New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Ninety & Nine Records) Internationally acclaimed jazz quartet EYOT is a winner of the MIDEM OFF Competition in 2012, winner of the Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows Competition in 2009, video and mp3 of the day on prominent jazz website "All About Jazz", and has been featured at many international jazz festivals, including Nišvill Jazz Fest in Serbia, World of Jazz in Dubai, DOKfest in Munich, Alarma Punk Jazz in Sofia, along with club gigs on regular basis (see a few notable performances below).
Within the chiaroscuro between east and west, good and evil, members of the band EYOT spin a web of hushed tones and howls with their new brand of eastern jazz. All About Jazz did a recent review of EYOT's debut album here: AllAboutJazz Review
This is not our parents' jazz. There are no smooth licks here. EYOT is full-to-the-hilt emotion, stemming from the troubled past of the band members' childhoods and the real, pent-up emotions of a period in history many eastern Europeans would like to forget. From the soft solo piano stylings bandleader Dejan Ilijic ekes gently from the keys to Sladjan Milenovic's hypnotic microtonal Bill Frisell-esque guitar atmospheres, and with the metamorphic rhythm section of Marko Stojiljkovic and Milos Vojvodic, this band of brilliant young musicians is "all-in" for every tune.
This is the music of ancient civilizations, of traditional moonshine, of dervishes and religious festivals. It is the music of blood running through the streets and of hatred. It is the music of love,
reconciliation, friendship and peace. It is the marriage of east and west, and the meeting of ancient and modern. The twisted steel of the musical arrangements in EYOT's first record have earned them ebullient praise from critics, and their live shows cannot be missed. The intensity is palpable.
The haunts of
John Coltrane and the spirit of Kurt Cobain permeate the now-Keith-Jarrett-like and then-free improvisatory sets of eccentric Serbian pianist Dejan Ilijic and his band EYOT. Their dynamic sets have earned them praise in their home country and around Europe, and audiences leave energized and enlightened.
Notable Performances:
2009 Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows
2009 Nishvill Jazz Festival
2010 World of Jazz / Dubai Jazz Festival / UAE
2010 Jazz & Blues Festival Petrovac
2010 Nisomnia Rock Festival
2010 Jazz Festival Novi Sad
2010 Jazziré Festival Subotica
2010 Jazz & Blues Festival „Geza Balaž-Gari"
2011 DOKfest Munich / Germany
2011
Sounds of Summer
2011 Belgrade of light festival
2011 Alarma Punk Jazz Fest /
Sofia / Bulgaria
2011 Serbia in Thessaloniki / Greece
2011 Veisa Jazz / Saransk / Russia
