Vasko Atanasovski is a Slovenian composer. He also plays sax and flute (at least, that's all on this album). His quartet is rounded out with an accordion, a tuba and percussion. At times a cello drops in as well. Is it folk music? Yes. Jazz? Sure. Classical? Kinda, especially when you consider how many "classical" compositions are simply formalized transliterations of folks songs. Atanasovski and friends skip the formalization and simply play these pieces in a folk style.

Vasko Atanasovski Adrabesa Quartet Phoenix (MoonJune)

Atanasovski is borrowing from a wide range of European folk styles, and he obviously is focusing on those that fit particularly well with an accordion. The use of tuba as opposed to string bass likewise adds to the informal sound. These sounds could be wafting from some out-of-the-way bistro in Bulgaria. Or something like that.

And yet there is something stronger than that of background cafe music. Atanasovski often uses his soprano sax, which in his hands often takes on a clarinet-like sound. In this way, he evokes even further eastern sounds, getting all the way to the middle east. He doesn't worry a bit about mixing and matching his influences, and in so doing has crafted something that is all his own.

Genre is overrated, and Atanasovski is full proof of that. He and his quartet have put together one of the most entertaining and exciting albums I've heard in some time. It makes no sense ethnographically. And that's exactly as it should be.

Jon Worley