B. PETROVIC'S NONCONVERTIBLE ALL STARS – Swinging East / Recorded Live At The Berlin Jazz Festival (LP-1973)

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!