ŽAN TETIČKOVIČ – THE PORT OF LIFE
For the first time in Ljubljana, the new project of young and versatile, New York based Slovenian music artist with a select line-up of excellent musicians from Slovenia and abroad. The Port of Life is a modern audio-visual narrative, combining the elements of contemporary jazz, classical, electronic and world music, telling the stories and experience of immigrants in New York.
Band:
Žan Tetičkovič – drums, composition
Myles Sloniker (ZDA) – bass
Marko Črnčec – piano
Jani Moder – guitar
Lenart Krečič – saxophones
Tomaž Gajšt – trumpet
Matija Krečič and Janus Atelier quartet – strings
Alba Nacinovich – vokal
Andrej Lamut – photography, projections
The music that was written through a series of crucial situations in life, is brimming with artful elements of jazz, classical, electronic and world music. The pleasant lyrical and harmonious melodies presents the listener with a perceivable experience, making a strong mark and leaving a lasting memory.
The central drive and inspirational force of the story in Port of Life is a unique complex of the cultures of the world. Between 1892 and 1954 they would intersect after long voyages across the world’s oceans on Ellis Island, the greatest immigration centre of the USA, located on a small island along the south coast of Manhattan in the lower, southern part of New York Bay. Having passed the immigration procedures either successfully or not, each immigrant was to be forever marked by the unique experience, at the same time making their contribution to the emergence of a new, slightly different culture, even polyculture. And it was the medium of jazz that, in such a short period of time marked by diverse influences, experienced the greatest polystylistic rebirth. Jazz is a movement in music that is forever evolving, dying and being born, being restored.
It has been decades since new immigrants have last been identifying themselves with the arrival to Ellis Island, yet the process of acculturation and all its stages in the global metropolis of New York remain much the same, serving as the identification point to all immigrants who have left their homes, regardless of their reasons. The story of Žan is just like that and five years after he first left for New York he is finally willing to tell his tale through art and creativity, trying to present it to the general public in his music.
The central, conceptual 50-minute six-movement suite entitled “Acculturation Suite” (movements: “Memoir”, “Euphoria”, “Collapse”, “Alienation”, “Adjustment”, “New Beginning”) is embraced by two (opening and final) split parts of the title composition “Port of Life”, entitled “Dusk” and “Dawn” respectively.
Born in 1991, Žan Tetičkovič is a New York based Slovenian drummer, award winning composer and arranger, graduate of “The New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music”. He is a two time winner and recipient of “ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award” in 2012 and 2014, recipient of “Jazzon LIVE Master Award 2012” for best original composition in jazz, as well as recipient of “Jazzon Audience Award 2012” for best performance of composition. He is a member and co-founder of numerous projects, in New York and Slovenia. As drummer, composer and arranger, he has collaborated with great names in jazz, both in New York (Yosvany Terry, Arun Luthra, Chris Stover, Reggie Workman, Jane Ira Bloom) and in Slovenia (Igor Bezget, Jure Pukl, Marko Črnčec, Lenart Krečič, Big Band RTV Slovenia, Ljubljana Saxophone Quintet, Nina Strnad, Uroš Perić…). In November 2013, he recorded his first co-authored album “Balchemy” with the band of the same name. Following exceptional critical response and acceptance, the band played one of the most prestigious jazz clubs in Europe, “Marian’s Jazz Room” in Bern, in December 2013. The band also won a prestigious Downbeat magazine award in April 2014, in the “Outstanding performance – small group” category. In May 2014, following an extremely successful project featuring concerts with Big Band RTV Slovenia, he recorded a double album for his “Oasis” project, where he is joined by exceptional guest musicians: Theodosii Spassov, Vlatko Stefanovski, Filip Novosel, Marko Črnčec and Milan Nikolić.