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Bojan Z / Tetraband

Humus

Universal France 00600753204986

Those who heard the July 2008 Vortex performance of three members of this band (leader/keyboard player Bojan Zulfikarpasic, electric bassist Ruth Goller, drummer Seb Rochford) will not be surprised to learn that this album, which also features trombonist Josh Roseman, is comprised mainly of heavy, groove-based music that, as I noted of said gig, 'despite relatively tricksy time signatures, pack[s] a viscerally funky punch, while simultaneously accommodating the most florid of runs or the sturdiest of basic riffs from Zulfikarpasic'.

The addition of Roseman, however, brings not only another resourceful solo voice into the mix, but also widens the band's textural scope, a vital ingredient in music that eschews the conventional theme-solos-theme approach in favour of dynamic variety and the exploitation of subtleties of timbre.

Certainly, Bojan Z's skilful utilisation of a wide range of keyboard sounds (he moves between Fender Rhodes, Fazioli and Xénophone, an odd hybrid instrument built from various electric-piano parts) is the most obviously impressive feature of this loud, driving, powerful music, and the album as a whole is a clear example of his desire to get away from what he terms 'some sort of bebop revival' and play his favoured music: 'funk, and free jazz like Ornette Coleman'.