not appear. Then, all of a sudden you are now listen to what I supposed could be its second part, entitled "Dolazim", a track that has more percussion but keeps that sense of uncertainty; then keyboards remind me of master Zawinul but in the end this 2-song combo leave my senses asking for more. This could be my least favorite moment of the album. You know, a matter of tastes.

"Tovirafro" is more intense and dynamic but still enigmatic. Some ethnic nuances can be perceived here mainly due to the wonderful voices that appear here and there. The bass notes are amazing here, one can better perceived them with good headphones, of course; and an inherent funky rhythm is unleashed, pretty cool. Later a truly fine jazzy piece with piano and sax appears in "Razbolje se ?im?ir List", a song that touches classical music but at the same time could be considered a kind of ballad.

"Uaiya" is a vibrant performance that once again makes my head and body shake and want to move. After that soft passage, here the band said it was enough of tranquility and let their souls go free once again, just as in the two first tracks. The piano work is absolutely brilliant but I would aldo like to point out that bass man Miroslav Tovirac has made quite a job here! The last song is the longest one. Entitled "Otkrise Snova", it is a 12-minute journey to jazz fusion fields with some cool electronic moments and delicious percussion. It is a great way to finish this pretty cool live album, which of course, I would like to recommend to all my readers.

Enjoy it!

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