Interview with DLSQ in Zarez Magazine

Jazz means growing up
The Academy doesn’t stimulate music we play

Late Afro-American avant-garde player Julius Hemphill in 1976. founded World Saxophone Quartet with spiritually related musicians, combining rhythm, improvisation and “open-ended” structure. As the most known instruments from the saxophone family, the quartet make soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax, producing recognizable sound in original arrangements. Sax quartet’s creative and expressive possibilities are irreplaceable today in so called “serious” or classical and “creative” or improvised music. This interview was led with DLSQ’s members Zdenko Ivanušić, Andrej Henigman and Vanja Ileković.

How do you entered jazz scene? Where you are and where do you want to be?

– Jazz is a lifestyle, if you don’t live it, you can’t play it. Always money short and roofless. I am in jazz because of pure music and playing pleasure. We do jazz and practice hours a day. The question is, shall we get audience and become well-known or stay underground. We feel good because our live performances are getting better and this force us forward. The quartet comes first. We are academic musicians trained in classical music, but we did not learn playing jazz at the Academy, the Academy doesn’t stimulate music we play.

It seems you are not completely in tradition nor avant-garde. How can you explain your approach?

– This is music for 21st century. We can not move on without roots. Here I talk about pure evolution, in a while we will consider free or avant-garde tradition…

… croatian (full interview)

Vid Jeraj, 15.03.2001.