Press conference
7 June, Club CD
The second press conference (that is the formal one) took place in the CD Club to announce the forthcoming 52nd Ljubljana Jazz Festival. The Festival selector, Bogdan Benigar, first thanked the sponsors and then talked about a series of new features in this year’s program. He said that they had not been happy about the turnout at the Križanke open-air theatre, and that in the future the place might not be chosen as the Festival’s principal venue. This year, Križanke will play host only to one evening, composed of three succulent concerts, i.e. the legendary Charles Lloyd’s New Quartet, Mia Žnidarič & Steve Klink International Band and the popular Portuguese singer Mario João. Instead, the Festival will take place at Kino Šiška, as the organisers aim at creating a social occasion, also holding one of the concerts in the cinema front yard.
He then spoke about Pedro Costa, the festival co-curator, describing their encounter at the Perspectives Festival, where Benigar learnt about the unique Clean Feed label. Thrilled by the unrestrained manner in which the recording company was approaching jazz, releasing records by established names as well as new talents, he decided to invite Costa on board as a co-curator. The result is “a festival within a festival”, on 1 July featuring the Portuguese label’s protégés, and offering a taste of Portuguese dishes. On this occasion concerts will be held by Bernardo Sassetti, the blue-eyed boy of Portuguese jazz who’s said to be the new Keith Jarrett, Chris Lightcap, whose Bigmouth is considered the best jazz album of the year, as well as the Angles that, for the Ljubljana festival but also for the subsequent Clean Feed recording, will for the first time turn into an octet, adding piano and another horn to the line-up. The label will also record the performance by the Igor Lumpert Trio.
The Festival will commence on 29 June, the day of the official opening of the jazz photography exhibition by Petra Cvelbar. Zlatko Kaučič will give his concert in homage to the deceased journalist, Tomaž Simon, who was an ardent advocate of jazz as well as the Ljubljana Festival. Benigar also drew our attention to the Eric Revis concert, which will feature two MacArthur Fellows, Ken Vandermark and Jason Moran.
Mia Žnidarič thanked Benigar for giving her the opportunity to perform at Križanke, as this will be her first independent concert in this historic hall designed by illustrious Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik. Her line-up has not performed together before, therefore the challenge and the expectations are all the greater – she especially commended Mario Gonzi, the drummer who “laughs, is full of life, and has music running through his veins”. Her husband, friend, favourite musician and composer, Steve Klink, assured us that the evening would be enjoyable and more than worth our time. Regretfully, his experience in music had shown that people are afraid of the intellectually-sounding term “jazz”, as he had witnessed on several occasions how simple people, workers and farmers, genuinely enjoyed Mia’s music. He concluded by saying that jazz can appeal to several palates, and that the Saturday night would be “savoury”.
Robert Jukić, the musician who eclectically fuses traditions, explained that he was eagerly waiting for the release and distribution of his latest CD, Operation Charlie. The project, that takes inspiration from cinema, will be featured on Thursday, 30 June.
In concluding, Benigar highlighted another festival novelty: “in the context of bringing jazz before wider audiences” the Angles will give a street concert, while the closing ceremony will this year not be held in the CD Club, but at the Sax Pub.
Andraž Jež
