JELENA JOVOVIC - Heartbeat
www.jelenajovovicjazz.com
Jelena Jovovic (vocals); Vasil Hadzimanov (piano, Rhodes); Milan Nikolic (bass); Vladimir Kostadinovic (drums); Rastko Obradovic (tenor sax); Strahinja Banovic (trumpet, 3 tracks) also on various tracks: Milos Branisavljevic (vibes); Branco Trijic (guitar); Dusan Novakov (drums); Stjepko Gut (trumpet); Milos Nikolic (trumpet/trombone); Tom Fedja Franklin, Bojan Ivkovic (perc); Srdjan Markovic, Ivana Vukmirovic, Llija Mihailovic (backing vocals); Oleg Kireyev (Tatar throat singing)
Jelena Jovovic is a Serbian singer. It’s her first album as a leader, although she has performed with jazz greats Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy and has studied in Austria and Belgrade.
This album contains a combination of originals and jazz pieces with no lyrics, which she has added. On an initial listen, the standout track is Wayne Shorter’s 'Witch Hunt', with all its atmospheric parts, including screams at the end – thrilling and eerie.
Other tracks that impress are 'Paladin', with mellifluous piano from Vasil Hadzimanov and the title track which has a lazy, sunny groove and features eminent support from Rastko Obradovic’s melting saxophone.
Jelena has a strong, warm and rounded voice and she successfully attempts wordless singing and scat on several tracks including Countless Stars and Bubu’s Song. Her Eastern European burr on the English lyrics on this album is very apparent. It adds to the appeal of the tracks, although occasionally one struggles to hear the lyric due to it. Perhaps including printed lyrics in the album booklet would have been a useful addition to the album, however this is no criticism, one simply wants to completely understand the lyrics that she had crafted around these timeless classics.
A very encouraging debut, Jelena impresses in a Heartbeat!
Reviewed by Wendy Kirkland
www.jelenajovovicjazz.com
Jelena Jovovic (vocals); Vasil Hadzimanov (piano, Rhodes); Milan Nikolic (bass); Vladimir Kostadinovic (drums); Rastko Obradovic (tenor sax); Strahinja Banovic (trumpet, 3 tracks) also on various tracks: Milos Branisavljevic (vibes); Branco Trijic (guitar); Dusan Novakov (drums); Stjepko Gut (trumpet); Milos Nikolic (trumpet/trombone); Tom Fedja Franklin, Bojan Ivkovic (perc); Srdjan Markovic, Ivana Vukmirovic, Llija Mihailovic (backing vocals); Oleg Kireyev (Tatar throat singing)
Jelena Jovovic is a Serbian singer. It’s her first album as a leader, although she has performed with jazz greats Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy and has studied in Austria and Belgrade.
This album contains a combination of originals and jazz pieces with no lyrics, which she has added. On an initial listen, the standout track is Wayne Shorter’s 'Witch Hunt', with all its atmospheric parts, including screams at the end – thrilling and eerie.
Other tracks that impress are 'Paladin', with mellifluous piano from Vasil Hadzimanov and the title track which has a lazy, sunny groove and features eminent support from Rastko Obradovic’s melting saxophone.
Jelena has a strong, warm and rounded voice and she successfully attempts wordless singing and scat on several tracks including Countless Stars and Bubu’s Song. Her Eastern European burr on the English lyrics on this album is very apparent. It adds to the appeal of the tracks, although occasionally one struggles to hear the lyric due to it. Perhaps including printed lyrics in the album booklet would have been a useful addition to the album, however this is no criticism, one simply wants to completely understand the lyrics that she had crafted around these timeless classics.
A very encouraging debut, Jelena impresses in a Heartbeat!
Reviewed by Wendy Kirkland
