Spellbinding Music
Genre-bending & spine-tingling
Born in Belgrade in 1968, pianist Bojan Zulfikarpašić settled in Paris at the age of 20 to quickly become an influential figure on the French and European Jazz scene. A brilliant musician with a dazzling technique, Bojan Z (as he ended up calling himself to make his tricky surname easier to pronounce) also constantly merges his …
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Between 1990 and 1993, drummer Aldo Romano, clarinet/saxophone player Louis Sclavis and double bass player Henri Texier completed two tours of Central and West Africa organised by the network of cultural centres in Africa. With the objective of reconnecting with the African roots of jazz, the musicians gave a series of concerts …
"Indians/Desaparecido" is one of these epic jazz compositions: a dramatic introduction followed by a series of arresting choruses. In order of appearance, we have Glen Ferris on trombone, Louis Sclavis on clarinet, Bojan Zulfikarpašić on piano, Henri Texier on double bass and Tony Rabeson on drums. The composition features on An …
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Swedish Jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson (1964 – 2008) died prematurely five years ago today at the young age of 44. The magnificent "From Gagarin’s point of view" stands out as one of the trio’s most recognizable ballads. It also featured on the trio’s eponymous 1999 recording, their first international breakthrough album to be …
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L'Arpeggiata Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was an Italian composer in the late Renaissance whose innovative compositions led to the birth of opera as a new style of music. In addition to early operas and church music, Monteverdi published nine books of Madrigals, or Renaissance love poems sung and arranged for several …
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While never abandoning her Christian beliefs, Alice Coltrane formally converted to Hinduism in the mid-1970s and went on to set up her own Vedantic centre in California. Around that time, she also more or less retired from public life, making only rare live appearances or releasing tapes of religious music. But it was on the …
