Recommended: Srdjan Ivanovic Blazin’ Quartet – “La mer, la pierre, la terre, l’oiseau”

 

There’s a strong cinematic appeal to La mer, La Pierre, La Terre, L’oiseau.  Melodies are voiced languorously and with the mesmerizing quality of waves gently lapping against the shoreline.  This new recording from the Srdjan Ivanovic Blazin’ Quartet is the go-to for a potent dose of serenity.  Thankfully, it reveals a nuanced personality along the way.

In some instances, the ensemble paints the scene directly through the melody.  There’s how the formlessness of title-track “La mer, la pierre, la terre, l’oiseau” hypnotically congeals into a patient exhalation of melody, and how tracks like “Marina’s Song” and “The Travels of Alija Djerzelez” begin with a sharper, distinct shape and then add increasingly vibrant layers of melody over it, one after the other.

In other instances, the serenity is constructed through elements that seem unconnected up until the moment they suddenly enter a state of unison.  There’s the moonlight serenade of “Ubavka,” and how Ivanovic’s drums are a comforting chatter as the backdrop for Andreas Polyzogopoulos‘s true blue trumpet cries, Christophe Panzani‘s ambient murmurs on sax, and the rustling of electronic effects.  And then there’s a more immediate point of comparison with an alternate take on “Marina’s Song” and how the electronic effects sweep up the melody into its embrace as it twists and turns and circles back upon itself.

There’s a seriously intriguing beauty to this recording.

Your album personnel:  Srdjan Ivanovic (drums, electronics), Christophe Panzani (tenor sax, bass clarinet, electronics), Andreas Polyzogopoulos (trumpet, effects), Mihail Ivanov (bass) and guests:  Federico Casagrande (guitar), Marc Buronfosse (bass), Timothee Robert (bass) and Jovana Krstevska (vocals).

Released on Le Coolabel.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Paris, France.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon