Jazz on Saturdays in the Ivo Tijardović concert hall begins on April 6 at 18:30 p.m. with the opening of an exhibition of portraits of jazz performers called "Jazz Reflections" by journalist and photographer Davor Hrvoj, editor of the Croatian jazz portal jazz.hr.
The motif constant of most of Davor Hrvoje's photographs are portraits of musicians of the jazz scene. Such a photographic subject can be made easy and appealing. The scenography usually consists of a musician/musicians, instruments, a background devoid of modernity, etc. The shots have almost no kitsch or it is consciously imposed. However, precisely because of all of the above, it is a much more difficult task to develop and show the uniqueness of one's artistic aesthetics through photography. Like the chords in jazz, which contribute to the color and mood of the piece, Davor is there on his field and successfully builds a personal artistic expression. What is it based on?
Davor's long-term work in the field of jazz was immersed in visual culture long before it became a new professional practice. His huge production in this field (shows, interviews, articles...) unites knowledge about jazz, performance art, artists and their lives, and confirms the long-known truth "he who knows more, will see more".
Dealing with musical jazz aesthetics and its semiotics, Davor's experience forms an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, and in this way he builds his own artistic touch. His variations on the theme have a constant - instead of the typical, sometimes excessive jazz expressiveness and liveliness of the performance, he prefers reduction. With this reduction, Davor reveals his own delicacy of spirit.
The personality of his photographic-artistic handwriting has an intersection of creation in which a jazz performer is caught in an unadulterated moment of musical concentration and Davor captures it precisely and expertly with the camera. On the other hand, that moment recorded in the resulting photograph reveals a deep experiential level of his possessive knowledge of the world of jazz and its actors and reveals Davor Hrvoje as a sensitive artist whose curiosity in this field always explores and finds new ways.
His artistic responsibility on the viewers of the photograph has a twofold effect. The psychoanalytically precisely captured frame unites the creation of an artist-musician and Davor as a professional and artist whose spiritual cut goes deep into his own habitus. With the photographs created in this way, he informs us and draws us into his magical world of jazz. Numerous exhibitions of Davor Hrvoje prove that such a professional-artistic concept has its own value and uniqueness.
Jadranka Hlupić Dujmušić
About the author
Davor Hrvoj was born on July 17, 1960 in Zagreb, where he graduated from high school and studied at the Faculty of Physical Education, majoring in teaching. As a freelance journalist, he is a permanent member of the Croatian Journalists' Association, in which he was a member of the Journalist's Council of Honor, as well as the Croatian Music Union, the Croatian Society of Composers, the Society for the Protection of Journalistic Copyrights and the Croatian Community of Independent Artists.
Even as a high school student, he started holding classes on the subject of rock music, and later also on the subject of jazz. Particularly noteworthy were the jazz forums held in the old building of the National and University Library on Marulićeva Square.
He started working in journalism in the mid-1980s as a co-host of Radio 101's Jazz Stand show, which he independently edited and hosted from the end of the eighties. At the end of the 1980s, he started working as an associate at Croatian Radio. Since 1993, he is the author and host of the show Vrijeme za jazz on the III program of Croatian Radio, since 2013 he is the author and host of the show Cro-jazz on the III program of Croatian Radio, and from 2003 to 2006 he was the author and host of the show Po vašen sprencije - Croatian jazz on the I program of the Croatian Radio. In addition, he was occasionally the author of numerous shows on Croatian Radio, among others Euroradio Jazz, Music of Time - Jazz and Keys of the Century, and hosted live radio broadcasts of concerts. With his contributions, he cooperated in the programs Stardust, World of Music, Time for Music, In Collusion, Music Until Midnight, Morning Chronicle and Seven Days of Music. He was a collaborator in various shows on Croatian television, including Moonlight, Planet Music, Short Encounters, Gradski ritam, Nulti Sat, Sada o ekeda and a series of documentaries called Jazz for Beginners. From 1998 to 2018, he was a journalist and host of the show Vrijeme je za jazz, and since 2017 he has been a journalist in the show Svijet jazza, both on Croatian television.
He started publishing in newspapers in 1990, first in Oko, and later in Jutarnji list, Vijenc, Zarez, Hrvatska revija, Status, Fokus, IQ, KOOX, Mega Muzica, Croatia Review, Metropolitan, Gloria, INZG- in, Luxury Living, Cantus (where he was jazz and popular music editor for years, and from June 2006 to October 2012 he was editor-in-chief and photo editor) and others. He currently publishes for daily newspapers Novi list, Literary list for art, culture and science Vijenac and magazines WAM, Hi-Fi and others.
He is the editor of the Croatian Jazz Portal (www.jazz.hr), and from 2007 to 2012 he was the editor of the website of the Croatian Society of Composers (www.hds.hr), which was started by the Croatian Society of Composers, and is a contributor to the Soundguardian web portal. , Muzika.hr, Ravno do dna and Barikada.com.
He was a contributor - author of articles on jazz music and photographs - in the Zagreb Lexicon of the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographic Institute, published in 2006 in two volumes. He participated in the scientific meeting "Croatian music in the 20th century", organized by Matica hrvatska, as the holder of the thematic unit on jazz music, and as the author of the presentation "Jazz in Croatia - a sketch of history" which was published in the collection Croatian music in the 2009th century. century (Matica hrvatska, XNUMX) He is the author of an article about Croatian jazz, which he wrote for Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. For the national supplement to the large illustrated encyclopedia "Music" by the British publisher Dorling Kindersley, which was published in Croatian translation by Mozaik knjiga, he wrote a text about jazz and blues in Croatia, along with which photographs he took were also published.
From time to time, he holds lectures on jazz for high school students and high school students in schools or libraries in Croatia, among others, those that have a Jazz Corner within the American Corner, and for students within the Jazz Lab music workshop in the MM hall of the Zagreb Student Center.
He was a member of the international jury for the awarding of the European Jazz Prize, a member of the international jury at the international competition of young jazz musicians Jazz Juniors in Krakow and a member of the artistic council of the international project Hitch of Music Exchange. He is a member of the expert commission for the Porin Music Award
Croatian Music Union. He is a member of the committee for the annual awards of the Croatian Society of Composers.
He was a member of the Cultural Council for Music Activities of the City of Zagreb, a member of the Cultural Council of the City of Sisak, and vice-president of the Cultural Council for Music and Music and Performing Arts of the City of Rijeka, and is currently a member of the Cultural Council for Music and Music and Performing Arts of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and again by the Cultural Council of the City of Sisak.
He is the winner of the Special Plaque of the Croatian Blues Forces for many years of systematic promotion and promotion of blues music, which was awarded to him in 2010. By decision of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Poland in 2015, he was awarded the Order of Honor for his merits in promoting Polish culture. He is the recipient of a plaque for his contribution to Croatian music, which was awarded to him by the Croatian Society of Composers in 2021.
From 2013 to 2021, he was the artistic director of jazz events organized by the Croatian Society of Composers (festivals: Jazz.hr/jesen and Jazz.hr/spring, and the Jazz.hr concert series). He is a member of the Program Committee of the Zagreb Music Biennale. He was the head of the Croatian Musical Youth Jazz Lab project.
Along with articles, he also publishes photographs in the aforementioned newspapers and magazines and on websites. As an author of photographs - portraits of jazz musicians - he participated in group exhibitions in Zagreb, Varaždin, Zadar, Osijek, Rijeka, Slunj, Sisak, Rovinj, Poreč, Bale, Bjelovar, Koprivnica, Grožnjan, Slavonski Brod, Sarajevo, Ravne na Koroškem, Rab , Križevci, Gliwice, Volosko, Košice, Split, Cairo, Čakovec, Marija Bistrica, Sutivan, Bol, Štrigova and Dubrovnik.
He published the books "Jazz Reflections" (Radio 101, 2001), "Jazz Connections" (Menart, 2010), "Jazz Vibrations" (Menart, 2011) and "Frozen Music" (Ex libris, 2022), which bring interviews with famous jazz musicians and their photos, and "Life as a jam session, Boško Petrović - autobiography" (Menart, 2012), which he wrote in collaboration with Boško Petrović.
In addition to Croatia, he did interviews at various concerts and festivals abroad. In search of jazz excitement, his travels took him to various cities such as Helsinki, London, Amsterdam, The Hague, Liege, Luxembourg, Munich, Aschaffenburg, Rosenheim, Burghausen, Vilshofen, Bremen, Kraków, Gliwice, Zory, Prague, Brno, Bratislava , Košice, Vienna, Hollabrunn, Saalfelden, Wiesen, Villach, Graz, Leibnitz, Bleiburg, Perugia, San Sebastian, Cordoba, Paris, Ancona, Vienne, Rabat, Budapest, Kethely, Ljubljana, Maribor, Velenje, Ravne na Koroškem, Krško, Belgrade, Niš, Pančevo, Sarajevo, Moscow, Koktebel, Beijing and Shanghai. So far, he has interviewed famous jazz musicians, including George Benson, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dave Brubeck, Gary Burton, Don Byron, James Carter, Regina Carter, Ron Carter, Chick Corea, Ornette Coleman, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Haden, Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis, Roy Hargrove, Tom Harrell, Dave Holland, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones, Yusef Lateef, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Lloyd, Joe Lovan, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, David Murray, James Newton, Nicholas Payton, Joshua Redman, Dianne Reeves, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Arturo Sandoval, Maria Schneider, Stanley Clarke, John Scofield, Stanley Jordan, Gregory Porter , Tony Scott, Archie Shepp, Toots Thielemans, McCoy Tyner, Randy Weston, Cassandra Wilson, Reggie Workman and Joe Zawinul.
