MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET

Bio:

MICHAEL VLATKOVICH REVIEWS

"Vlatkovich plays a muscular trombone that would have been a great asset to a Charles Mingus ensemble. His extensive vocabulary includes stentorian pronouncements, lyrical commentary, hysterical circus smears, and smooth glissandi. His bands can roar along like small juggernauts or navigate thoughtful, poignantly angular written passages. Then there are the floating, almost fragile, multiphonic clouds of sound that magically congeal in a Vlatkovich ensemble. He seems to welcome the aleatory abilities of his players as much as having his compositions played. "

DOWNBEAT

"Michael Vlatkovich isn't your average trombonist. He squeaks, soars, and sears and tears sonic pieces of paper much like a saxophonist. Quite simply, and with all due respect to players like Jed Bishop, Joe Fiedler, Masahiko Kono, Steve Swell, and even my all time favorite Roswell Rudd, Vlatkovich is the finest trombonist improvising today. While this music isn't exactly "out there," it is far from the "mainstream." There isn't a "blow out" or antagonistic section on this disc and yet all of the cuts have a smidgen of unpredictability that makes them challenging. In the end, it doesn't matter as this music shines in or outside of any context.

JAZZREVIEW.COM

"A commanding improvisational trombonist, Vlatkovich is also a devisor of challenging structures for his bandmates. Vlatkovich loves using word and numerical games to determine compositional structures. There are seldom "themes" as such but, rather, motifs collectively essayed. Around these guideposts, Vlatkovich leaves lot of room in which soloists can navigate. The raucous assembled horn passages have ancestral ties to early New Orleans jazz and Vlatkovich often writes short, concentrated ensemble bursts that hit like sound grenades."

JAZZIZ

"Michael Pierre Vlatkovich may not be a household name.... yet he still manages to be one of the most extraordinary improvising trombonists in this country as well as overseas. Also a gifted composer and arranger, Vlatkovich is one of the leading talents among Los Angeles improvisational players. Working from the Left Coast since 1973, he is well known for tireless touring, bringing his music all over the United States, Canada, and Europe. A daring and emotionally charged performer, Vlatkovich takes delight in blending a broad variety of jazz and world music styles into his own brand of engaging and unpredictable music. His approach manages to express a raw power and beauty within a minimally structured format that allows extensive group improvisations to lead the way."

ARTVOICE

"Vlatkovich is an arresting writer who works with many different forms - numerical compositions, tangos, waltzes, big band swingers, and more. He also assembles musicians accomplished enough to interpret his pieces with verve and imagination."

L.A. NEW TIMES

"Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich served up a more animated mix of gutbucket grooves and extended form at his Knitting Factory set...His multi-theme pieces flow in ways that feel right to the ear, so they don't feel like patchwork or even suite-like. They also leave lots of room for broad brush blowing."

CODA

"Maybe its the similarity to the slide whistle, but something about the trombone seems to attract musicians who, despite their amazing virtuosity, still retain a mischievous sense of humor. Vlatkovich and his ensemble play thoughtful, melodic free jazz with a wry air.....a little marvel of joyous, minimalist improvisation - consistently swinging but never confined by time".

SEATTLE WEEKLY

"With its blustery, swaggering and bluesy Mingus -like rag-tag amalgam of structure (including interesting support for soloists) and open-ended improvisation, buoyed by periodic rock rhythm underpinning which, amazingly enough, avoids any concession to fusion or pop, and odd striking percussion textures, it's a sprawling, spirited freewheeling set."

CADENCE JAZZ MAGAZINE

"The band is notable for its unusual instrumentation, encouraging pallet, repertoire of originals, and its good intentions...Vlatkovich's resourceful writing provided a framework fro his gritty, muffled-toned trombone."

LOS ANGELES TIMES

"The Michael Vlatkovich Quartet, specializes in tautly constructed group improvisations that provide lost of nourishing food for musical thought; their combinded sounds swing effortlessly yet solidly. From '20's style gutbucket testifying to '60's like "outside" musings and beyond, most of the passing century's musical innovations are encompassed. Blend in a healthy dose of humor and a bit of underlying irreverence and you've the makings of an enthralling evening."

SANTA FE REPORTER

"Trombonist/composer Michel Vlatkovich has a knack for leaving just the right loose ends loose and weaving others into knots that are almost impossible to unravel. His arrangements are characteristically sparse - sometimes startingly so- but the depths of his imagination are so densely packed with the new and the fresh that listening to Vlatkovich blow is to hear improvisational jazz for the first time, every time. The St. Louis born, musician is considered among the top musical and compositional minds on the Left Coast. That's at least in part because Vlatkovich, is almost entirely fearless when it comes to stretching the limits of jazz well beyond the accepted stratosphere of improvisation. Never timid, shy or subtle, Vlatkovich wrings melodies out of his trombone with brute force, nailing together a wide variety of jazz styles to miscellaneous scraps of world music and jackhammer rhythms. His music is brash, bold and exciting-the way improv ought to be."

THE WEEKLY ALIBI

"The skeletal compositions generate an organized spontaniety that is quite striking because the music is allowed to develop in an atmosphere of considerable freedom"

JAZZ FORUM

"In the spirit of Ornette Coleman, Vlatkovich compositions are often jagged and humorous...Vlatkovich's trombone ranges over as wide a terrain as his tunes, progressing form funky bop to slippery high register pranks to walking bass lines to frog-like croaks" "With its blustery, swaggering and bluesy Mingus-like rag tag amalgam of structure(including interesting support for soloists) and open-ended improvisations, buoyed by periodic rock rhythm underpinning which, amazingly enough, avoids any concession to fusion or pop, and odd striking percussion textures, it's a sprawling, spirited,free-wheeling set."

THE NEWS AND OBSERVER

Member Since:

July 04, 2008

Members:

Michael Vlatkovich -trombone, compositions

Christopher Garcia - drumset, percussion

Jonothan Golove - electric 5 string cello

David Mott - baritone saxophone

VLATKOVICH Home Page

MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET/ ALIVEBUQUERQUE/ pfMENTUM CD045D

This 2003 live performance at an Albuquerque venue signifies yet another glimpse of enterprising trombonist Michael Vlatkovich’s multi-purposed artistic demeanor. In addition, the artist’s rep as a consummate improviser generally equates to first-call session duties. But here, the leader steers the band through explorations of the lower-tonal ranges via the e-cello, trombone and bari sax frontline. No doubt, it must have been an exciting live spectacle as the unit’s wily gait yields an abundance of stylizations and mini-motifs. As minimalism attains a fruitful coexistence with garrulous improvisation and off-kilter movements, spanning concise and linear unison choruses amid staggered pulses.

The quartet is apt to flex some muscle via its gutsy, in-your-face modus operandi. More importantly, the soloists’ exchanges and sub-themes often spawn tangible melodic content, which is a component that is often neglected within free-form jazz frontiers. On the flip side, the musicians abide by a semi-structured game-plan. It’s a very coherent and cleverly executed one at that.

Glenn Astarita/EJAZZNEWS

MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET/ ALIVEBUQUERQUE/ pfMENTUM CD045D

This disc is the product of a May 19, 2003 concert at the Outpost Performance Space in, you guessed it, Albuquerque. The hour long set represented on this recording is a wonderful collection of music played by a rather eclectic yet blended quartet. The instrumentation of percussion, baritone sax, electric cello, and trombone shows a clever amount of sonic unification as well as diversity. The performers aren’t afraid of the full range of their instruments (several times I thought Mr. Vlatkovich switched to trumpet) and they are able to carve out their own musical space when necessary. The electric cello doesn’t quite have the same edgy presence as the other instruments and that is used as an asset instead of a liability.

Each piece contains a playful sense of freedom and structure. From the first gesture of Black Triangles, Yellow Corn, and Pink Medicine Drops through the “oom pah pah” section to the freewheeling bari solo and then the punchy trombone/sax duet that gradually pulls everyone in, etc. and so on, there is a real Zappa-esque feeling throughout the disc. We go to unexpected places within a single track but each move, no matter how drastic, sounds right. The music seems to come from a place of serenity and organicism. I’ve known a number of people who respond this way to time in New Mexico and it seem the Michael Vlatkovich Quartet has fallen under the same spell.

The quartet has an excellent sense of pacing and silence. Gestures sit in space, the group breathes as a unit, and they have an excellent sound color. The opening of Blue Fragments has a spunky tune (almost cutesy) in muted trombone and electric cello while the bari sax riffs unencumbered. The opening lyrical solo by the bari sax in Every Second of Every Minute of Every Hour is sensitive and beautiful. I’m sorry I missed the concert but I’m glad to have this record of it.

SEQUENZA.COM/Jay Batzner.

MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET/ ALIVEBUQUERQUE/ pfMENTUM CD045D

Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich is a stalwart of the LA creative music community, an early cohort of Vinny Golia and other artists associated with the multi-instrumentalist’s Nine Winds imprint. He has led his own ensembles since the early 1980s, emphasizing an idiomatically off-center compositional vocabulary and providing ample space for improvisation.

Recorded at Albuquerque’s Outpost Performance Space in 2003, this quartet set with baritone saxophonist David Mott, electric cellist Jonathan Golove and drummer Christopher Garcia shows how Vlatkovich’s writing can encompass stentorian themes and sardonic waltzes in a single piece without fracturing it into vaguely connected sections. He is also adept at slipping in such sudden jarring changes in direction as a riveting unison phrase in the midst of a pensive, elastically stated canon without sabotaging the overall mood of the piece. As an improviser, Vlatkovich is thoroughly grounded in the post-Mangelsdorff trombone lexicon, but throws down his chops sparingly. When Vlatkovich and Mott do lock horns, the resulting intensity is refreshingly stunning. Still, Vlatkovich’s music frequently has a formal bearing that owes much to the ensemble-minded work of Mott, Garcia and Golove, whose electric instrument proves to be remarkably flexible in lending rhythmic support and tonal mooring, or providing counter lines and harmonic extensions. It’s music with more than a quarter-century’s refinement behind it. Vlatkovich has known the loneliness of the long distance runner a long time – it’s time for folks to catch up to him.

Bill Shoemaker

http://www.POINTOFDEPARTURE.ORG/PoD12/PoD12MoreMoments3.html

MV4 PREVIEWS

JAZZ: Michael Vlatkovich Quartet at the COP SHOP ATRIUM (2/28)

Portland-based trombonist Michael Vlatkovich last appeared in town in 2002 at Monty's Korner as the leader of a trio (the memorable performance also featured local trumpet luminary Paul Smoker as a special guest). This time, he leads a group in the unorthodox format of trombone, cello, baritone sax, and drums. Simply put, this isn't something you get to see every day, and the possibilities go beyond the choice of instrumentation. Vlatkovich, who has played with Peggy Lee, Mark Weber, and Jeff Kaiser (as well as Oingo Boingo, Brian Setzer, and Bryan Adams), has been christened as "the finest trombone player improvising today" by Jazzreview.com. His style lands squarely left of the mainstream but remains approachable and relies on subtle unpredictability rather than full-on abstraction. And the rest of the quartet's wide-ranging experience ensures music with a stirring variety of textures.

ROCHESTER CITY NEWS

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