Words by David C. Obenour
Inspired improvisation best stems from a deep and intrinsic knowledge of the art from which it emerges. Having started her studies in early childhood, Slovenian pianist Rebeka Rusjan Zajc’s curriculum of classical came to illuminate an interest for the schools of thought found in jazz. Informed by the structures and formats of both, Zajc began to construct her own improvisational “cursive operas.”
Released on Clean Feed earlier this year, Prelude introduced audiences to a highlighted exploration of this immersive stream of music. The album wasn’t meant to be considered alone though. As it’s name would suggest, months later comes Introducing… a five-disc release capturing five other sessions recorded over the course of a half year. These sessions each speak to a difference in touch and approach, and ultimately solidify Zajc as a force in a number of musical subgenres and communities.
Off Shelf: Having studied piano from the age of six, how do you think such an early tutelage has shaped your approach to music? Do you think it still connects to an earlier stage of creativity and development?
Rebeka Rusjan Zajc: Musical education has always been guiding me through my development – as an artist, human, and professional. At an early age, music was a tool through which my creativity was channeled and naturally developed. To my professor, who had been teaching me for the first 10 years, it was clear I was searching for my own interpretations of classical repertoire. She encouraged the creativity and proposed to continue my piano studies in jazz. I now recognize that a more important factor than starting early is the continuation throughout the years. I believe the constant touch and studies within Music are continually composing who I am.
OS: Do you feel connected to those early years of playing? Beyond the technical, can you think of what has notably remained and what has evolved over the years?
RRZ: I observe my perception, and the message in Music has developed so much from then. At the very beginning, before having an acoustic piano, I was making music using different sound options on a digital keyboard – the fascination and exploration were present in my everyday. I later developed systems and compositions which allow me to keep generating new options on piano. What remained is curiosity of sound and music.
OS: How do you see the distinction and connection of your training in classical and jazz? What elements of each find their way into your performances as an original artist?
RRZ: I operate with elements in my works that are present in all Music. Although the distinction between jazz and classical was present during my education, I now allow music to come as is, without an implied perception of ‘what it is’ or ‘what it should be’. This makes way for new options in material, new connections, new messages, and so on – not only for my own understanding, for the listeners as well.
OS: Can you touch on what you enjoy about the sound of a piano as an unaccompanied instrument?
RRZ: The depth, totality of sound, the resonance of each string, and strings resonating together, the clarity and sophistication of the tone on a freshly tuned piano. The range of amplitudes, the space it creates in the sound, the presence within it.
OS: As a songwriter and performer, what freedoms do you feel when playing on your own? How does that help to distill the music that you want to create? Do you see it as any way limiting?
RRZ: I see it as ‘unlimited’. These solo works allow me the most options to be me as a performer, the most creativity, flexibility, and agency. I am responsible and in control of inviting the Music and delivering the message to the audience.
OS: The fluidity of your playing is mesmerizing and immersive. Can you talk about how you experience performing? Is there a place of inspiration or mental environment you feel like you “go to” when you’re performing?
RRZ: I do not exist during the performance. I train to ‘forget the self’ and fall into Music for as long and as deep as I can.
OS: Released in January earlier this year, your debut album was titled Prelude. Is this an indication that it was conceived and released with Introducing… already in mind? Could you talk about what you meant by titling it Prelude?
RRZ: Prelude was indeed meant as an overture to the Introducing…. It is documentation of the first step in my solo discipline after three years of generating, developing, and immersing myself in it. In the future, it will serve as the first iteration of my solo vision, while the vision itself keeps clarifying and developing.
OS: How do they relate and how do they differ?
RRZ: Within Introducing, compositions are related to one another and stem from each other – ILLUSION from Prelude is the original composition from which everything else emerged.
OS: A five disc release is an extensive offering at any point in an artist’s career. Can you talk about the decision to collect Introducing… as a single release?
RRZ: As a box set, each composition is articulated in length and guides the listener into true depths of Music. I would not be able to achieve the same impact by releasing these five compositions one by one.
OS: Looking back, what connections do you hold to these compositions? When you perform them live, what are you hoping to recreate as opposed to what is solely inspiration and a loose roadmap to where you’re headed?
RRZ: I set goals for each performance. The standards are to execute the compositions as objectively and precisely as I can, forget myself, and keep falling into Music…