Dejan Terzic Quartet (Naxos Jazz: Four for One

Skins. Dejan Terzic’s Four for One is the second Naxos Jazz release lead by a drummer, the first being Niko Schäuble’s On the Other Hand (Naxos Jazz 86011-2). Unlike Schäuble’s very angular and elusive avant-guard music, Terzic’s effort is solid mainstream, almost a Hard Bop throw back. Standards and originals neatly split this eight piece offering. All performances are three-dimensional and well studied.

In the Mix and Busy at It. The 28-year old Terzic has been busy in the past few years collecting honors from all corners of Europe. These include the 1994 “Best Drummer at the Krakow Newcomer’s Jazz Festival, “Best Musician” at the 1995 International Jazz Festival in Oberochen. He rounds out his honors with a First Place at the 1995 Newcomer’s Jazz Festival in Leipzig and the 1997 Nürnburg Cultural Prize. Busy, I said.

Terzic has populated his band from all over. New York reed-player George Garzone slipped out of his academic roll at the Berklee School to sit in. Milan-native Roberto Di Gioia came along to caress, pound, and tickle the ivories in turn, with Dietmar Fuhr rounding out the quartet on double bass. Fuhr has also recorded elsewhere for Naxos Jazz, showing up on Florian Ross’ upcoming Suite for Soprano Sax and String Orchestra (86037-2) featuring David Liebman.

Modest Percussion. Terzic has chops to burn, but is never flashy. Several listening s to this disc reveal him to be a perfectly sensitive and empathic drummer who always knows when to “turn it up or down”. On all performances, he is uniformly explosive and dynamic on the up-tempo material and quietly, elegantly swinging on the slower-tempo and ballad material. Garzone is sturdy overall with both tenor and soprano in hand. “My Romance”, “Childish Things”, and “Big Argument” are standouts for Garzone as well as “Green Dolphin Street”. Di Gioia and Fuhr provide well-grounded support and solo in a traditional, no-nonsense way.

The Sum.... ...of all its parts, Four for One shows that Naxos Jazz is not slowing down in its march across Europe, finding talent everywhere. Recommended