Ružić likes to define his work as 'conceRtual art' because a few art forms are intertwined in a whole with music. Led by the idea that improvisation doesn't exist by itself for every art form, visual being linked to auditive and vice versa, he created different projects, projects that combine jazz album with art movie, jazz show, painting on the stage ...
While one at form works as a conductor to other and different art forms complete each other, arts combined in that way create their own, unique universe.
LIBERTIN
Libertin is a project of a jazz musician, composer and academic painter Vedran Ružić. The project emphasises the connection of the arts - jazz music and contemporary dance. It is a story of a free man who decided to escape his family roots and other people dreams. The main subject of the play is our genetic connection to our ancestors and how we can(not) escape that bound. Libertin is performed by 4 jazz musicians and 3 contemporary dancers. Libretto Libertin consists of 3 acts: The Beginning, Family Dream and Libertin. The play is a story of three different perspectives on life. The Beginning is about how we came to this world, the origin, the genesis. The Family Dream talks about how our parents “imagined” us and our life. Libertin In the third act, the main character/dancer Libertin (Nastasja Štefanić) by growing up develops a different perception of the world and of his role in it.
Jazz album Libertine with 9 songs composed by Vedran Ružić -Gene color - throughout the whole album, he uses the same chord in certain parts to show the genetic heritage -the musicians on the stage do not have a secondary role -the compositions follow the screenplay and the development path of the libretto (the dinamics, length of the compositions, improvisation parts, the changes of the solo parts, etc.)
Musicians: Vedran Ružić - author of the project (bass), Jaka Kopač – (alt.sax) , Adriano Bernobić (drums), Hrvoje Galler (piano). Dancers: Nastasja Štefanić, Karolina Šuša and Marko Kalc
SPIRITUAL MARKET
Spiritual Market is the awarded original jazz album from musician and artist Vedran Ružić. His first mission is to combine different kinds of art forms. In addition to the music and paintings he decided to partner up with Ira Tomić and John Kardum to combine an art movie - as a result, the project “Spiritual Market” evolved, inspired by the journeys of Marco Polo to the Far East.
The jazz album was created in combination with overtones from Istria and the Far East. It follows Polo’s journey from Venice to China. With Ružić on the double bass, the quartet is completed with – Adriano Bernobić on the drums, Pavle Miljenović on the guitar and Mario Bočić joining them with the saxophone.
The publication of Vedran’s album “Spiritual Market” was followed by a second part of the project, a film that lasts through the entire album. The film is an abstract display of Marco Polo's journeys in which the present and the past interfere between each other, as do the imaginative and real. The film is based on the authentic jazz music of Vedran Ružić which musically follows Polo´s journey from Venice to China and is often intended to be screened with live musicians performing the musical part, which makes it one of a kind in Croatia and that is the reason why the authors call it the first Croatian jazz movie.
In 2017. the Spiritual Market has won the most prestigious music award in Croatia - Porin, in the best jazz album category.
NIGHT SPEAKING
Night Speaking is Vedran Ruzic’s first album that debuted in 2015. In this album there are eight musical compositions on which he worked many years from his young age of playing in high school. On the album they are several favorite compositions from the author, like Night Speaking and Eternel Etudiant in which Ružić describes his inspirational moments in his life. The album features other musicians, Vedrans brother Zvjezdan Ružić and Tonči Grabušić.