Svetlost w/Nilssen-Love & Vandermark pt. 4
[Paal Nilssen-Love and Kiko Novkovski]
After arriving in Skopje, Macedonia on April 12th to begin work with Svetlost (Kiko Novkovski [drums], Deni Omeragić [electric bass], and Nino Spirovski [Bb clarinet, tenor & soprano sax]), the first half of this new project focused on rehearsals (Paal Nilssen-Love joined the group on April 15th), concerts (in Skopje at MKC-Cinema Frosina on the 16th and in Sofia, Bulgaria at Club Singles on the 17th), and a recording session (with the sound engineer Vladan Drobicki). Deni coordinated all the logistics beautifully, the pacing involved provided ideal circumstances in preparation for the recording on Saturday, April 19th in the rehearsal space we had been using at MKC: we knew the material inside out and had the creative energy to perform the best versions of the compositions possible, nailing everything in first takes.
[Link to review of concert in Skopje by Irena Stevanovska for Free Jazz Collective: https://www.freejazzblog.org/2025/04/svetlost-ken-vandermark-paal-nilsen.ht]
From there it was roadwork time. Originally, the plan was to drive 12 hours overnight Sunday from Skopje to Pula, Croatia for a concert on the 20th. Instead, and quite thankfully for both mind and limb, this idea was changed to allow for a door gig option that came up in Belgrade, Serbia at the Strogi Centar, making it possible to break the length of the trip in halves and gave the quintet another opportunity to perform. The show in Belgrade was also the only occasion when the ensemble played without using a PA, and got the band to focus more on dynamics since the volume possibilities for the unamplified horns was a rate limiter for the rhythm section. Though a last minute addition to the tour, we got a great turnout that included Bojan Đorđević, director of the Ring Ring music festival, and experimental musician Leonel Kaplan- fantastic to see both again after some years’ time. Though it was excellent to break up the hours in the van (the driver for the tour, Sila, was truly excellent), the evening spent at our “hotel” after the show was something to be desired- up most of the night with a doorbell ringing for “customers”, a dubbed Charlton Heston and “Ben Hur” blaring on the lobby TV, and time to hit the road again at 7am…
[performance of “Casino 45” at the Stogi Center, Belgrade]
The concert in Pula on April 21st was something special on an already unique concert itinerary. Held at Klub Kotač, it was heralded as “the rebirth of the Jazzbina Pula” after a decade-long hiatus. The venue was located in the Community Center Rojc, a former army barracks that housed 3000 soldiers until the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in 1992, now a cultural center for more than a hundred arts organizations. I cannot think of a more significant, compelling, and beautiful repurposing of architecture. As the group took photos in the enormous space with Petra Cvelbar and Žiga Koritnik the next morning it was hard not to feel that, despite all going wrong in the world, it’s still possible for people with vision to transform circumstances for the betterment of everyone.
[Paal Nilssen-Love and Deni Omeragić]
Though the ride to Ljubljana, Slovenia to perform at Klub Gromka was only a few hours, when Paal and I climbed out of the backseat of the van we both felt like we’d been thrown down several flights of stairs. Thankfully the equipment, sound system, and staff at Gromka were stellar, as was the audience and opportunity to see friends and music programmers Bogdan Benigar and Miha Zadnikar, who helped organize the concert. It was a piledriver of a show played to a full house, with the horns bolstered by the PA; the introspection of the composition “Key Blanks” on clarinets an eye in the maelstrom. Then it was over, a late night hangout in the hotel lobby, some last sips of Rakija before going to bed; then Deni, Kiko, and Nino heading back to Skopje in the van the next morning, Paal flying back to Oslo, me to Chicago. Next steps? Mix, master, and release that album!
[Paal Nilssen-Love and Nino Spirovski]