Perpetuum Jazzile
Encyclopedia
Perpetuum Jazzile is a Slovenia
n choir
that performs jazz
and popular music
. It was founded as Gaudeamus Chamber Choir in 1983 by Marko Tiran. In 2001, Tiran passed the art directorship of the choir to Tomaž Kozlevčar, the renowned music producer, arranger and vocalist, who was followed by Peder Karlsson ten years later.
The choir consists of both female and male singers. They are occasionally augmented by jazz instrumentalists from the RTV Slovenia Big Band and Slovenian pop stars such as Alenka Godec
, 6Pack Čukur, Alya
, Oto Pestner
, Jan Plestenjak, Nuša Derenda
and others.
The choir uses a wide spectrum of jazz styles, performing complex and dense harmonies, characteristic of close harmony
music. They were originally inspired by Gene Puerling
, The Singers Unlimited
, and The Swingle Singers
. They perform bossa nova
and swing music, as well as funk
, gospel
and pop
, either a cappella
with vocal percussionist Sašo Vrabič aka. Multitask http://www.vrabic.tk, or with a jazz trio.
Perpetuum Jazzile organized a vocal jazz seminar in Ljubljana
with Swingle Singers founder Ward Swingle
. It has won awards from the Vokal.Total and IVGF (Tilburg
, Netherlands
) international jazz vocal music competitions, and the Choir Olympics 2008 in Graz
, Austria
. It performs Vokal Xtravaganzza evening concerts in Cankar Hall
in Ljubljana, every Fall, offering a variety of Slovenian and foreign vocal jazz and pop music guests.
In 2006, the choir recorded its Čudna noč album, which was released by Dallas Records
in September. Shortly after it organized a concert with Mansound (from Kiev
, Ukraine
). In December, it released its first video Čudna noč, the title track of its new album. Tracks from the album occupied the tops of charts of the most important radio broadcasters around Slovenia, whereas the album itself was ranked among the top ten best-selling albums in Slovenia., earning them the prestigious award "Viktor" in 2010 ( equivalent to a Grammy Award).
Two separate YouTube
videos of their performance of "Africa
" has had over 12 million views combined since first publishing in May 2009 until September 2011.
The performance earned kudos from the song's co-writer, David Paich
.
In the Summer of 2011 Perpetuum Jazzile had another major dream fulfilled as they embarked on a "World Tour", which took them to sold out venues in Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada and the USA. Not only did Perpetuum Jazzile bring their amazing and brilliant repertoire, which included new covers of songs by the legendary Beatles, Van Halen and contemporary artist Lady Gaga, to their loyal Fans. Furthermore, they were also able to be good ambassadors of the Slovenian people, by paying visits to Government Offices, the famous "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as humanitarian visits to "Ground Zero" and the UN building in New York City, delighting all those around them with their music and presence as well.
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
that performs jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
. It was founded as Gaudeamus Chamber Choir in 1983 by Marko Tiran. In 2001, Tiran passed the art directorship of the choir to Tomaž Kozlevčar, the renowned music producer, arranger and vocalist, who was followed by Peder Karlsson ten years later.
The choir consists of both female and male singers. They are occasionally augmented by jazz instrumentalists from the RTV Slovenia Big Band and Slovenian pop stars such as Alenka Godec
Alenka Godec
Alenka Godec is one of the most prominent Slovene jazz and pop singers.- Albums :- External links :*...
, 6Pack Čukur, Alya
Alya (singer)
Alya is a Slovenian pop singer.-Singles:* Fluid * Alya * Omama * Exxtra * Zvezda Večera * Občutek / Občutek...
, Oto Pestner
Oto Pestner
Oto Pestner is one of the most prominent singers and composers of popular music from Slovenia, born in 1956 in Ljubljana. Until 2008 he was the leader of the Slovene vocal group New Swing Quartet....
, Jan Plestenjak, Nuša Derenda
Nuša Derenda
Nuša Derenda is a Slovenian singer who represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 in Copenhagen, Denmark where achieved 7th place.-Biography:...
and others.
The choir uses a wide spectrum of jazz styles, performing complex and dense harmonies, characteristic of close harmony
Close harmony
Close harmony is an arrangement of the notes of chords within a narrow range. It is different from open harmony or voicing in that it uses each part on the closest harmonizing note , while the open voicing uses a broader pitch array expanding the harmonic range past the octave...
music. They were originally inspired by Gene Puerling
Gene Puerling
Eugene Thomas Puerling was a vocal performer and vocal arranger. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Puerling created and led the vocal groups The Hi-Lo's and The Singers Unlimited...
, The Singers Unlimited
The Singers Unlimited
The Singers Unlimited were a four part jazz vocal group formed in 1971 by Gene Puerling. Members of the group included Len Dresslar , Bonnie Herman, Don Shelton and Puerling himself....
, and The Swingle Singers
The Swingle Singers
The Swingle Singers are a mostly a cappella vocal group formed in 1962 in Paris, France by Ward Swingle with Anne Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, Jean Cussac and others. Christiane Legrand, the sister of composer Michel Legrand, was the group's lead soprano through 1972. Until 2011 the group...
. They perform bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
and swing music, as well as funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, either a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
with vocal percussionist Sašo Vrabič aka. Multitask http://www.vrabic.tk, or with a jazz trio.
Perpetuum Jazzile organized a vocal jazz seminar in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
with Swingle Singers founder Ward Swingle
Ward Swingle
Ward Swingle is an American vocalist and jazz musician.Swingle was born in Mobile, Alabama. He studied music, particularly jazz, from a very young age. He was playing in Mobile-area Big Bands before finishing high school. After high school, Swingle graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Cincinnati...
. It has won awards from the Vokal.Total and IVGF (Tilburg
Tilburg
Tilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
) international jazz vocal music competitions, and the Choir Olympics 2008 in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It performs Vokal Xtravaganzza evening concerts in Cankar Hall
Cankar Hall
Cankar Hall is a cultural and congress center in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It stands on the central Republic Square , opposite the Parliament of Slovenia....
in Ljubljana, every Fall, offering a variety of Slovenian and foreign vocal jazz and pop music guests.
In 2006, the choir recorded its Čudna noč album, which was released by Dallas Records
Dallas Records
Dallas Records is a Croatian record label. It was established in 1987, and is owned and run by Goran Lisica - Fox, a music producer and manager who started his career in the 1970s as a music journalist....
in September. Shortly after it organized a concert with Mansound (from Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). In December, it released its first video Čudna noč, the title track of its new album. Tracks from the album occupied the tops of charts of the most important radio broadcasters around Slovenia, whereas the album itself was ranked among the top ten best-selling albums in Slovenia., earning them the prestigious award "Viktor" in 2010 ( equivalent to a Grammy Award).
Two separate YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
videos of their performance of "Africa
Africa (Toto song)
"Africa" is a song by rock band Toto, and one of the band's most recognizable songs. It was included on their 1982 album Toto IV, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1983 and number three on the UK Singles Chart the same month...
" has had over 12 million views combined since first publishing in May 2009 until September 2011.
The performance earned kudos from the song's co-writer, David Paich
David Paich
David Frank Paich is a session musician, keyboard player, recording producer, arranger, vocalist and main composer of the Los Angeles-based rock/pop band Toto. David is the son of the late jazz composer, musician, and arranger Marty Paich...
.
In the Summer of 2011 Perpetuum Jazzile had another major dream fulfilled as they embarked on a "World Tour", which took them to sold out venues in Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada and the USA. Not only did Perpetuum Jazzile bring their amazing and brilliant repertoire, which included new covers of songs by the legendary Beatles, Van Halen and contemporary artist Lady Gaga, to their loyal Fans. Furthermore, they were also able to be good ambassadors of the Slovenian people, by paying visits to Government Offices, the famous "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as humanitarian visits to "Ground Zero" and the UN building in New York City, delighting all those around them with their music and presence as well.
Albums
- Ko boš prišla na Bled (When you come to Bled) (2000)
- Pozabi, da se ti mudi (Forget you're in a hurry) (2003)
- As (2004)
- Čudna noč (Strange night)Čudna noč (album)Čudna noč is an album by Slovenian acappela band Perpetuum Jazzile released in 2006 by Dallas Records.The album was produced and arranged by Slovenian producer and singer Tomaž Kozlevčar. The whole track listing are cover songs.-Track listing:...
(2006) - AfricaAfrica (album)-Track listing:# "Africa" – 6:18# "Kadar sem sama"# "Earth Wind & Fire Medley"# "Poletna noč" – 4:20# "Aquarela do Brasil" – 5:34# "Prebujena"...
(2009) - Perpetuum Jazzile Live ('Vokal Xtravaganzza 2008 live DVD) (2009)