MIKI PETKOVSKI

Miki Petkovski is a great yet unnoticed classically trained pianist and keybordist from Macedonia. Being meber of some top notch bands from mid to late '70's from back then Yugoslavia as Smak, and Leb i Sol he managing to release his first solo album in 1979 named Ko zna ( Who knows), who gone totaly under the radar of jazz rock/ prog movement of that time, despite some ecellent musicinship and great ideas overall. On this release the musicians involved here are from Smak and Leb I Sol, it sounded and performed at highest calibre not far in places of aformentioned bands in terms of instrumental arrangements. It has some comercial aura on some pieces and for that reason gone unnoticed in prog/jazz rock listners of the time. The opening Igra (The game) is simply excellent, is short, positive and catchy in vibes and is a good opener, is little comercial in aproach, but who cares is great. The hihlights are for sure the instrumental tracks, "luminacija (Illumination), Katarza (Catharsis) , and another two who was already played with his bands where he was involved with Leb I Sol - Sinteza (Synthesis) and with Smak - Budjenje (Awakening) , all these pieces are top notch showing Petkovsky high skills and inventive ideas. He bordering very well jazz rock elements with progressive parts to create some outstanding passages, easey memorable and full of character. All in all a very worthy release, I remember I got this one from Yugoslavia around 1991 and since then was a real delight. It's a shame that this release is not issued on CD yet, he desearve a far more recognition. Miki Petkovski moved to Canada soon after releasing this album and become quite popular among pianists and musicians from there releasing aswell some album under his same or in colaboration. Ko zna desearves attntion in the prime excellency this album is not far from the masterpieces of Leb I Sol or Smak. Easy 4 stars from me. I forgot nice female vocals.

The subtitle of this album is "Jazz Piano Improvisation" and that is exact description of the music. Petkovski plays solo piano on the entire disk in jazz manner, with occasional Balkan (Macedonia) traditional themes included. If you are not a fan of this type of jazz improvisation you could simply enjoy it as a background music - for reading a book, for instance. But, there are tons of similar products out on the market, so why bother? If you are a fan, or even better, if you are a musician/pianist, you may appreciate it more than I do. For me, it is too "academic" style to grasp its quality.

It took Miki Petkovski almost 27 years to record a follow-up solo album after his overlooked debut "Ko zna" (1979). In the meantime, he moved from former Yugoslavia to Canada and continued to develop his musical career as composer, producer and owner of his private studio. Suddenly, "Origins" appeared in 2006 and it was interesting to hear how Petkovski adapted to the current digital technology and new musical trends.

Obviously, there is no backing band since he played all instruments by himself. This means he entered the "Vangelis territory" of leisure, soundtrack-like music that is fairly pleasant to listen to occasionally for soothing and relaxation purposes but leaves the more eager and demanding listener unsatisfied. This is particularly true if you know his jazz-rock past, but again, why not change and offer something new? The problem with this CD is that it is too "safe" and unchallengeable at least for my taste. He used famous Macedonian traditional tunes and odd time signatures which surely can be amazing for Western audience but not so for a South-Eastern European listener.

That said, there are a couple of excellent tunes here - notably "Nowadays", "Dance in 9/8", "Past" and a cover of traditional "Koljo Don't Sell" (in original: "Ne si go prodavaj Koljo chiflikot", which should be heard in Vlatko Stefanovski's amazing guitar version, if you ask me). Alas, the remainder, including another popular traditional cover "The Laundress of Ohrid" (original: "Biljana platno beleshe"), is often bordering the "Muzak" territory. Recommended for fans of smooth jazz and general easy-listening instrumental music.

PERSONAL RATING: 3/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5

Miki Petkovski was a member of the early 1970's progressive rock bands REPUBLIKA 903 and BREG from Skopje, Macedonia (ex-Yugoslavia), who sadly never released any record although listening to their Youtube clips nowadays (in case of REPUBLIKA 903) one can't help but recognize a pioneering jazz-rock/folk-fusion effort which was later on to be perfected by LEB I SOL (whose members also participated in these bands).

Being an excellent pianist (and graduate cellist from Skopje Music Academy) Petkovski was recruited by SMAK in 1977 to replace their outgoing keyboardist Laza Ristovski (joined mega-stars BIJELO DUGME) for their most acclaimed and the best-selling album "Crna dama". His extraordinary keyboard skills (particularly on acoustic and electric piano and Moog synthesizer) were dominant on that record, but strangely it was his sole moment of rock stardom. He did not continue with SMAK because he wanted more artistic freedom for his own compositions and arrangements thus confronting with the band leader Radomir Mihajlović Tocak. Nevertheless his time spent with SMAK left one of the most beautiful jazz-rock compositions in ex-YU catalog - "Tegoba" ("Suffer").

Shortly before leaving to serve the army Petkovski gathered both SMAK and LEB I SOL to back him up for the recording of his debut solo LP "Ko zna" ("Who Knows") in summer 1978. This album was largely neglected at the time of its release and faced mixed reviews due to alleged inconsistency and commercialization but to be fair, it was much better than that. The "concept" of the album intermingled two types of tracks: vocal and shorter songs with commercial potentials and pop-rock-funk groove and slightly longer (but not too long!) instrumentals inclined towards jazz-rock. There were also two different backing bands of musicians: Vlatko Stefanovski-guitar, Garo Tavitijan-drums and Bodan Arsovski-bass of LEB I SOL with female singer Gordana Ivandic on one side and on the other a complete SMAK line-up including Tocak-guitar, Slobodan Stojanovic Kepa-drums, Zoran Milanovic-bass, Boris Arandjelovic-vocals and David Moss-percussions.

Two side-openers, "Igra" ("The Game") and "Ko je taj" ("Who Is That Guy") were obviously made to be aired as hits but both proved unsuccessful musically and commercially. Fortunately, the remaining tracks presented high instrumental skills of both groups and announced some interesting composing abilities of Petkovski who combined his academic training of classical music with contemporary jazz-rock fashion.

Highlights of "Ko zna" are instrumental tracks "Iluminacija" ("Illumination") and "Katarza" ("Catharsis") played with LEB I SOL as well as "Sinteza" ("Synthesis") and "Budjenje" ("Awakening") with SMAK. "Iluminacija" is a lengthy symphonic jazz-fusion spiced with Gordana's scat vocals in the manner of Gayle Moran of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA or Annie Haslam of RENNAISANCE, while some piano parts invoke SUPERTRAMP's "Fool's Overture". "Katarza" closes the album in a full-blown LEB I SOL manner including an amazing guitar of Stefanovski. "Sinteza" and "Budjenje" showcase SMAK as excellent jazz-funk-rock ensemble along the lines of BRAND X or Herbie Hancock's HEADHUNTERS acting as a vehicle for Petkovski's solo exhibition on synthesizers.

The remaining two vocal tracks, "Ko zna" with Gordana and "Ko je u pravu" ("Who's Right") with Boris are nice and soothing, somewhat easy-listening soft-jazz which the fans of STEELY DAN should like to hear.

In retrospect, "Ko zna" seems to be much better work than it appeared to the contemporary audience and critics. True, full capabilities of Belgrade Radio Television Studio V and its 24-track mixer were apparently not used and some songs were obviously made only to sell out, but nobody claims this is a masterpiece. A very good album it is! It sadly remains unissued on CD format until now, while old vinyl records could be found at Web shops for sometimes unreasonably high price.

PERSONAL RATING: 4,5/5

P.A. RATING: 4/5