adEIdJ – Associazione delle Etichette Indipendenti di Jazz

Press Release

Rastko Obradovic will be no stranger to anyone who has followed the rise of the Serbian Wave of Jazz and the releases on A.MA Records from the Belgrade based collection of artists who have graced the label's catalogue over the past decade. Having recorded for A.MA as a sideman on A.MA albums from Sanja Markovic, Irina Pavlovic , Shijuka Quintet and Milos Covovic it is now Rastko's debut LP Mandala that continues the progress of the Serbian Wave.  Recorded as a project of joy and a celebration of the friendship between the members of his quartet, Rastko on tenor saxophone, Vladann VeljKovic on piano and bass synth, guitarist Alexander Petrovic and drummer Nikola Banovic.
Composer Rastko Obradovic has created an album of sublime and free flowing Jazz over the eight tracks created for Mandala. Eight tracks which take us on a joyful and mischievious journey; apt for the title of the album which can translate as a wanderer, a vagabond or a rogue. Rastko himself has been the 1st alto saxophonist for the prestigious and renowned Serbian Radio & Television Big Band since 2020 and has also collaborated with a diverse array of musicians, including luminaries such as Dhafer Youssef, Arkady Shilkloper, Bojan Z, and Vasil Hadzimanov, Nenad Vasilic, Sudeshna Bhattacharya. With the quartet's influences ranging across a modern American sound, European jazz, Balkan folkore, Indan and European classical music Mandala serves as a musical metaphor for the historical melting pot and melange of cultures that is Belgrade and its history as the cross-roads of Europe.

Track List

Kanda

Nemir

Prisoner And The Soldier (Part 1)

Prisoner and The Soldier (Part 2) 

Rumunjesku

Benjamin's Blues

What If

Afternoon

Personnel

Rastko Obradovic Tenor Saxophone

Vladan Veljkovic Piano / Bass Synt

Aleksandar Petrovic Guitar

Nikola Banovic Drums