Concert Review: Jazz in the City, pan flute jazz regale with Damian Draghici

Some would argue that there is no room for such a traditional instrument as pan flute in a modern, vibrant and innovative genre as jazz. Damian Draghici proved them wrong through the jazz regale that he sustained at Sala Palatului on November 12, along with his clarinetist teacher, “The King” Eddie Daniels and astounding vocalist Diane Schuur.

Draghici brought his electrical pan flute on the scene of Sala Palatului as a world premiere and perhaps came as a surprise to the auditorium playing classical jazz songs note by note, without any other influences or intervention. Of the 4,000 spectators that attended the concert, a few fled after the first half. But it’s alright – perhaps these were the ones who did not take the former Damian & Brothers gypsy music performer seriously in his jazz manifesto.

Jazz music is not for everyone. It does, by no means, address a musical elite, as some would argue, yet fulfills a simple taste, as any other music genre, compared to which it is no better or worse. It does represent, however, a challenge in a musician’s life, the apex of his or her musical evolution. It was indeed the challenge that Draghici accepted after reaching commercial success with Damian & Brothers and deciding that the sacrifices he had to make would have proven worthless had he not listened to his initial calling, jazz, as he confessed during a press conference prior to the event.

A graduate of the Berklee Music College in Boston, where he studied Jazz performance and graduated “Magna cum Laude” in 1997, Draghici was by no means a jazz novice. The duels that he held with Daniels, with whom he synchronized his instrument of ancient origins, proved once more why Draghici is regarded as one of the fastest players of the instrument and a true virtuoso.

But Draghici and Daniels were not the only noteworthy presences to delight the audience at Sala Palatului. Vocalist Diane Schuur, a former disciple of Dinah Washington, redefined what one usually might consider a good voice, in its classical sense, that evening. An impersonation of music itself or definitely a creature of non-human origins, Schuur mastered her voice in a way that very few musicians control and give soul to their instruments. No sound, nor any note seemed impossible for Schuur, who even challenged Daniels and his clarinet to create sounds that she would not be able to imitate, a challenge which she gloriously won.

Jazz in the City events will become a tradition in Bucharest, as organizers have announced, due to the impact that Draghici raised through his concert.