The pioneering trumpeter-composer Dusko Goykovich was one of the first jazz musicians to leave his home in the former Yugoslavia in Belgrade for the US. He consequently took up residence in Germany and spent much of his career recording and performing there. This 1975 reissue comes near the start of a hugely prolific career as bandleader that goes on to this day, in spite of reaching 87 years of age. Released in 1966, the recording Swinging Macedonia, with Mal Waldron on piano, has been credited as one of the first examples of a European jazz musician integrating indigenous folk music into jazz and The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD hails it as, “one of the most convincing attempts to synthesise jazz and… Balkan folk music”. Originally recorded in Rome in 1975, Slavic Mood continues in that Balkan-influenced cool jazz vein exploring progressive modal through to more upbeat soul-jazz groove settings. Goykovich plays here with the kind of fiery swing that might evoke his previous membership of key big-bands led by Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman and peak period Clarke-Boland. Conversely, on muted trumpet he reverts to a more introverted 1950s Miles/Chet mood, and the yearning Slavic folksong melodies recall the much-missed Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stãko as well as Krzysztof Komeda. A local legend who’s certainly worthy of further investigation.