Bojan Zulfikarpasic burst onto the French scene in 1993 with the first Henri Texier "Azur" Quartet disc (An Indian's Week LBLC 6558) contributing some beautifully melodic solos amid some heavyweight competition (Portal, Sclavis and Ferris) and Texier's bittersweet themes. This was followed later the same year with his startlingly original debut disc (Bojan Z. Quartet LBLC 6565) featuring a young Julien Lourau on saxophones - the whole tinged with a highly contemporary Balkan feel with interpretations of Serbian and Bosnian folk melodies at the core of the programme.

Despite further good work with Texier and Portal, Zulfikarpasic's subsequent discs have disappointed. Yopla (LBLC 6590) seemed a fair follow up to the first disc but it lacked fire. Koreni (LBLC 6614) seemed over ambitious, consciously trying to mix and match disparate styles at the expense of the jazz. It would be fair to point out that critical opinion is not with me here - but it seems worth saying that the current appetite for multigenre music with jazz improvisation at its base is fine as long as it works - exotic does not necessarily equal good (and if anyone doubts my enthusiasm for this kind of music I point you in the direction of Julien Lourau, who appears on all the above Zulfikarpasic discs and who has gone on to something genuinely exciting and new).

But if there was a sense of great ability going to waste on the last disc, this solo piano session regains the focus with tremendous style. Kicking off with Fingering, the Frenchman thrusts his left hand into the body of the piano creating his own distorted bass accompaniment whilst picking out a skewed melody with his right. This is followed by the Monkish Who's Bob, a simple melody punctuated by some decidedly loud dissonant bass chords. There are a couple of reworked pieces Multi Don Kulti (from Yopla) and Zulfikar-Pacha (from Koreni), the latter in particular sounding much more angular than the original - in fact you wonder how much Monk (and more specifically, Martial Solal) he has been listening to. A cover of Texier's Don't Buy Ivory, Anymore with its rolling bass chords and sorrowful tone conveys the nobility of its subject very well and Ornette Coleman's Mother of the Veil is dealt with as a slow lopsided Balkan blues. 

The quality of the recording is excellent with the bass very resonant (it was recorded at the Theatre de Coutances rather than Label Bleu's usual haunt at Studio Gil Evans in Amiens). My only complaint is the packaging: a digipak and a slipcase? Lets hope that doesn't catch on! Expect to see this disc rubbing shoulders with the best in the end of year polls - and deservedly so.

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Click the buttons below to buy the following Bojan Zulfikarpasic discs:

       Bojan Z. Quartet    

       Yopla   

       Koreni  

   Press reviews:

   The Guardian gave this disc a five star review. Click here to read it.