In the Blue Balkan mode

I've enjoyed a close working relationship with San Francisco's great jazz pianist Larry Vuckovich, for over 25 years now. Larry emigrated to San Francisco in the 1950s from his native Yugoslavia, where he'd grown up hearing jazz broadcast over Voice of America, and quickly became a fixture on the then-burgeoning jazz scene here.

Vuckovich is a standout at bebop, latin jazz, and Lester Young's late swing-era stylings, and is a masterful accompanist and arranger for straight-ahead jazz vocalists. But perhaps his most distinct specialty is his original music blending the Balkan folk melodies and rhythms from his youth with the improvisational American bebop of his adopted homeland. I was featured, along with jazz vibes immortal Bobby Hutcherson, on Vuckovich's debut album as a leader in the US, the "Blue Balkan" LP in 1981 (which was released on CD with added new material in 2001 as "Blue Balkan; Then & Now"), and I also played on 1983's "City Sounds, Village Voices."

Here are some recent pictures taken in performance with Larry's Blue Balkan Ensemble at Pearl's, located in San Francisco's fabulous North Beach district, on April 16, 2006. In the top photo, Larry can be seen at the piano, in the background. Below, I'm improvising free jazz on the viola, and at bottom, in the Balkan gypsy style on the violin.