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Vasil Hadzimanov Band - Alive CD (album) cover

ALIVE

Vasil Hadzimanov Band

Jazz Rock/Fusion


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Windhawk
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Serbian combo Vasil Hadzimanov Band has been an ongoing live and recording project for the better part of 15 years, presumably with composer and keyboardist Hadzimanov as the band leader. They have a solid reputation in their own country, and have also performed abroad with a fair degree of success. "Alive" is the sixth album by the band, and the first of their albums to be released through the US label Moonjune Records.

Those fond of tight live performances by a highly skilled band that explores a more distinctly jazz-dominated breed of jazz rock should find this live album by Vasil Hadzimanov band to be well worth investigating. A taste for funk-oriented details will most likely be needed, and a certain affection for a saxophonist that has at least some similarities to the more open and inviting side of a musician like Jan Garbarek will probably be helpful as well.

Report this review (#1599932)
Posted Sunday, August 21, 2016 | Review Permalink
memowakeman
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars An excellent jazz fusion live album!

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!

Report this review (#1640224)
Posted Monday, November 7, 2016 | Review Permalink
kev rowland
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Honorary Reviewer
4 stars Here we have the sixth album by Serbian keyboard player and bandleader Vasil Had?imanov, although it was his first international release. Recorded in front of a very appreciative audience in Belgrade in 2014, he and his band Branko Trijic (guitar), Miroslav Tovirac (bass), Bojan Ivkovic (percussion, vocals) and Pedja Milutinovic (drums) were joined by American guest saxophonist David Binney. I must confess I don't know if much of this is scored, but only three of the songs are credited to the band with the rest against individuals, so it is quite possible that the rest was rehearsed. The result is complex jazz and fusion with progressive elements and plenty of excursions into the avant garde, pushing the boundaries and providing the support to each other which is required when music is as complex as this.

With both a drummer and percussionist one might expect it to be driven more fully from the back, but even though they are working hard, they tie in with bass to create a curtain of complex layered sounds for the soloists to work against. There are times when Binney is not involved at all, letting the band develop their own sound, with even Trijic taking a back seat to ensure that Had?imanov is allowed to show what he can do. With each musician being a master of their instrument they fully understand that overplaying is as much an issue as underplaying, so even though the music being played is massively complex and with interweaving threads, there is also a huge sense of space, and one feels as if we are being invited into the web as opposed to having curtains of sound thrown at us. Multiple genres and musical styles are at play here, and it is something which does require multiple plays to get most out of it, yet for those who enjoy the music to be a little more adventurous and away from the norm then this is for you.

Report this review (#2924225)
Posted Friday, May 12, 2023 | Review Permalink

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