In 2014, he was appointed Ambassador for Integration in the Cabinet of Sebastian Kurz, and in 2018, Creative Ambassador of the “Serbia Creates” platform, within the Council for Creative Industries project of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. Vasilić is also the winner of the “Vojin Mališa Draškoci” award for 2017 by the World Music Association of Serbia. In April this year, he became a full professor at the Jazz Institute in Berlin and the head of the Double Bass Department. Vasilić premiered at BJF in 2012, in the formation of a quartet. This time he presents the Bass And Strings project, with new composition arrangements from his rich body of work.

Nenad Vasilić – double bass, bass guitar

Marko Živadinović – accordion

Romed Hopfgartner – saxophone

Mirjana Nešković – I violin

Aleksandra Popović – II violin

Ivana Uzelac – viola

Danijela Milutinović Nenić – violoncello

Чланак Nenad Vasilić – Bass&Strings се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Radivojević develops his first album with compositions influenced by the American trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire and the Norwegian trumpet player Mathias Eick: on the one hand, sound experiments and more avant-garde language, and on the other Scandinavian simplicity and poetics. He released one of the songs, “Loving You in Reverse”, on the Mozaik collection, the first compilation of recordings of students of the Faculty of Music Jazz Department.

“Loving You in Reverse” is a masterpiece of the most talented Serbian trumpet player Ivan Radivojević. At a very slow tempo, it has more ambient than a ballad character (…) The trumpet maintains the tranquility for a long time, rises to a higher energy level during the solos on the alto saxophone, and then dies entirely again, rounding off five and a half minutes of pure beauty. (from the review of the album Mozaik, by Vojislav Pantić)

Ivan Radivojević – trumpet

Andreja Hristić – piano

Boris Šainović – double bass

Bogdan Đurđević – drums

www.facebook.com/radivojevicivan91

Чланак Ivan Radivojević Quartet се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Frenchman Yannick Lestra (Fender Rhodes, synthesizers) and Hungarian Attila Gyárfás (drums, electronics), both of them the same age as Filippo, complete the trio. The artists keep pushing themselves towards the unexpected and unpredictable, creating a fluent dialogue between space ballads, hypnotic grooves and radical improvisation. Their inspirations redefine the musical narrative in real time, balancing between steady rhythm segments and free individual jam. Thomas Conrad, a critic of the Stereophile magazine and a longtime BJF reporter, already calls them “the bright stars of European jazz.”

Filippo Vignato – trombone 

Yannick Lestra – rhodes, synths

Attila Gyárfás –drums

www.filippovignato.com
www.facebook.com/filippovignatomusic

Чланак Filippo Vignato Trio се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

What else can one add to such an “ancient” song like “After You’ve Gone” after all the beaming renditions by Marion Harris, Bessie and Satchmo, Ella, Dinah and Judy Garland, Cécile McLorin Salvant? But Gorica Šutić did not follow any of those beam lights, she followed her own instinct to shine with composed improvisation after the opening and instrumental solos. (from the review of the album Mozaik, by Vojislav Pantić)

Gorica Šutić – vocals

Stevan Milijanović – keyboards

Stefan Stehlik – guitar

David Gegić –bass

Aleksa Milijanović – drums

https://www.facebook.com/goricagrooveheadz

Чланак Gorica & The Grooveheadz се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Read more about it here

Before the Israeli double bassist, singer and composer Avishai Cohen (1970, Kabri, Israel) performed in Belgrade for the first time, he had already built a considerable reputation in the world as a leader and sideman, but few people in Serbia have heard of him. He performed in Kolarac Hall in a double bill with the Ravi Coltrane Quartet, and it was clear who the headliner was on paper, at least. He stepped into the hall as a “fine decoration”, and walked out as a new favorite of Belgrade music aficionados. Nine years later, he returned as the BJF 32nd edition’s biggest star, drawing more than two thousand people at the Sava Center concert.

Cohen is coming to the third meeting with Belgrade people with the new, seventeenth album Arvoles and the third trio, consisting of the Azerbaijani pianist Elchin Shirinov and the Israeli drummer, Ms. Roni Kaspi. Shirinov has had a successful career on the European scene as a leader since the mid-2000s. Kaspi turned twenty this year, but she has been on the scene since she was seven. She is studying at Berkeley, but due to the covid pandemic, she returned to Israel, met Avishai Cohen at a Facebook jam and started working with him.  Cohen’s performance brings new music and new energy of musicians, who will no doubt rise to fame just as Cohen’s earlier associates did.

Avishai Cohen – double bass, vocals

Elchin Shirinov – piano

Roni Kaspi – drums

www.avishaicohen.com
www.facebook.com/AvishaiCohenMusic

Чланак Avishai Cohen Trio се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

Shortly before his fiftieth birthday, Drechsler was the opening act at the Jazzfest Saalfelden, presenting the Liminal Zone project. This monumental work combines his interests in classical, jazz, funk, pop, film music, drum’n’bass, hip-hop, Scandinavian minimalism, Persian Sufi music, British trip-hop, Eastern European romanticism and Mediterranean music, forming three musical fields: Chrome, Caramel and Azure, blending in the Liminal Zone.

The Azure Quartet’s Belgrade performance will be the premiere of this music outside Austria, and in April last year, Belgrade witnessed the birth of the Liminal Zone faction at the duo concert of Drechsler and Peter Zirbs, the legend of Viennese electronic music. The original blend of free jazz, contemporary music and electronics complement the angelic voice of Loretta Who and the hot rhythms of Raphael Keuschnigg.

Ulrich Drecshler – saxophone, clarinet

Peter Zirbs – programming/live electronics

Loretta Who – vocals/live electronics

Raphael Keuschnigg – drums

www.ulrichdrechsler.com
www.liminalzone.at
https://www.facebook.com/azureliminalzone

Чланак Ulrich Drechsler LIMINAL ZONE: Azure се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

VLATKO STEFANOVSKI 

Macedonian guitarist and composer Vlatko Stefanovski (1957, Prilep) achieved an impressive career in the former Yugoslavia with the band Leb i sol. They released 14 albums, filled halls across the country, and performed worldwide, securing Vlatko a cult status among music lovers with his skills.

A significant part of the group Leb i sol consisted of instrumental compositions with elements of jazz-rock and musical motifs inspired by Macedonian folklore. Stefanovski continued to explore the same ground after the band’s breakup, using the freedom of a solo artist to express himself in different ways, acoustically and electrically, in the waters of rock, jazz, classical and folk tradition. Since 2007, he holds the honorary art Ph.D. title from the University of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Skopje.

The long list of artists he has worked with includes Bojan Zulfikarpašić, Teodosi Spasov, Manu Katche, Tony Levin, Tommy Emmanuel, Stochelo Rosenberg, Jan Akkerman, Vasko Atanasovski and Kudsi Erguner, among others. He also performed with numerous symphony orchestras and philharmonics (London, Leipzig, Monte Carlo, Vienna, Sofia, Ljubljana, Skopje). He performed at the Belgrade Jazz Festival only once, in 1989, with the band Leb i sol.

Vlatko Stefanovski – guitar

Matija Dedić – piano

http://vlatkostefanovski.com.mk/

MATIJA DEDIĆ

Pianist and composer Matija Dedić (1973, Zagreb) is the leading Croatian jazz musician of today. To prove this, he can show not only a bunch of Porins (over twenty-five), but also by the impressive discography in the company of world jazz masters, as well as constant concert activity (solo, trio, Gabi Novak, Zoran Predin, Tamara Obrovac…).

The son of prominent Croatian artists Arsen Dedić and Gabi Novak studied in Graz, and upon his return to Croatia first worked with the Boilers Quartet then founded his trio. In 2002, he was among the Young Pianists Competition finalists at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He released three albums accompanied by American rhythm sections, with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard, Vicente Archer and Kendrick Scott, and Scott Colley and Antonio Sanchez. He also recorded with Thomas Bramerie and Manu Katche and Johannes Weidenmüller, Jonathan Blake and Chris Cheek. He released solo albums with original music and arrangements of compositions by Arsen Dedić and Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni.

He performed at the Belgrade Jazz Festival three times: with the trio in 2005, with Gabi Novak in 2009, and at the “Three Sides of Jazz” art evening in 2016, in the company of Vasil Hadžimanov, Joris Teepe and Gene Jackson.

www.matijadedic.com

https://www.facebook.com/Matija-Dedic-1400286140286129

Чланак Vlatko Stefanovski & Matija Dedić се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.

JOVAN MALJOKOVIĆ SEXTET

Saxophonist, composer and arranger Jovan Maljoković (1943, Valjevo) is one of the most prolific artists in Serbian jazz’s history. After living in Western Europe, Scandinavia and the USSR, he led ensembles of various formats, interested mainly in combining jazz, Balkan folklore and Cuban music. He performed with his ensemble in Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria, Luxembourg and Greece. He began his recording career in 1985 to release thirteen albums, the most of all our domestic jazz artists.

During his career, Maljoković collaborated with numerous local jazz, pop and rock musicians. He was a member of the second line-up of the legendary Balkan Impressions band led by Lale Kovačev. For four years, he was a soloist in the Goran Bregović Wedding and Funeral Orchestra. He was one of the founders and long-term artistic director of YU Jazz Fest in Valjevo.

Maljoković first performed in the Belgrade Jazz Festival’s main program as a soloist of the Dance Orchestra of RTV Novi Sad, in 1981. He led his ensembles three times, in 1983, 1990 and 2012, all three times in the Great Hall of DOB. He also accompanied Ana Sofrenović, Jenny Evans & Hannes Beckman and performed with Balkan Impressions.

Jovan Maljoković – saxophone

Strahinja Banović – trumpet

Ivan Ilić – keyboards

Cvijetin Trifković Cole – guitar

Slaviša Pavlović Stenli – bass

Miodrag Đino Maljoković – drums

Gosti:

Nenad Petrović – alto saxophone

Nenad Jelić – percussions

Ana Sofrenović – vocals

www.jovan-maljokovic.com

LAZAR TOŠIĆ QUINTET

Drummer Lazar Tošić (1941, Kraljevo) came to Belgrade as a teenager and soon joined the Sasa Radojčić Trio, becoming an active member of the generation that established club jazz life in the city. He then spent seven years in Germany, returning with great experience and new ambitions.

In 1974, he joined the RTB Jazz Orchestra, where he spent two decades and contributed to the ensemble’s newer stylistic aspirations with his playing. He was also a member of the most influential small ensemble in the SFRY history, the Marković-Gut Sextet (1980-1985). In 1987, he founded the Lazar Tošić Quintet, following the previous group’s genre path, deep in hard-bap waters. During the 1990s, Tošić’s mostly worked in the Belgrade club “Plato”, as one of the rare oases of good music, positive spirit and dignity in difficult times.

Lazar Tošić holds the undisputed record for the number of participations in the BJF among all musicians living in Serbia. He performed three times with the Marković-Gut Sextet, accompanied Nada Knežević, Joe Lee Wilson, Tony Scott and Roberta Sweed, and at least seven times played a member of the RTB Jazz Orchestra. In 2007, he performed with his quintet to celebrate two decades of the band’s existence.

Lazar Tošić – drums

Novak Mijović – trumpet

Ljubiša Paunić – tenor saxophone

Miloš Krstić – piano

Branko Marković – double bass

VLADA MARIČIĆ QUARTET

Pianist and composer Vlada Maričić (1965, Šabac) has been active on the jazz scene since 1985, first with his Art Bop Quintet, then as a member of Lazar Tošić’s quintet. In 1988, he participated in the ZG Jazz Fair with his trio, then moved to London for two years. At the recording debut Ornaments (1990), he indicated the concept of mixing jazz and Balkan folklore he explored in his later career. The album Prelo (2003) brings this combination in the format of a quartet with the of St. George Strings. Later, Maričić added his interest in Roma music and Cuban rhythms, best expressed on the album Romano-Cubano (2005).

Maričić is one of Serbia’s most creative jazz authors, with ten released albums to date. He performed in Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain, Greece and Romania. He has been the artistic director of the Šabac Jazz and Blues Festival for many years, and in 2004 he took part in the organization of the Serbian Jazz Festival Step Across the Border in Vienna.

He performed at the Belgrade Jazz Festival three times: in 1990 with the Jazz Alliance, in 2005 with the Romano-Cubano project and was the opening act of the BJF 2016, when his special guest was the American trumpet player Brian Lynch.

Vlada Maričić – piano

Slobodan Bata Božanić – bass

Dušan Ivanišević – drums

Lazaro Del Toro Vega – percussions

www.vladamaricic.com

Чланак Lazar Tošić quintet, Vlada Maričić quartet, Jovan Maljoković sextet + guests се појављује прво на 36th Belgrade Jazz Festival 2020.