SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: OZREN DEPOLO – CHAPTERS (SCREEN & STAGE DANCEFLOOR JAZZ FROM YUGOSLAVIA 1971-1984)

OZREN DEPOLO
CHAPTERS (SCREEN & STAGE DANCEFLOOR JAZZ FROM YUGOSLAVIA 1971-1984)
Fox and His Friends Records

From the 19th century until present day, Zagreb, has been known for many things, including music. Originally classical music emitted from the capital, but by the mid-1900s, jazz took over. Ozren Depolo was a central figure of Zagreb’s jazz community. Although he only released two albums during his lifetime, he was well known for his work on television and with the RTV Zagreb Dance Orchestra, where he was the principal alto saxophonist and soloist for forty years.

Depolo was born in 1930 in Zagreb, when Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia. He was quickly recognized as a force in jazz, and worked with many jazz greats during his career, including John Lewis (The Modern Jazz Quartet), Clark Terry, Oliver Nelson, Gerry Mulligan, and Ted Curson, to name just a few. But there was another side to Depolo as well. By the 1970s, he began to write and play dance-oriented jazz and electronic music which he created in collaboration with Igor Savin at the legendary Lisinski Electronic Studio. He also wrote a lot of music for films and television. This album, Chapters (Screen & Stage Dancefloor Jazz from Yugoslavia 1971-1984) is a collection of songs Depolo wrote and performed between 1971-1984, passing away in 2005.

Songs like “Night Out (Theme from Early Snow in Munich),” “Winter’s Wish,” and “Paraphrase SW (Theme for Stevie Wonder)” are more funk and R&B than they are jazz. Depolo provides some incredible solos, and his saxophone drives each of the tracks, but the layered electronic backing adds a great deal. When one thinks of jazz from Croatia, one does not think these are the sounds one will hear. And they sound incredible.

There are some more experimental songs, such as “Early Snow In Munich (Opening Credits),” which features some odd vocals and “Love Experiment (End Credits From Whatever You Can Spare)” starts off as almost ambient but morphs into a variation of Mantovani’s “Love Is Blue.” “Peep Show (feat. Zdenka Kovacicek)” predates Soft Cell and is a fascinating track. Her vocals are outstanding.

Elsewhere, Depolo employs an orchestra for the very traditional sounding “Oberhausen (Orchestral Version)” and “Whatever You Can Spare (Orchestral Version).” The orchestra is an interesting choice, and the songs stand out as, perhaps, more complete.

There is a great deal to discover on Chapters (Screen & Stage Dancefloor Jazz from Yugoslavia 1971-1984). It is of its time, so it is a little dated, but that adds charm as a sense of another time and another place. This is a great album to have on in the background, but it is equally great to focus on the music. Chapters (Screen & Stage Dancefloor Jazz from Yugoslavia 1971-1984) is a fascinating glimpse into another era.

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