PETRA ONDERUF

AN ODD TIME OF DAY

Kaipati Records

Petra Onderuf, violin/composer/arranger; Rok Zalokar, piano; Luka Dobniker, double bass; Aleš Zorec, drums. SPECIAL GUESTS: Jure Pukl, soprano saxophone; Gašper Selko, trumpet.

It’s a compliment when an artist approaches me from another country and takes time to postal mail their jazz project to me from as far away as Slovenia.  I am humbled.  Petra Onderuf is one such artist whose music I received.

Petra is a Slovakian violinist and composer.  The first thing I notice about her original presentation is that she plays her violin like a horn.  Consequently, it is no wonder that she has captured the attention of the world.

Ms. Onderuf blends her cultural roots with her classical background.  Her adventurous attitude led her to study jazz music, composition, arrangement and improvisation.  She explains her current production title, “An Odd Time of Day.”

“In those odd times of day, when the sky is neither bright nor dark, neither night nor morning.  In those moments, when you can feel the wind’s touch on your skin, you find yourself here, now, and then.  You fall into the space between ‘there’ and ‘now,’ and you know you exist.  It’s odd.  It’s straightforward, and it simply is.  I hope this music will bring you there,” Petra Onderuf writes in her liner notes.

At times, she plucks her violin like a harp.  This is particularly evident on track #3 titled, “Dete.”  Her original compositions have developed over the past nine years and have been waiting for just the right moment to be born.  Each is a reflection of Petra’s experiences, emotions, and her journey of study and travel through several countries and cultures.

During this particular arrangement, her pianist Rok Zalokar soaks up the spotlight, like thirsty earth in a rainstorm.  When Onderuf enters, her violin pours such beauty into my listening room it takes my breath away.  Again, after a fluid improvised solo, she reverts back to her harp-like musical messages.  This song quickly becomes one of my favorites. I am intoxicated by Zorec’s trap drums, sometimes played with his hands on the skins.

Luka Dobnikar opens a very short 38-second piece on his double bass, just before the drum-driven tune called “Resemblance” enters the picture.  Ales Zorec taps his drum stick like a metronome against the rim of his snare to tease us, jerking the rhythm between 5/4 and 4/4 meters.  On this tune, Onderuf invites special guest Jure Pukl to the party on his soprano saxophone.

A composition she calls “Julia’s Sunset” is an amazing ballad.  Her bow pulls the emotion from the violin strings. I am captivated by this lovely melody.  When the mood changes, the arrangement becomes playful and staccato, with the pianist pumping the notes like bicycle pedals.  He rides across my listening room, a child racing his friends along the bike trail.  The other musicians keep up.  They ride side-by-side during this wild escape from ballad to jazzy Straight-ahead and creative experimentation. When Onderuf adds her solo, she calms the moment and spreads the melody out, sweet jelly on bread.  I savor the taste of her music. Petra Onderuf and her quartet present all her original compositions, in their raw, organic, melody-driven beauty.  This music is art.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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