Maja Alvanović – piano
Ervin Malina – double bass
Lav Kovač – drums

The place of honour as the Festival’s opening act belongs to the Novi Sad ensemble Majamisty TriO, led by pianist and composer Maja Alvanović. So far, they have performed at the Festival only once, ten years ago, promoting their debut album Mistyland (SKC Novi Sad, 2011). The impression they left opened one big door after another – reviews in the Jazz Times magazine and on the All About Jazz website, album distribution in Japan, first international gigs. Boldly stepping outside the mainstream of Serbian jazz, they reached higher grounds.

The trio’s music is characterized by a lyrical atmosphere and an emotional charge resembling Scandinavian poetics, blending classical sensibility and contemporary European jazz. During the ten years of their existence, they released the albums Love (Cosmic Sounds/Mascom, 2014) and Organic (Mistyland, 2020), performed at numerous local and international jazz festivals, from Kyiv to Sofia, to Vienna and London. In the absence of live performances during the pandemic, the concert promotion of their latest work was replaced by the release of impressive video works, covering most of the compositions from the album. Plus, their performance from the Piano City Festival (led by Maja leads in Novi Sad with her colleague Kosta Jevtić) has recently been available on the Stingray DJAZZ network. They are recording their fourth album shortly before the Festival and will present it at the Belgrade Jazz Festival.

https://majamisty.com/

Guests:

Ulrich Drechsler – bass clarinet, saxophones

Phot by Daniel Shaked

Clarinettist, saxophonist and composer Ulrich Drechsler, a German living in Vienna, gained international recognition in the early 2000s with the acoustic club trio Café Drechsler, achieving excellent results in various musical grounds and environments. His work with the Cello Quartet was widely successful, as was the duo collaborating with pianists Steffano Battaglia and Tord Gustavsen. He recorded about fifteen albums as a leader or co-leader and wrote music soundtracks for several Michael Pfeifenberger films. He won the Amadeus Award for Best Austrian Jazz/Blues Album in 2005 (Café Drechsler – Radio Snacks). At last year’s edition of the Festival, he presented the Azure faction of monumental multimedia work Liminal Zone for the first time outside Austria.

https://www.ulrichdrechsler.com/

Aneta George – vocals 

Photo by Lea Lambla

Aneta George, a Macedonian living in Paris, has been involved in music since childhood – at the age of 15, influenced by Stevie Wonder and the Boys II Men, she formed the vocal trio Peeme Soul, and gained wide popularity in her homeland. She graduated in jazz piano at the Music Academy in Štip, honing her career as a pianist and singer, composer and songwriter, and in education. Today she teaches singing at the American School of Music in Paris. Aneta released 3 albums: UniversaLove (2012), Playground (2018) and The Skopje Sessions (2019) for London-based Moods & Modes label. She performed in various European countries, South Africa and India, and her music has been used in several films.

https://www.anetageorge.com/

LA LA studio children’s choir

Photo: LA LA studio Promo

http://www.lalastudio.rs/

Чланак Majamisty TriO feat. Ulrich Drechsler, Aneta George & Dečji hor LA LA studio се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

The grandson of the famed blues-swing trumpeter Doc Cheatham, trumpeter and composer Theo Crocker gained his first professional experience during his extended stay in Shanghai – in addition to his engagement in leading clubs (House of Blues, Peace Hotel Jazz Bar), he was also music director in the popular TV series Asia Uncut. In 2010, he met Dee Dee Bridgewater, joined her backing band, and with her support, he finally launched an impressive solo career. Dee Dee released Crocker’;s third album Afro Physicist (2014) for her DDB Records label, sang on the album and got renowned jazz musicians such as Roy Hargrove, Stefon Harris, Sullivan Fortner, and her daughter China Moses to take part in the recording. The album’;s success enabled him to perform at prestigious world festivals (Rotterdam, San Sebastian, Perugia…) and backed his decision to return to the United States.

His previous album Star People Nation got him his first Grammy nomination, and with the current release BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST he will likely continue his climb to the top of contemporary jazz. In collaboration with many distinguished guests (Gary Bartz, Ari Lennox, Wyclef Jean …), the album is a sound celebration of Crocker’s Afro-roots, leaning on jazz and funk tradition, but also open to modern trends, such as hip-hop, rap and neo-soul.

https://theocroker.com/

Чланак Theo Croker BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Trumpeter and composer Marcus Stockhausen is one of the most versatile artists of our time, achieving top results in the field of jazz, contemporary and classical music. As the son of the famous avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, he performed many works by his father and went with him on stage (first time as a four-year-old!). He also collaborates with his half-brother Simon, a composer and saxophonist. He made over 90 albums as a leader or sideman for ECM, SONY/OKeh, EMI classics, ENJA and Aktivraum labels during his four-decade career.

Markus collaborated with notable figures of contemporary jazz (Arild Andersen, Patrice Héral, Ferenc Snétberger, Florian Weber, Ralph Towner, Rainer Brüninghaus…), wrote music for numerous world orchestras and/or performed with them (The London Sinfonietta, Metropole Orchestra , Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, WDR Funkhausen Orchestra, Swiss Jazz Orchestra and Camerata Bern…), plays intuitive music in the duo Moving Sounds with his wife Tara Bouman, and leads the world music septet Eternal Travel. Dedicated to education, he designed several original seminars on creative trumpet playing, intuitive music, dance, singing and meditation. He won the WDR Jazz Prize (2005), the JTI Jazz Award (2017) and the ECHO Jazz Prize (2018).

https://www.markusstockhausen.de/

Чланак Markus Stockhausen Group – Tales Tour се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

https://www.rymden-music.com/

Чланак Rymden<br>(Bugge Wesseltoft, Dan Berglund, Magnus Öström) се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

www.jasnajovicevic.com

Чланак SERBIAN SHOWCASE <br> Jovićević/Miklós/Wójcinski Trio се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Чланак SERBIAN SHOWCASE <br>Drama Quartet се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Drummer and composer Peđa Milutinovic was born in Kragujevac, active on the Belgrade jazz scene since 2010 as one of the great heroes of the famous club “The Waiting Room”
on the seventh floor of BIGZ. From 2012, he played in the VH Band, and in 2014, he participated in Maks Kočetov’s debut album 13:30. The Avenija trio is a result of hanging
out with David Binney at the 2014 Belgrade Jazz Festival and the influential QZAMA Quartet is a result of jamming in The Waiting Room with Luka Ignjatović, Filip Bulatović
and Pera Krstajić. When the latter two went to the USA, Ignjatović and Milutinović formed the Schime Trio with Boris Šainović (two albums), reaching the finals of the
Euroradio Jazz Competition at the Jazz In Marciac festival, performing twice at the Festival in Moers (Germany), and receiving accolades in DownBeat and All About Jazz – all
in one day!

In the spring of 2020, Milutinović released his first solo album Veritas Vincit with drumbooty (David Binney, Petar Krstajić, Luka Ignjatović, Ilija Nikolić, and guests from
the USA and Serbia), for the American record label Orenda Records. He also leads the cross-over band Kablovi, with producer MKDSL, combining jazz, rave, psychedelia and
punk rock. Main collaborations (besides the mentioned ones): Matija Dedić, Jure Pukl, Melissa Aldana, Julien Lourau, Bojan Z, Sofija Knežević, Dušan Jevtović, Sanja Marković,
among others.

https://www.facebook.com/drumbooty/

Чланак SERBIAN SHOWCASE <br> drumbooty се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Polish jazz stars, Marcin Wasilewski Trio is one of the most prominent jazz ensembles of its generation, critically-acclaim and loved by audiences all over the world. The band’s 25th anniversary coincided with the 50th anniversary of the famous ECM label, with six albums released for this company (ten in total), three albums in a quartet with Tomasz Stańko (played with him for over twenty years) and several in collaboration with other musicians. As a trio, they collaborated with Charles Lloyd and Nils Petter Molvær, and individually with a long list of world-class jazz musicians (Branford Marsalis, Jan Garbarek, Manu Katché, Al Foster, Arild Andersen, Marcus Miller, John Surman…).

With nine Fryderyk Awards (Polish equivalent of the Grammy, named after Frédéric Chopin), Marcin Wasilewski holds the most of these awards among all Polish jazz artists. He was the Polish Jazz Musician of the Year five times (2005, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2019), and the trio won the award for the best jazz album four times (2005, 2009, 2015, 2019). They also got two Fryderyk participating in the recording of the albums of Tomasz Stańko and Henryk Miśkiewicz, father of the Trio’s drummer Michał’s. Wasilewski has twice been on the DownBeat magazine annual critics – world critics especially point out his musical consciousness, refined sense of sound, as well as a considerable talent for creating drama in compositions.

https://www.marcinwasilewskitrio.com/

Joe‌ ‌Lovano‌

The titan of the modern tenor saxophone is back in Belgrade! After performing with his Nonet (2009), Sound Prints Quintet (with Dave Douglas, 2012), as well as in the Enrico Rava Quintet (2018), guesting with Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Joe Lovano became a record holder in the number of performances among international acts since the renewal of the Belgrade Jazz Festival. In the event’s entire history, only Dizzy Gillespie now leads with five participations from 1971 to 1990. Lovano is one of the largest collectors of prestigious awards in the jazz community, with top twenty spots on DownBeat magazine’s lists (best musician, saxophonist and album – he has won the triple crown several times), several annual Jazz Journalists Association awards, one Grammy and fourteen more nominations for the world’s most significant music industry award. He is espected equally by critics and audiences as an artist who interprets tradition and avant-garde with the same dedication, explores the connections between jazz and popular music and Neapolitan songs. He holds an honorary doctorate from Berklee College in Boston, with a long-lasting career as a lecturer in the Jazz Performance department. He recorded about thirty albums as a leader or co-leader, mostly releasing them for the Blue Note label. With the new line-up, Trio Tapestry he debuted two years ago as a leader for the ECM label.

http://www.joelovano.com/

Чланак SEIFERT NIGHT: THE BEST OF POLISH JAZZ <br>Marcin Wasilewski Trio & Joe Lovano „Arctic Riff“ се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Trumpeter and composer Piotr Damasiewicz has a wide range of creative interests: his world is populated by modal and free jazz, 20th-century classical music, sound design and electroacoustic improvisation. He has led ensembles of various formats and collaborated with many notable jazz musicians, including Jason Moran, James Carter, Dave Rempis, Satoko Fujii, Rodrigo Amado, Paal Nilssen-Love, Phil Minton, Lotte Anker, Tomasz Stańko, Maciej Obara and Dominik Wania, to name a few. He released fifteen albums, including four under his own name, two with the veNN collective, and one with with both the Red Trio and Spinifex. He also makes music for theatre and film and collaborates with poets and art galleries. In 2013, he received the Fryderyk Award for the Jazz Debut, as well as the best music award of the Polish Jazz Blog. He also won the award for the best composition named after the famous Krzysztof Komeda.

The project Into the Roots searches for the roots blending avant-garde and tradition. Damasiewicz was initially inspired by folk melodies from the Sucha County in southern Poland. Further impact came from the trio visits to Africa, fascination with local music and the Sahara. The final ingredient is the pastoral atmosphere of the Stavanger Fjords – the bell ringing, sheep bleating and the wind roar of the place where they held their first concert together.

https://www.facebook.com/PiotrDamasiewiczIntoTheRoots/

Чланак SEIFERT NIGHT: THE BEST OF POLISH JAZZ <br> Piotr Damasiewicz & Into the Roots се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Mateusz Smoczyński is an internationally-acclaimed Polish jazz violinist, winner of numerous prizes at major competitions, including the Grand Prix of the Zbigniew Seifert Jazz Competition and 2020 Best Jazz Violinist award of the Jazz Forum European Magazine. An active educator, since 2017 he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Jazz and World Music Department of the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He is also considered one of the most versatile Polish contemporary music composers.

He is author of numerous chamber and symphonic works, including “Adam’s Apple” violin concerto. Founder of one of Europe’s most intriguing string ensembles – Atom String Quartet, he collaborated with a series of jazz artists, such as Branford Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Gil Goldstein, Richie Beirach, Glen Moore, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Tomasz Stańko, Leszek Możdżer, Urszula Dudziak, Jarosław Śmietana, Anna Maria Jopek, among others. From 2012 to 2016, Mateusz Smoczyński played the first violin in the renowned American Turtle Island Quartet. Last year, he released an album with the famous German pianist Joachim Kühn for the ACT Music label, and since 2016 occasionally played in a duo with the notable German cellist Stephan Braun. He released some 15 albums as a leader/co-leader (quintet, trio, solo, Atom String Quartet…) and participated in several dozen albums by other artists.

https://www.smoczynski.pl/

Чланак SEIFERT NIGHT: THE BEST OF POLISH JAZZ <br> Mateusz Smoczyński Trio се појављује прво на 37th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.