Weather Report, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Return to Forever, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Led Zeppelin, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Machavishnu Orchestra,Smak, Bato the Yugo, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Cream, Salif Keita, Hermeto Pascoal, Karim Ziad, Trilok Gurtu, Jack de Johnette, Steve Gadd, Kennie Kirkland, Sarlo Akrobata, EKV, Rambo Amadeus, Disciplina Kitschme, Bojan Z, Sveti, Bace Quartet, Zafir and Senka, Bisera Veletanlic, Vojin Draskoci....
Vasil's classical training began at the age of 5 and included attendance at one of the oldest music high schools in South East Europe, "Stevan Mokranjac" in Belgrade (prof. Ljubinka Hadzi-Jovancic).
It was his interest in jazz, however, that won him full scholarship to attend the Interlochen Arts Camp for two summers in a row and afforded him the opportunity to study and perform with Milt Jackson, Curtis Fuller, and Bayron Stripling among others.
He moved to Boston in 1992 to study piano and arranging at Berklee College of Music on a scholarship. He graduated in 1995 and his piano teachers were Ray Santisi and Lazslo Gardony. While at Berklee, he performed with Matt Garrison, Rick Peckham, Leroy Jenkins (in his rap opera Funky Faust), George Garzone, Ayib Dieng, Adam Deutch, Antonio Sanchez, Reuben Rogers, Marko Djordjevic,Bato the Yugo,Gintas Janusonis, ... and toured nationally with Paskal Bokar's afro-pop band.
In September 1996 Vasil moved to New York, where he continued his work with some of the best young musicians like: David Gilmore, David Binney, Cris Cheek, Danny Sadownick, Rodney Holmes, Ultranate...
At the same time, he worked as a music programmer at the TOMANDANDY studios (authors of the Killing Zoe soundtrack).
After spending a year in the Big Apple he decided to move back to Serbia(Yugoslavia) and finish what he started with his own: VASIL HADZIMANOV BAND
His ideas of mixing Balkan traditional, folk rhythms and melodies with the western, modern musical styles (jazz, funk, world music) in his own music is completely authentic and a new approach to jazz music. For the last 5 years, Vasil and his musicians have continuously played his compositions on concerts and jazz festivals all over Serbia and Montenegro and other countries with big success (Belgrade summertime Jazz Fest - following Joe Zawinul, Novi Sad Jazz Fest., Nis, Smederevo, Kragujevac, Podgorica, Budva, Banjaluka, Sarajevo, Mostar, Zelenkovac Jazz Fest (Bosnia), Skopje Soul and Blues Fest., Kumanovo Jazz Fest.(Macedonia), Maribor Lent Fest., Cerkno Jazz Fest. (Slovenia), Opatija Jazz Fest., Promotion concert for the PGP publishing house in Stuttgart, Pula (Croatia), Berlin (benefit concert), Porgy and Bess jazz club in Vienna (Austria), Bratislava Jazz Days Jazzove dni (Slovakia) In the year of 2001, Vasil Hadzimanov Band released their first CD and tape under the title 11 reasons for published by PGP-RTS. Its first edition sold out in three months. Also for their first release, they won the award Beovision 2002 for the Best Debut Album of The Year 2002. In the summer of 2002 Vasil Hadzimanov Band joined famous director Goran Paskaljevic and his film crew, in making of a documentary about Belgrade, for the ARTE television. Vasil composed the music and the band fronted by their percussionist Bojan Ivkovic, acted and performed music in the movie. Vasils music can also be found on 011 Belgrade, a movie by a young Austrian director Michael Pfeifenberger and a new movie by Rasha Andric "When I Grow Up I Wanna Be A Kangaroo". In the year of 2003 they released their second CD Kafanki, again published by PGP-RTS, which they currently promote across Europe. For this one, they won the award Suncane skale 2003 for the Best Instrumental Album of The Year 2003. 19th of November 2003 VH Band performed on the Enter Music Festival in Belgrade sharing the stage with the great Joe Zawinul and his Zawinul Syndicate. After hearing the band perform live, Zawinul himself invited Vasil and his mates to perform in his new club in Vienna, called "Joe's Birdland", in the spring of 2005. In the summer of 2005, the band will represent the sounds of the Balkan on Expo 2005 Aichi, Japan. In June 2004 VH Band were invited by the violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy to perform with him on his big Belgrade concert. This was quite an experience for both parties involved, as well as for the audience
Vasil also performed with the following European artists: Teodosii Spassov, Bojan Zulfikarpasic, Toni Kitanovski, Peter Herbert, Bace Quartet, Imre Keszegi, Dusko Gojkovic (European tour), Steve Gut, Bisera Veletanlic, Zafir and Senka Hadzimanov, Rambo Amadeus, Darkwood Dub....
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No to nas nije omelo da napravimo pocetne korake i usaglasimo stavove za egzistencijalno bitna pitanja nashe scene. U planu je nekoliko zajednickih akcija (pomenutih 5 bendova) u cilju promovisanja ove ideje. No o tome nekom drugom prilikom, da ne pricamo u napred.
Bend u proseku dovede oko 70 ljudi na svirku. Pice kosta oko 140 din. Neka je nabavna cena pica 40 din. Neka plate sve ostale moguce troskove (porez, radnike, ...), pa po picu ne bi trebalo da bude vishe od 30 din. A kao shto znate svaki put nam donesu fiskalni racun!!!! (hahaha) Znaci njima ostaje 70 din cistog profita. Svako ko dodje popije u proseku dva pica, siguran sam da popije i vishe, al ajde. Pomnozimo ove tri cifre 70 ljudi * 2 pica * 70 cist profit i dobijemo cifru od 9800 din. No ni to nije dovoljno, nego se ugradjuju i na prodate karte. Ja sam uveren da su oni po veceri dobri 100 eura cistog profita, MINIMUM!!!! A shta bendovi dobijaju od toga, koji su se iscimali da dovedu ljude, lepili plakate,.... A da ne pricam o vremenu i trudu i novcu (oprema, odrzavanje opreme, iznajmljivanje studija,....) da bi napravili taj repertoar. Shta su dobili pa jedno veliko NISHTAAAAAAAA!!!
ROKENROL U SRBIJI NIJE CENJEN!! ZBOG CEGA? JRE NEMA CENU! AJMO DA NAPRAVIMO PRVI KORAK, CENA JE TA I TA!
