The history of freely improvised music and free jazz is one of creating contexts to frame the spontaneity and improvisation, to devise new forms and break down established relations on the levels of sound, musical material, and the hierarchy within groups. The harmolodics of Ornette Coleman, the diagrams in Anthony Braxton's creative music, Lawrence Butch Morris's methods of conduction, the deep listening of Pauline Oliveros, and the playful and at once aggressive strategies employed by John Zorn in his game pieces are but a few examples that come to mind. The aleatory compositions, graphical and prose notations, actions and interventions of experimental and contemporary classical music, as well as new conceptions and conceptualisations of sound in the different media of sound art all characterise them as belonging to the same current of modern music. This is the backdrop for Mladi raziskovalci / Young Researchers, a project conceived by drummer and composer Dré Hočevar to provide contexts in which young musicians could learn and improvise. The carefully designed system of modules and protocols fosters an awareness of the field of improvisation, promotes individual and collective reflection of the relationships between the flows of thought and sound, between thought and action, between the conscious and the spontaneous, while simultaneously delving deep into extramusical complements of the creative process. In current terms, these belong to the field of information – they are the forces that flow between the conscious and the unconscious. At the same time, they present a unique paradox since it is precisely the myriad of information that enables the 'emptiness' from the which self-generative and non-referential field may grow. This in turn creates an environment in which musicians can, as individuals and as groups, shed entrenched ideas, discard learned patterns, conventional models, habits, sounds, methods of playing, manners of listening, as well as interacting in groups. The young pianist Miha Gantar embraced these modules and protocols during the intensive five-day process that led to the composition Subconscious Rituals, performed with a quintet at the Jazz Cerkno festival. The tension that emanates from the composition is a reflection of the tension between the modules, between the tuning of musical parameters, between the relations within the group and the musical material, and between distinctive spontaneous impulses that form cracks in the compositional arc while simultaneously developing its expressive and dynamic soundscape. The latter is rooted in a markedly collective effort in which no role or voice stands above the rest, even though the quintet features instruments that are otherwise found in the foreground – two saxophones and a trumpet. This is what most strongly defines the music, which is at once a product and a component of the creative process. Moreover, the process of selecting modules is already the process of composition, shaping the character of the music, at all times coherent even when it is broken down in rhythmic structures, when it blazes through vigorous passages, toys with echoes of silence, fragments of melodies, colourful polyphonies, dynamic contrasts between minor sounds and extended lines, lyricism and robustness. Despite its complex transitions, the composition is characterised by a certain shyness and refrains from drifting into summery excess. On the other hand, it is not concocted from a plethora of established expressions, approaches, and techniques typically at the core of improvisational music. Rather, it seeks to develop, unfold, and coherently combine its own. For most of the quintet members, this was the first foray into the slippery field of exploration and experimentation. The music is certainly not without context – its frame is contemporary jazz and freely improvised music in conjunction with nuances of contemporary classical music. Its self-generative nature is underpinned by its spontaneous conception in time and place. References are loosened, but not severed, and find their way into the composition in new forms. The music brought to Cerkno by Miha Gantar's quintet is a field in which potentials can only grow.

Luka T. Zagoričnik


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


V zgodovini svobodno improvizirane godbe in svobodnjaškega jazza smo se srečali že s številnimi vzpostavljenimi okolji, ki so uokvirjali improvizacijo in spontanost trenutka, vzpostavljali nove forme in členili ustaljene relacije, tako na zvočni ravni, na ravni glasbenega materiala, kot relacij in hierarhij znotraj glasbene formacije. Od harmolodičnosti Ornetta Colemana, grafičnih diagramov v kreativni glasbi Anthonyja Braxtona, do metod kondukcije Lawrencea Butcha Morrisa ali globokega poslušanja Pauline Oliveros, igrivih in bojevitih strategij v game pieces Johna Zorna, in še bi lahko naštevali. Ob aleatoričnih kompozicijah, grafični in prozni notaciji, akcijah in intervencijah eksperimentalne glasbe in sodobne klasične glasbe ter novih premišljevanj in konceptualnosti zvoka v različnih medijih zvočne umetnosti spadajo v isti tok sodobne glasbe. V to shemo vstopa model Mladih raziskovalcev, širši cikel, ki ga je zasnoval bobnar in skladatelj Dré Hočevar kot izobraževalno in kompozicijsko okolje, namenjeno mladim glasbenikom in glasbenicam, v katerem s pomočjo premišljenega sistema modulov in protokolov ozavešča polje improvizacije, ga podvrže sistemu refleksije, tako osebne kot kolektivne, relacijam med miselnim in zvočnim tokom, med mislijo in gesto, med ozaveščenim in spontanim, ‘nezavednim’, obenem pa poseže tudi globoko v polje izvenglasbenega, ki komplementira sam ustvarjalni proces. V sodobnem jeziku gre za polje informacij, silnic, ki se med igranjem pretakajo med zavednim in nezavednim, obenem pa za svojstven paradoks, saj obilica informacij ravno omogoči svojstveno ‘praznino prostora’, iz katerega lahko vznikne nato samogenerirajoče in nereferenčno polje. S tem tvori trdno okolje, ki glasbenikom omogoča izstop iz ustaljenih okvirjev, tako na osebni kot skupinski ravni, izstop iz priučenosti, iz ustaljenih modelov, navad, zvokov in metod igranja, načinov poslušanja in interakcij v zasedbi, v katerega je vstopil mladi pianist Miha Gantar, ki je med intenzivnim petdnevnim procesom te module in protokole uporabil v kompoziciji Subconscious Rituals, ki jo je s kvintetom izvedel na festivalu Jazz Cerkno. Tenzija skladbe izhaja iz napetosti med moduli, med uglaševanjem glasbenih parametrov in relacij v formaciji in glasbenemu materialu ter med preklapljanem v izrazitejše spontane impulze, ki lomijo skupinski lok skladb in členijo njegovo ekspresivno ter dinamično zvočno sliko. Ta sloni na izraziti skupinski zvočnosti in karakterju, brez izrazitih in izstopajočih vlog in glasov, pa čeprav imamo v kvintetu glasbila, ki so ponavadi v ospredju (dva saksofona in trobento) To je najbolj trdna osnova te glasbe, ki je izrazit plod ustvarjalnega procesa in hkrati njegov sestavni del, obenem pa je sam proces z izbiro modulov hkrati tudi že kompozicijski proces sam. Skozenj se nato vrši karakter glasbe, ki je ves čas koherenten, tudi takrat, ko se drobi v ritmičnih strukturah, poleti v energične pasuse, se poigrava z odzvenom tišine, fragmenti melodij, barvajočimi večglasji, dinamičnimi kontrasti med malimi zvoki in podaljšanimi linijami, liričnostjo in robustnostjo. Kljub kompleksnosti prehajanj ima skladba nek zadržan karakter, ki ne zdrsne v poletno ekscesnost. Obenem tu ne gre za sežemanje že vzpostavljenih zvočnih govoric, pristopov in tehnik, ki tvorijo jedro zvočnosti improvizatorjev, temveč šele za vzpostavljanje le-teh, za njihovo razpiranje in umeščanje v koherentno celoto. Večina članov kvinteta je s tem prvič sploh vstopila v ta kontekst, v polje zdrsljivosti raziskovanja in eksperimentiranja. Seveda ima ta glasba svoj okvir, ki ga lahko lociramo v polju sodobnega jazza in svobodno improvizirane glasbe, ki se jima v odtenkih pridružuje pridih sodobne klasične glasbe, njena samogenerirajoča natura izhaja iz spontanega vznika na kraju samem, v samem trenutku njenega porajanja, kjer se reference rahljajo, ne pa izginjajo, oziroma se vračajo v samo glasbo predrugačene. V glasbi, ki jo je s kvintetom v Cerknem zajel Miha Gantar, slišimo polje potencialnosti, ki lahko samo še raste.

Luka T. Zagoričnik

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------