September

Some bands are straightforward rock groups; others just want to make pop music. And then, there’s jazz rock bands from Yugoslavia. September weren’t together for very long first time around, but despite the obscurity, relatively speaking, of both their genre and their geography, they still did enough to have a genuine impact upon world music, and earn themselves an international following in the process. They released two records during their four years together, between 1975 and 1979; the first was closer to the kind of sound that was defining their own nation’s sound at the time - bear in mind that Yugoslavia was very much in the shadow of the Soviet Union at a time when Western influences would’ve been scarce. That all changed, though, on album, number two, which was a more conventional rock affair, with proper vocal lines - still tinged with plenty of cues from jazz, of course - and put September on the map. In 2003, they briefly reunited to play to packed concert halls across Eastern Europe; at their final show, in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, they were joined onstage by none other than Deep Purple, with the groups running through tracks from both of their back catalogues.