POST MORTEM DUMP

An ugly cover image, depicting a human brain dumped as waste upon which a fly feeds, hides a brilliant "swan-song" album of Slovene band QUATEBRIGA (the name of the band is a twisted South-Slav expression "Sta te briga?" meaning "What do you care?"), which unfortunately enjoyed very limited popularity during their career in former Yugoslavia.

The album "Post Mortem Dump" was recorded in 1995 during the band's brief reunion but was released two years later. Core trio of Milko Lazar (keyboards, woodwinds), Ales Rendla (drums, percussion) and Nino de Gleria (bass) was enforced by another woodwind player Matjaz Albreht (flute, saxophone). Thus, without Igor Leonardi's electric guitar kicks, QUATEBRIGA floated evermore into a jazz fusion territory populated with beautiful ambient sounds and melodic syncopated grooves.

Balkan-Orient mystique meets Latin samba-smooth jazz meets funky rhythm meets Mittel-European folk-dance extravaganza; all these bring along some of the finest solo parts of relatively, even for jazz, atypical musical instruments. Distinguished and warm sounds of bass clarinet, melodica, "zurla" (traditional Balkans' wind instrument with high pitch sound), flute and soprano saxophone are what makes this CD so unique. Ambience keyboards glue them together in a compact arrangement while effective percussion and more than often leading bass punches (sometimes reminiscent of Jaco Pastorius as in "Kaskaderska") provide a firm stand for this precious sound sculpture. "Mirna Bosna" and "Impro" remind me of certain Orient-inspired works by German jazz-rockers EMBRYO or KRAAN, while "Otvoritvena" invokes some hard-edged keyboard riffs of Klaus Doldinger's PASSPORT.

Basically, there is no weak moment on this CD; only the last two tracks slightly loose their way and I had attention problem during their play. But overall, this is an excellent album and a must for jazz-rock/fusion fans if not for those inclined more toward avant-jazz oddities.

PERSONAL RATING: 4,5/5

P.A. RATING: 5/5