Label: MPS Records/BASF – 21 21282-3
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: W. Germany / Released: 1973
Style: Contemporary jazz, Big Band
Recorded on November 4, 1971 at Berlin Jazz Festival, W. Germany.
Also on label PGP RTB – LP4345 (Yugoslavia)
Design – MPS-Atelier
Photography By [Cover] – Ralph Quinke
Photography By [Inside And Reverse] – Hans Harzheim
Liner Notes [English Translation] – Andrew Carnegie
Liner Notes [German] – Peter Baumann
Producer – Joachim E. Berendt
Matrix / Runout (Side A): 1<¬ 0666 15B S1 2121282 3 S1 ℗1973
Matrix / Runout (Side B): 1<¬ 0666 15B S2 2121282 3 S2 ℗1973
A1 - Balkan Blues................................................................................................. 14:40
(Written-By – Bosko Petrović)
A2 - Sigo's Garden ............................................................................................... 10:30
(Written-By – Bosko Petrović)
B - With Pain I Was Born.................................................................................... 20:45
(Folksong , Arranged By – Bosko Petrović)
Musicians:
Bosko Petrović – vibraphone, flute [darmarofon], goblet drum [tarabrooka], marimba
Ozren Depolo – alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Dan Mandrila (Mîndrilă) – tenor saxophone
Salko Mujićić – flute, alto-flute, piccolo flute
Simeon Shterev – flute
Michał Urbaniak – electric violin
Tihomir Pop Asanović – organ
Aladár Pege – double bass
Miljenko Prohaska – electric bass
Ratko Divjak – drums
German pressing / MPS Records/BASF – 21 21282-3_____Out of stock – (never on a CD)
Note:
Darmarofon as played by Bosko on track B1 is a custom made wooden flute from Istria (now part of Croatia & Slovenia) with a sizable mouthpiece and two reeds producing a multiphonic sound.
Recorded Live at the 1971 Berlin Jazz Festival, Swinging East is testimony to jazz’s ability to cross over international boundaries. Representing various Communist Bloc countries, the musicians were all-stars in their own lands, and three of the players, Croatia’s Bosko Petrovic, Polish violinist Michal Urbaniak, and Hungarian bassist Aladar Pege, gained international fame. Czech flutist Jiří Stivín and Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert were originally billed for this unique concert but due to difficulties with the officials in their countries they couldn’t travel to Berlin.
Based on a melody from the Kolo, an old Serbian folk dance, Balkan Blues starts off in 7/4 then swings into a slow blues with emotive solos, and Pege’s virtuoso bowed bass. There’s a Latin and funk feel to Sigo’s Garden, with fine flute solos and Bosko’s warm marimba play. Based on an Macedonian folk song, With Pain I was Born to Live fluctuates between a 7/4 and 4/4, with a beautiful section in which Bosko improvises on the tarabrooka, a traditional Macedonian drum, accompanying a short flute solo that captures the timeless Balkan soul. A fascinating mix of jazz and East European folk.
To pretty brian – Enjoy!
If you find it, buy this album!