PGP RTS has released a new CD by the RTS Big Band and Vasil Hadžimanov. The album is a live recording of the concert held on 21 June 2023. It features Hadžimanov’s original compositions, specially arranged for a big band.
The new release has also received its first review, written by Dimitrije Stojanović.
First love is an cruelly unfair concept – it can only happen once, and everything that follows is, in one way or another, a reprise. Yet even in later loves, it is always possible to discover something new, something experienced for the first time, breathing fresh life into those many loves whose only flaw is that they were not the first.
The story of Vasil Hadžimanov and the RTS Big Band is much the same. They had collaborated before in various ways, with individual members or in smaller ensembles, but never with the full Big Band. That is precisely why this live concert became an opportunity for so many new experiences that make love meaningful. It is why new arrangements were created, why the arrangers were chosen with such care – Toni Kitanovski, Vladimir Nikolov and, for one composition, Hadžimanov himself. It is why the concert recorded at Kolarac feels so vibrant, and why, while listening to this live album, one can sense the immediacy of a unique and unrepeatable event. It is why so many elements that might seem impossible to combine have come together here, and why Hadžimanov and the RTS Big Band ventured into so much unexplored territory – and in doing so, created something genuinely new.
The album opens with Nocturnal Joy, a composition first released on a live album by the Vasil Hadžimanov Band. Its gradual unfolding proved, then as now, to be the perfect way to open a concert. Over the course of its ten-minute duration, Nocturnal Joy grows from a meticulous introduction through Hadžimanov’s playful piano improvisation before culminating in Rastko Obradović’s ecstatic alto saxophone solo, which sets the true rhythm and energy of the concert.
This leads into Hadžimanov’s long-standing fascination with Walter Hill’s film The Warriors, reflected in the composition Can You Dig It, which continues the now comfortably relaxed interplay between the piano and the brass section.
Next come two slower compositions. It would be an understatement to say how delighted I am with the way Keyf sounds now that it has been arranged for the Big Band. Not only has the brass section introduced a new strength that successfully replaces some of the acoustic charm of the original version, but this arrangement also amplifies a certain sense of tragedy so characteristic of the music of this region. Milan Pavković’s double bass solo at the centre of the piece is another unexpected yet highly effective element. As arranger, Toni Kitanovski, together with the RTS Big Band, has done a magnificent job.
Next come two tracks from the album Života mi. In Perdao, the horn section takes over the vocal lines, giving the piece greater power and intensity. Then, halfway through the composition, the tempo suddenly accelerates. To the audience’s delight, Bojan Ivković enters on percussion, driving the music to a triumphant conclusion and ushering in the album’s climactic stretch.
The Warriors locks into a funky riff that captures the same pulse Walter Hill’s film The Warriors finds when the Baseball Furies make their unforgettable appearance. Yes, this was a jazz concert at Kolarac, but it is hard to imagine anyone sitting still while this music is being played. The album closes with Treme, an older composition perfectly suited to become the final burst of jazz improvisation. Hadžimanov’s piano gradually prepares the entrance of the horn section – Đorđe Kujundžić (baritone saxophone), Corey Wilcox (trombone), and Marko Đorđević (trumpet).
It does not take much to realize that this live collaboration between the RTS Big Band and Vasil Hadžimanov was a high-risk undertaking. It demanded entirely new, far more ambitious arrangements capable of transforming music originally written for a quartet or quintet into works that would allow a full big band to shine at its brightest. Performing such thoroughly reimagined material is a challenge worthy of only the boldest musicians.
Yet, much like the legendary gang from Coney Island in The Warriors, the RTS Big Band and Vasil Hadžimanov proved that the risk was worth taking. In the end, they made it home. And new adventures are already waiting: on September 24, audiences in Belgrade will once again have the opportunity to hear this remarkable project live at MTS Hall. But that, as they say, will be the story of another film.
Dimitrije Stojanović
