drummer, percussionist and composer
In 2018 he celebrated forty years of creation in the field of jazz and improvised music, as well as his mentoring to young and perspective musicians.
He started his professional musical career in 1978, at the club Tres Tristes Tigres in the Spanish city of Valencia, where he got a job as a house drummer. In the early seventies, he fled across the border, recorded and performed in Italy, collaborated with the musical co-operative Swiss in Switzerland, where Radu Malfatti also played, than he moved to Barcelona in 1976, started playing in clubs and festivals as a soloist and in collaboration with various musicians, including Steve Lacy. In 1981-1983, Zlatko taught drums at the Taller de musicos jazz school in Barcelona. Since 1984, when he moved to Amsterdam, he joined the extremely powerful scene of improvised music and became a composer in the field of performing arts and dance. After the independency, he settled back in Slovenia and stepped wide into an extremely fertile creative period.
He has released over 60 CDs, some of which have gained recognition at home and abroad. From his extensive opus, there were some of them on various top lists and between the best albums. The CD East West Daydreams was reviewed with 5 stars in the magazine All about Jazz, CD Zvočna polja za T. S. was announced in the same magazine in 2012 as the album of the month. The collection of three albums titled 30th Anniversary Concerts was placed among top 10 best albums in 2009 according to British magazine JazzTimes and Italian magazine JazzColours. CD Round about one o’clock, created in collaboration with Evan Parker, was in 2011 also ranked among the 10 best albums. The solo project PAV was placed in the 100 best albums in 2007 according to online magazine All about jazz and the solo project “Emigrants” music critics included among the top 100 albums in 2011.
He performed in numerous important festivals: Town Hall (New York), Coca Cola (Atlanta), North See jazz festival (Den Haag), Krakow jazz fest, Ab Libitum (Warsaw), Barcelona jazz festival, Hong Kong jazz festival, Cairo jazz festival, Ljubljana Jazz Festival, etc. Zlatko Kaučič played and recorded with renowned musicians and musical innovators in the field of jazz and improvised music such as John Lewison, Keeny Wheeler, Paul Bley, Albert Mangelsdorff, Chico Freeman, Louis Sclavis, Peter Brötzman, Alexander Balanescu, Ken Vandermark, Joëlle Léandre, Marc Ribot, Evan Parker and many others. He recorded music for several films and collaborated in documentaries in Spain.
In Nova Gorica, he manages a musical group Kombo and music school. He conceived the Brda Contemporary Music Festival, which he’s curating since 2011.
Kaučič focuses on creativity beyond the clichés, on the purity of music, and on the music that risks, provokes, which forces us to think, which is complex and a mix of various musical languages. It is necessary for him to have experiences, not only musical, but also life.
Discography
· Evan Parker, Zlatko Kaučič / Evan Parker, Zlatko Kaučič, Massimo de Mattia, Boštjan Simon – Arkosberg (Klopotec, 2020)
· Orkester brez meja / Orchestra senza confini – Live in Nova Gorica (Klopotec, 2020)
· Jubileum Quartet (Joëlle Léandre / Evan Parker / Agustí Fernández / Zlatko Kaučič) – A Uiš? (Not Two, 2020)
· Alipio Carvalho Neto / Zlatko Kaučič / Gal Furlan – Bora: Blast Of Chance (Klopotec, 2020)
· V. A. – Not Two… but twenty (Not Two, 2020)
· Kombo D – Jok, smeh in užitek (Zvočni izviri, 2020)
· Svetlana Makarovič / Zlatko Kaučič – Horror mundi, zvočna knjiga (Sanje, 2019)
· Zlatko Kaučič Quintet (Micheal Moore / Marco Colonna / Albert Cirera / Silvia Bolognesi / Zlatko Kaučič) – (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2019)
· Tomaž Grom and Zlatko Kaučič – The Ear Is The Shadeow Of The Eye (Sploh, 2019)
· Kombo C – Petelin iz Noznega (Zvočni izviri, 2019)
· Marco Colonna / Augusti Fernandez / Zlatko Kaučič – Agrakal (Not Two Recor, 2018)
· Zlatko Kaučič / Agustí Fernandez / Evan Parker; Zlatko Kaučič / Evan Parker; Zlatko Kaučič; / Ralph Mazur / Zlatko Kaučič / Lotte Anker / Artur Majewski; Zlatko Kaučič / Johannes Bauer; Zlatko Kaučič / Phil Minton – Diversity (Not Two Records, 2018)
· Barry Guy / Maya Homburger / Zlatko Kaučič – Without Borders (Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2017)
· Zlatko Kaučič / Cerkno Jubileum Orchestra – Zvočni sejalec (Klopotec, 2016)
· Alexander Balanescu / Javier Girotto / Zlatko Kaučič – East West Daydreams (Klopotec, 2016)
· Orkester brez meja/Orchestra Senza confini – Schengen (Klopotec, 2016)
· Disorder At The Border – Disorder At The Border Plays Ornette (Not Two Records, 2016)
· Orkester brez meja/Orchestra Senza confini (Dobia Label, Zvočni izviri, 2015)
· Zlatko Kaučič Kombo / Orkester Rara Roža / posebna gosta Herb Robertson, Bruno Cesselli – Zvočna polja za T. S. (ZKP RTVS, 2012)
· Evan Parker / Zlatko Kaučič – Round About One O’clock (Not Two Records, 2011)
· Zlatko Kaučič – Koncerti ob 30-letnici (Splasc(H) Records, 2010)
· Kombo – Biči (Zvočni izviri, 2009)
· Zlatko Kaučič / poseben gost Peter Brötzmann – Tolminski punt (Splasc(H) Records, 2007)
· Zlatko Kaučič – Zlati čoln 2 (Splasc(H) Records, 2006)
· Zlatko Kaučič – Zlati čoln (Splasc(H) Records, 2002)
· Zlatko Kaučič – Emotional Playgrounds (Iktius, 1998)
· Zlatko Kaučič – Round trip (Klopotec, 1994)
Current Projects
· Solo: Zlatko Kaučič – drums, floor percussion
· December Soul Trio: Stefano Battaglia – piano, Paolino dalla Porta – double bass, Zlatko Kaučič – drums, percussion
· Butterfly Wings: Evan Parker – tenor saxophone, Agusti Fernandez – piano, Zlatko Kaučič – percussion, electric zither
· Disorder At The Border: Daniele d’Agaro – reeds, Giovanni Maier – double bass, Zlatko Kaučič – percussion
· Orkester brez meja/Orchestra senza confini: Andrea Gulli, Aurelio Tarallo, Carlo Franceschinis, Cene Resnik, Clarissa Durizzotto, Costanzo Tortorelli, Elisa Ulian, Flavio Brumat, Francesco Ivone, Gabriele Cancelli, Gian Agresti, Giorgio Giacobbi, Giorgio Pacorig, Giovanni Maier, Jošt Drašler, Jurica Prodan, Luka Vrbanec, Marko Lasič, Mimo Cogliandro, Paolo Pascolo, Robert Mikuljan, Roberto Fabrizio, Sergio Bernetti, Vid Drašler, Vitja Balžalorsky, Zlatko Kaučič
· Zlatko Kaučič and Tomaž Grom: Zlatko Kaučič – floor percussion, Tomaž Grom – double bass, freeze
Awards
· Bevk Award for great achievements in art and culture given by Municipality of Nova Gorica (2017)
· Jury price for the best film music in Niš, Srbija for film Camera obscura (2017)
· Prešeren Foundation Award (2011)
· Premio Mestre Mateo Academie Galega do Audiovisual for the best documentaries Jazz en Liberdade (2011)
· Recognition award by Municipality of Brda (2008)
· Silver Key of the City of Vigo in Spain (1993)
· Bronze Key of the City of Hong Kong (1979)
»Kaučič is a big-picture artist in another respect, one this collection supports well; hailing from the Goriška brda region adjacent to Italy, Kaučič has done much to establish a regional identity for jazz and improvised music through a long history of collaborations, particularly with Italians.« (Bill Shoemaker, Point of departure, 2009)
»No doubt he is the strongest story-teller of the whole lot, evoking the emigrant’s voyage. A universal story.« (Stef, Taran’s Free Jazz Hour, 2011)