Koncert JAZZ CONNECTION
TUESDAY, 13TH NOVEMBER
Cafe “Zeppelin”, 8 pm
JAZZ CONNECTION
Martin Rüegg, piano, voice
Branimir Mike Mijatović, drums, voice
Jovan Jovi Drapšin, percussions
Phil Hero, bass guitar
Brian Moore, saxophone
JAZZ CONNECTION
The room that we use for rehearsals is an adapted garage of our friend, the pianist, and is located in Winterthur, a small town in the vicinity of Zurich. Jazz Connection had its debut performance on 6th September 2007. We simply opened the garage and played for our neighbours, friends and relatives. The audience gathered was seated on various garden chairs, benches and stools brought out from the neighbourhood. During an intermission and afterwards they ate and drank the food and drinks that they had brought over. That was our first jazz appearance. For our second jazz appearance, our neighbour Arie created a new beer and named it after the name of the street where we played. When the weather is nice, we perform every first Saturday of July in the beautiful garden of our pianist, and last July we celebrated our 10th jazz appearance. In case of bad weather, we rent the hall of our local Youth Centre.
According to our audience, who has been following us from the very start, the quality of our musicianship has noticeably improved, and our music sounds more mature and relaxed, kind of cool.
We enjoy playing together with special guests – musicians who contact us spontaneously. We have had some guest pianists, wind instrumentalists, violinists, singers and other artists, of different nationalities.
MARTIN RÜEGG, keyboards and voice – bandleader
Martin takes pleasure in the joint development of style, his own piano technique in particular, enjoying the diversity of improvisations and dynamism emerging from complete peace.
Upon completing his pedagogical studies, Martin had a keen desire to learn to play at least one melody, that is, accompany it from other tonalities as well, training his ear.
As a seventeen-year old, he switched from violin to piano. Ever since he adapted his garage in a room for music practice, and since he started taking lessons with an excellent jazz and RB pianist David Roush, he has had time and will to groove, in an initial duo formation, as well as in a trio, quartet, and in today’s quintet formation of Jazz Connection.
Martin also sings in an a capella quartet.
BRANIMIR “MIJAT/MIKE” MIJATOVIĆ, vocal and drums
Mijat, aka Mike, is a co-founder of the Jazz Connection quintet. As its most experienced member, he advises the other band members, both in regard to rhythm and the style and character of the melodies. Together with other band members, he takes care of the aesthetic details of the repertoire. After retirement, Mike dedicated more time to jazz and jazz singing, the music of his childhood. He plays with other ensembles as well; he sings classical music with one large choir, and has been a member of the local Serbian Orthodox Church for exactly 50 years now.
Born in Novi Sad, Mijat started playing rhythm guitar with many a small ensemble from Novi Sad at the age of 14, getting an engagement as a drummer with the Dance Orchestra of Radio Novi Sad at the age of 20. After graduating from high school, he went on to university to study Agronomy, but after 6 semesters he dropped out for the love of music, leaving with the ABC Quintet and DD Duo first for Austria, and then Germany. Meeting the famous VIS Montenegro 5, he remained with them until early 1970s. Mijat has appeared in a number of TV shows, in his homeland and in Germany.
JOVAN “JOVI” DRAPŠIN, percussions
Jovan has been playing various percussions since he was a child. He likes unusual rhythms and different styles. Since 2012, Jovan has been a permanent member of Jazz Connection and its passionate percussionist.
He was interested in music since his youth, learning the accordion, but later he narrowed his focus on jazz, Latin, rock and pop music. At the age of 16, he saved from his pocket money and bought his first second-hand drum set, which he lovingly restored with the help of his father. He played with several local bands. After a relatively long stay in India, he learned Indian percussions – tabla and sitar. Since then, Jovan has been playing the Balkan, Latin, Indo, fusion and ethno jazz music on various percussion instruments.
PHIL HERO, electric bass
For Phil Jazz Connection is an ideal platform to dedicate more time to jazz and improve his soloist proficiency.
Phil’s music career started in primary school, when, as all pupils, he played a wooden flute. He later sang enthusiastically in the school choir. At the age of 16 he bought a drum set, finally finding his instrument – electric bass, at the age of 19. After three-year studies of environmental sciences at the University of Zurich, he finally opted for music and started studying at the College for Music and Theatre in Zurich, in the field of pop-rock music, where he graduated from.
In his music career, Phil has played almost everything, from blues through funk to dialect-rock, and is into composition. He has played with a number of top-class musicians until he finally chose Jazz Connection.
Studio and sound engineering has always been among his interests, so he built his own studio several years ago, where the debut CD of the Jazz Connection quintet was recorded.
BRIAN MOORE, tenor saxophone
I mostly like to play jazz standards as I think they really suit the sound and feel of the saxophone.
I listen to the likes of John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins…
I like to play with the Jazz Connection as we share a similar feel for and enjoyment of music…
Unable to wait for perfect, I play what I know now and what I like…
I have been playing saxophone for over 20 years, on and off, when I have time. I started music, on the saxophone, when I was in school, have played with lots of different bands over the years, always connected to jazz, always most interested in improvisation…
