RATKO ZJACA
Contemporary Guitarist - Performer - Composer - Recording Artist - Educator
Reviews
CD: Crossing the Border
JazzImprov, April 2007, New York City
CROSSING THE BORDER — Nishville Records
CD 0023. www.ratkozjaca.com. Then And Now; Welcome To Our Jungle; The Place To Be; Soul House (It’s For You); The 5th Room; Great Ocean Road (For Dick De Clerck); Sweet In Sorrow; Hyperventilation; For No Reason (For My Ana); Another Day; Bass; Aloysius.
PERSONNEL: Ratko Zjaca, electric guitar/acoustic guitar; Stanislav Mitrovic, tenor saxophone; John Patitucci, bass; Al Foster, drums.
By Dan Bilawsky
The four musicians who receive equal billing on the cover of Crossing The Border are truly tuned in to one another. While you might be lead, by the cover billing, toward believing that this is a collective, and the four members do gel incredibly well together, this project is largely the creation of Ratko Zjaca with Stanislav Mitrovic. Zjaca, A Croatian born guitarist who has spent time studying at Zagreb University in his home country, the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands and the NYU School of Music in New York, brings a great degree of warmth and creativity to his music. Zjaca clearly leads, plays and composes with the entire sound of the ensemble in mind. He wrote seven of the twelve original compositions on the album. “Then and Now,” which has a cool, slick and seductive sound, is our first opportunity to marvel at the connection between Zjaca’s guitar work and Mitrovic’s silky saxophone sound. Al Foster stays away from grooves with well-worn clichés that many drummers would have inserted instead choosing to vary things and demonstrate his subtle musical motions. John Patitucci does a great job bridging the gap between the dual roles as rhythm section member and melodic improviser. The rhythmic propulsion, provided by Patitucci and Foster, is much more defined during “Welcome To Our Jungle.” The angular improvisations from Mitrovic, with Zjaca lurking in the background, give the piece a menacing sound. Foster’s unaccompanied drum solo takes the piece in a slightly different direction and the return of the rest of the band pulls the listener back to the core of the piece. “The Place To Be,” a lovely jazz waltz with some interesting harmonic choices, gives us a chance to hear Zjaca and Mitrovic playing in a more conventional vein. “Soul House (It’s For You),” sounds like it was strongly influenced by Brazilian music. The harmonic progression, the lightly floating melody, stated beautifully by Mitrovic, and the understated groove from Patitucci and Foster help to give the music its gentle South American sound. Zjaca, who leans toward a more classically influenced performance style during his solo, creates the perfect contrast to Mitrovic’s sound.
“The 5th Room” is a fun Zjaca original in five that demonstrates his ability to make odd metered compositions feel natural. “Great Ocean Road (For Dick De Clerck) begins with a guitar introduction that will melt your soul. The song remains in the same emotional arena when Mitrovic enters, but the intimacy is lost. While the program, to this point, has been all Zjaca tunes, a solid block of Mitrovic originals changes things up a bit. “Sweet In Sorrow” mixes the soul of “Soul House (It’s For You)” with a more modern European slant and features a great bass solo from Patitucci. “Hyperventilation,” built on syncopated rhythmic phrases and slight melodic shifts, has a Monk-ish quality and is instantly appealing. “For No Reason (For My Ana),“ the final Mitrovic composition on the album, has a reflective quality, which is noir-ish in a way. The song benefits greatly from Patitucci who contributes a fine solo and gives the piece a rhythmic foundation which holds things together. “Another Day” is a non-traditional twelve bar blues that gives us an opportunity to hear the guitarist really let loose. Mitrovic, Patitucci and Foster trade twelve bar solos and listening to each person deconstruct the rhythmic material of the song is delightful! “Aloysius,” the lone Foster composition on the program, follows a wonderful and all too-brief bass solo, called “Bass,” from Patitucci. The Foster piece, which closes the album, fuses swing and samba and Mitrovic gives his most enthusiastic performance on the album. It is great to hear his tone take on a bit more heft, grit and rasp as he wails through his solo. This song provides a strong ending to a great program of original tunes from these four musicians.
Jazz Review, April 2007, New York City
Record Label: Nishville Records
By John Barron
Incredible playing, well crafted tunes, and top-notch production make for an outstanding release by guitarist Ratko Zjaca and tenor saxophonist Stanislav Mitrovic. On Crossing the Border, the European duo, joined by two giants of modern jazz, drummer Al Foster and bassist John Patitucci, provide a soulful listening experience while challenging their own musical identities.
Zjaca, a guitarist of diverse influence, is hard to categorize. His tone is pure and his lines are highly lyrical. His solos contain traces of legends ranging from Kenny Burrell to Pat Metheny. All nods to the past, however, are merely incidental, and perhaps necessary, as Zjaca takes his place in the lineage of jazz guitar. His compositions are harmonically rich, clever, and stylistically diverse. “Welcome to Our Jungle” has a modal texture and melodic structure resembling Eddie Harris’ “Freedom Jazz Dance,” “The Place to Be” is a buoyant waltz, and “Soul House” is a meditative bossa nova.
Co-leader and contributing composer Mitrovic has a dominating, yet sensitive tone. His sound contains the brawn of old-time shouters like Gene Ammons and the elusiveness of Wayne Shorter.
Patitucci is in characteristically brilliant form. His feel, choice of notes, and intonation is astonishing. The bassist takes breathtaking solo leaps on “Another Day,” “For No Reason,” and the short, unaccompanied “Bass.”
Crossing the Border is a solid testament to the healthy state of jazz. Zjaca and Mitrovic are both confident artists who have a firm grasp of the genre’s history and are well prepared to help shape the future.
Tracks: Then and Now, Welcome to Our Jungle, The Place to Be, Soul House, The 5th Room, Great Ocean Road, Sweet in Sorrow, Hyperventilation, For No Reason, Another Day, Bass, Aloysius
CD: Shades of Spirit
L.C. Tokyo News
This is absolutely a fantastic CD - music without borders. Fantastic communication between two musicians.
Morning (FJ)
This is one of the most exciting and creative CDs that I've heard in the last couple of years. It's a real musical trip from east to west, from north to south.
New Page
This music is very organic, compact, dynamic and goes into unexpected directions. A real musical trip. After listening to this great CD many times, it gives me a special, spiritual dimension.
JB (UK)
We have eagerly awaited this album for quite some time and after having played it constantly for a week it is still avoiding categarisation. You could say it was new music, certainly you would not of heard this combination of sounds ten years ago.
Shades of Spirit ranges from almost shamanic type rhythms, through rootsy ethnic trances, past complex intertwined melodies, all tinged with jazz echoes. Hmm.. perhaps we need to go deeper. Ratko Zjaca & Stanislav Mitrovic provide all the music on the album and the title "Shades of Spirit" is no accident, if you play the blues guitar with your Soul, you play the fretless guitar with your Spirit and this really does describe this album. Put it on the deck, turn on, volume up, and your speakers start to belch sunshine.
The CD kicks off with a seven minute track La Caldera de Taburiente. While the early tracks establish a superb ethnic outdoor jazzy feel the stunning fifth track, "Tuto E Come Prima" has some of the most sensitive fretless work I've heard to date, with a tight backing which feels like its about to explode but just keeps simmering away.
Track seven see's Ratko's jazz influences breaking through (believe me he is a stunning jazz guitarist). Stanislav provides a very interesting synth harmonica part to this tea time jazz excursion. Just when you thought all was safe along comes "Murphy's Tango" a mad mix of madrigal beat / jig like riffs / french accordion, you have to hear it!
The whole thing winds up with "Count Up" which is the sort of thing Weather Report might have done if Zawinul had ever got hold of a fretless guitar.
This is a very pleasant album, every song is well crafted and structured, the playing is immaculate, the combination of Ratko and Stanislav a perfect duet. Go buy some sunshine!
CD: A Day in Manhattan
OWL am Sonntag
"A Day in Manhattan" is the superb result of Ratko Zjaca's recording session with John Coltrane's bass player Reggie Workman and Miles Davis' drummer Al Foster. This CD is just great!
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
In his playing together with Reggie Workman and Al Foster, Ratko Zjaca sounds like a great guitar player. This CD should absolutely not be missing in your CD-rack!
Leeuwarder Courant
Perfectionism and emotion are often difficult to bring together, but Ratko proves with his CD that the two can be perfectly combined. He plays technically great, but the basis remains his musical talent which can be heard in his great in his great melody and harmony. A beautiful record.
WAM Magazine
This is a great CD, congratulations Ratko! Beautiful compositions, tender, sensible, and technically great guitar playing, with so much harmonic and rhytmic texture.
Faro
The combination of musical talent and a great passion, looking for perfection, is very appealing. This CD belongs to the absolute top.
Culture
As a guitar player he has a beautiful tone, technique, musical talent and a relaxed approach. But what makes this CD even more interesting is that he is also a great composer and arranger.
Other reviews
Rotterdams Dagblad
"Ratko Zjaca plays great and sounds like a great, new guitar star ...."
Ntb Muziekwereld
"A special note for guitarist Ratko Zjaca, who impresses with his tasteful solos and swinging accompaniment...."
Cadence (USA)
"Guitarist Zjaca furnished the lilting "What's Waiting For Me Here" and is heard on three tracks on this great CD...."
Jazz Journal (Canada)
"....Nice unison sound with saxophone and guitar...."
Culture
"Ratko plays in the style of the great, mainstream jazz guitarists with great communication with the New York pianist Frank Stagnitta...."
New Page Magazine
"Ratko demonstrated an excellent technique in playing jazz guitar, and a tasteful concept of his solo playing...."
Vernon Reid, NYC
"Ratko presents a dynamic collection of jazz and attains something very rare indeed a balance between body and soul"