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CD - SARAJEVO
REMARKE
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The 60s and 70s certainly
weren't very fruitful for jazz in Sarajevo. With the exception
of the BKB Trio, which was founded in the early 60s by Kornelije
Bata Kovac, one can safely say that nothing was happening. By
the end of the 70s pianist Sinan Alimanovic left Pristina and
settled permanently in Sarajevo. He was actively involved in the
work of the Dance Orchestra of RTV Sarajevo. In 1980 he started
a quintet, which became a quartet, then sextet and septet, depending
on the line up shifts. The members of the Band for the first few
years were: Fadil Redzic (bass guitar), who lives and works in
Atlanta, USA; Arsen Eres (saxophone), who lives and works in Zagreb,
Croatia; Slobodan Sokolovic (trombone), who lives and works in
France; Radmilo Milsovaric (trombone), who lives and works in
Zagreb, Croatia; Nenad Petrovic (alto saxophone), who lives and
works in Belgrade, Serbia; Faruk Jazic (bass guitar), who lives
and works in Sarajevo, B&H; Kenan Kurtalic (guitar), who lives
and works in Plevlja, Montenegro; Faik lacevic (drums), who lives
and works in Sarajevo, B&H; Sinan Alimanovic (piano), who
lives and works in Sarajevo, B&H. During the next six years
they continually performed in the Jazz Club Seniona (the Club
of International Friendship) in Sarajevo. It can be safely said
that the Jazz Club became a sort of cult place where larger and
larger crowds of jazz fans used to gather. A number of eminent
musicians appeared as guests of Alimanovic's band. Among others,
there were: Dusko Gojkovic, Gianni Basso, Erich Kleinschuster,
Alvin Queen, Lala Kovacev, Ladislav Fidri, Misa Blam, Stjepko
Gut, ect. Invitations for participations in films followed. They
were especially successful at festivals: the Valjevo Jazz Festival
(1983); the Opatija Jazz Festival (1984) and the Bled Jazz Festival
(1986). Besides a few concerts in Sarajevo in the Djuro Djakovic
Concert Hall (now the BKC) the Band also gave successful performances
in Tuzla and Banja Luka. In the same period they gave noticeable
performances on RTV SA and throughout ex-Yugoslavia in the popular
TV programs 'Sunday Afternoon' and 'Night and Day'. After 1986
the members of the band focused mainly on the work in the Dance
Orchestra of RTV SA and the Quintet ceased appearing actively.
The start of the war in 1992 interrupted the activities of almost
every musician in the area and this ensemble wasn't an exception.
After a break that lasted from 1986 to 1998, the Quintet continued
its activities, but with a somewhat different line up. The ensemble
started performing with the international musicians: Ladislav
Fidri, trumpet and flugelhorn, Zagreb, Croatia; Petar Peco Petej,
drums, Split, Croatia; Davor Crnigoj, bass guitar, Zagreb, Croatia;
Slobodan Bodo Kovacevic, guitar, Sarajevo, B&H; Sinan Alimanovic,
piano, Sarajevo, B&H. There was another change in 2001 after
which the group started performing with its current line up: Faik
Lacevic, drums, Dinko Simunocic, acc. bass and bass guitar, Slobodan
Bodo Kovacevic, guitar, Sinan Alimanovic, piano and organ Hammond
B-3. Bearing in mind that the band is also the rhythm section
of the Sarajevo Big Band, there have been some very interesting
sessions with guests Dusko Gojkovic, Goce Dimirovski, Arsen Eres
and Ratko Divjak. The Quintet also gave a successful concert in
the BKC in Tuzla, on the occasion of awarding the prize 'Businessman
of the Year 2002' in B&H. One of the last successful performances
of the Sinan Alimanovic Quintet happened in Prague, (the Czech
Republic) on 4th April 2002. The concert was a part of the festival
"Sarajevo Days' held in the legendary jazz club Reduta. On
this occasion their guest was Goce Dimitrevski playing the trumpet.
Except their own compositions and traditional Bosnian song arrangements,
the Sinan Alimanovic Quintet has jazz classics (standards) with
a bebop orientation in its repertoire.
SINAN ALIMANOVIC (piano,
organ, keyboard, leader, composer, conductor, arranger) was born
in 1954 in Leskovac into a musical family. He studied music at
the Academies in Skoplje, Pristina and Sarajevo. He has played
in many different rock, jazz-rock and jazz groups as well as in
big bands. He was one of the members and leader of the fusion
band from Pristina called 'Kosovski bozuri'. In the 70s he was
a permanent member of the Show Orchestra of RTV Pristina as a
pianist and conductor, only to leave for Sarajevo in 1979 where
he developed an especially lively activity, mainly as a member
of the rhythm section of the Big Orchestra RTV Sarajevo (later
B&H), but also as an arranger, composer and conductor. Working
in the Big Band RTV B&H, he also performed with and led smaller
ensembles playing his original compositions, which were frequently
based on the elements of Balkan folk music, as well as a new view
of the well-known standard compositions of the Balkans (mainly
bebop).
Sinan Alimanovic has had a stormy and rich career, which includes
collaboration with many prominent figures of the European and
American jazz scenes, such as: Gianni Basso, Dusko Gojkovic, Erich
Kleinschuster, Alvin Quin, Vaclav Zahradnik, Stjepko Gut, Petar
Ugrin, Ladislav Fidry, and many others. With his small bands and
big orchestras he has performed at a number of festivals throughout
Europe, ranging from Novi Sad and Valjevo, to Prague, Bled, Radenaca,
Sweden, Stockholm, and other exotic destination. Devoted to blues
and swing, as well as its bebop roots, as a pianist he is a musician
of high technique and powerful dynamics, an original composer
and arranger who writes music for small and big bands, has a large
discography as a small band leader, as well as a sideman in big
orchestras. The CD 'Sarajevo Remake' (2003), where he leads his
own Quintet is the crown of his music career.
In addition to everything previously mentioned, Sinan Alimanovic
was also a member of 'Indeksi', and for this legendary group he
wrote a number of arrangements and adaptations of some traditional
Bosnian love songs. He plays the Hammond organ, he was a member
of the EBU/UER Public Jazz Orchestra twice, and since 1990 he
has led the Big Band RTV Sarajevo (B&H), and appeared as a
the conductor and arranger at the European Song Contest five times.
He is one of the founders of the Sarajevo Big Band with which
he appeared on the big gala concert in the Olympic Hall 'Zetra'
in Sarajevo in 2000 side by side with Djordje Balasevic, Oliver
Dragojevic, Kemal Monteno, 'Indeksi', Vlado Kreslin and Dusko
Gojkovic, documented later on the double CD-box 'The Biggest Concert
in Town' released for the Merkator Center opening.
GEORGI-GOCE DIMITROVSKI
was born in Bitolj in 1945. He has been in music since he was
six. He started playing professionally when he was 18. From 1963
to 1965 he played in the Big Band Radio Skopje. From 1967 he lived
and worked in Belgrade where he started his career in jazz music.
He went to music school in Skopje and later studied Jazz Arrangement
at the Berklee School of Music. In 1972 he became a member of
the Big Band Radio Television Belgrade and worked frequently with
the Novi Sad Big Band as a conductor and soloist. He has played
with well-known international musicians such as: Freddie Hubbard,
Clark Terry, Jerone Richardson, Frank Rosolino, Tony Scott, and
others. He has toured in all European countries and participated
in jazz festivals such as: Montre, Pori, Balwe, the Belgrade Jazz
Festival, etc. He is currently living in Skopje where he is working
in the RTV Big Band as a trumpet soloist.
MILORAD SULE JOVOVIC
was born in 1966 in Pluzine. He graduated from the Academy of
Music in Cetinje. He is the founder of the first Montenegrin jazz
trio the PIVA JAZZ. He has participated in many music projects
and has had a large number of performances in Yugoslavia and abroad.
DINKO SIMUNOVIC (contrabass,
bass guitar) was born in 1970 in Sarajevo. He is one of the jazz
soloists of Sarajevo's new generation, very attractive on the
new Sarajevo scene. He is a permanent member of the Sinan Alimanovic
Quintet, as well as the Edin Bosnic Trio and Quartet - CD release.
He has played at a number of performances and in studios in the
country and abroad.
FAIK LACEVIC (drums,
percussion) was born in 1952 in Sarajevo. He is one of the most
prominent percussionists, and a long-time member of the Dance
Orchestra RTV Sarajevo. He has performed at a number of jazz and
pop music festivals and has been a member of many small ensembles.
He is a reliable member of the rhythm section devoted to modern
jazz. He has also performed with many respectable musicians as
a guest in the country and abroad.
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