The new release from Jazz Cerkno Records brings recordings by the young Gal Golob Trio from the Jazz Incubator residency, which took place at last year’s festival. The leader of the Slovenian-German trio is Gal Golob (born in 2000), who began his musical career as a cellist at the age of six, and then, due to his interest in jazz and improvised music, decided to study double bass. He continued to play the cello and became a permanent member of several bands as a cellist, including the Fabia Mantwill Quintett, which received the Deutsche Jazzpreis. In addition, he collaborated as a cellist with bands such as the Lucia Boffo Group or the Peter Evans Large Ensemble. Then he began to create his own projects, with which he wanted to use the specific capabilities of the cello in the context of improvised music. One of his projects is the Berlin based Gal Golob Trio, which we hosted at the Jazz Incubator residency; as part of the residency, the trio also performed a concert.
The band was joined by pianist Marko Churnchetz for two compositions at the performance. The trio, which consists of classmates from the Berlin Jazz Institute, plays Golob’s original music, a combination of modern improvisational techniques, classical music and simple, almost folkloric melodies that draw from Slavic and Balkan traditions. According to the author, the songs “create a space between folk tradition, a counterpoint between saxophone and cello, and sometimes straightforward rhythmic and other times freely floating drums and meditative sequences”. Gal Golob, who has previously performed at well-known festivals such as Druga godba, MENT, Jazzopen Stuttgart and Jazz Festival Ljubljana, won 2nd prizes for best Slovenian jazz composition at the Jazzon competitions in 2022 and 2023. The album was released on CD and digital streaming platforms.