By Eyal Hareuveni
Slovenian master drummer-percussionist and seminal free improviser Zlatko
Kaučič celebrated his 70th anniversary two years ago, but it is never too
late to enjoy this occasion with a box set of four live performances with a
few of his favorite improvisers, and with personal dedications from
like-minded comrades like Joëlle Léandre, Elisabeth Harnik.
The first album, VENČKO (wreath in Slovenian) documents the first-ever
recorded duo with Norwegian tenor and soprano sax player Torben Snekkestad
(a close collaborator of double bass master Barry Guy), recorded at the BCMF
Festival in Šmartno-Brda, Slovenia, in September 2019, and dedicated to
Venceslav Pajntar-Venčko. This 40-minute set stresses Kaučič qualities as a
deep listener with sharp and fast instincts, but also as a powerful,
commanding improviser who can ignite intimate dynamics with a few blows on
the drum set. The level of communication and synergy between Kaučič and
Snekkestad is so profound, varied and imaginative, moving seamlessly between
contemplative conversations that reference contemporary music, delicate and
poetic timbral explorations and free jazz-tingerd energetic fireworks, that
organically gravitate into instant compositions and a cohesive narrative, as
if they have been playing as a duo for many years.
The second album was recorded at the same festival, four years later, and
features Kaučič with fellow Slovenian and long-time collaborator, double
bass player Tomaž Grom, and German experimental trumpeter Axel Dörner, in a
36-minute piece “Tiha misel zablestela/a silent thought sined-suit”. This is
an uncompromising and unpredictable, radical sound-oriented improvisation
that explores an array of extended breathing, bowing and percussive
techniques and investigates how the unorthodox sounds of these resourceful
improvisers resonate with each other and create a raw, often noisy but
always enigmatic sonic entity.
The third album documents the first-ever duo recording of Kaučič with
Portuguese tenor sax master Rodrigo Amado, at the 2020 edition of the same
festival., titled “Free Fall” (and no connection to Jimmy Guiffre Trio’s
seminal album by the same name). Amado says that Kaučič has created “a
profoundly unique sound cosmos that inspires me again and again”. This
inspired performance is rooted in the free jazz legacy and alternates
between a muscular, fast muscular improvisation, relying on short melodic
themes and fast-shifting grooves that push both Kaučič and Amado to the most
extreme territories, but with an immediate, deep, and almost telepathic
interplay, and poetic, contemplative, and soulful conversations. Eventually,
as expected, this energetic duo unleashes its volcanic energy and spirals
into dense, cathartic, and stratospheric skies. Hopefully, this set marks
the beginning of a long relationship.
The fourth and last album documents a performance of Kaučič with soul mates
– or inklings, as the five improvised pieces are titled – Catalan master
pianist Agustí Fernández (for his 70th birthday, FSR dedicated another box
set of seven performances, Aesthetic of Prisms, 2024)and British double bass master Barry Guy (who is 78 years old and plays a
5-string double bass), at the 64. Jazz Festival Ljubljana in Slovenia in
July 2023, five months after Kaučič’s 70th birthday. Fernández composed two
more pieces. Guy describes Kaučič as one of the warmest, kindest musicians
he has ever met, with whom he has “a beautiful friendship based on who he
is, both as a person and as a musician”. This is a masterful demonstration
of the art of the moment by a few of the most gifted, restless, and
imaginative sound poets-painters, who keep enriching their poetic yet
intense and stormy sonic palettes with deeper, mysterious nuances.
Fernández’ two most beautiful ballads highlight the trio’s profound, lyrical
side.
Kaučič / Furlan – Father, Son & Holy Sound (Klopotec, 2024)
Kaučič’s drums and percussion duo with fellow, young Slovenian Gal Furlan
(b. 1990) was recorded live on Kaučič’s 70th birthday at Klub Štala in
Lokavec, Slovenia, in February 2023. The album’s title references Albert
Ayler’s claim that “Trane was the Father, Pharoah was the Son, I am the Holy
Ghost”. Kaučič and Forlan do not have any messianic ambitions but they have
a holy sound. A highly immersive sound, at the beginning delicate and
mezditative but later propulsive and hypnotic. The 40-minute, free improvised
piece can be experienced as an irreverent, purifying ritual comprised of
delicate, caressing and resonant sounds that suggest the colorful and
suggestive sonic spectrum of these resourceful improvisers.