Skopje, 17 October 2024 (MIA) – Nine jazz bands from the USA, Europe, and Macedonia are set to perform at the 43rd Skopje Jazz Festival, which will be held at the National Opera and Ballet and at Youth Cultural Center (MKC), from Oct. 17 through 22.

According to the organizers, carefully selected programme aims to uphold the festival’s high international reputation and its tradition of showcasing the best in jazz and improvised music.

This year’s festival will kick off Thursday evening with a special performance by Cécile McLorin Salvant, the top American jazz singer, at the National Opera and Ballet. Described by the late Jessye Norman as a "unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality," Salvant is renowned for her ability to unearth forgotten songs, bringing them to life with strong narratives, unexpected twists, and rich emotional depth. Salvant has won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album with "For One to Love", "Dreams and Daggers" and "The Window".

That same evening at MKC, the local jazz ensemble Next to Silence will perform, presenting their latest album, 'Ruh' (SJF Records), which was launched on Saturday, October 12. Established by members of some of the most renowned Macedonian bands and orchestras, Next to Silence pursue the epiphany of the sound they seek. Their compositions draw on a variety of natural phenomena, ancient crafts, mystical practices, embodied representations, and twisted wits, all of which gain new essence and significance in their music. Next to Silence will bring this same attitude to their performance at the Skopje Jazz Festival, where they will sonically illustrate ‘Ruh’ and allow it to wander through the senses of the audience.

On Friday evening, Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado with his quartet The Bridge will perform at the National Opera and Ballet. In this new quartet, he brings together three of his strongest long-time influences, all leaders in their own right: German master pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, Norwegian double bass wizard Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and legendary American drummer Gerry Hemingway.

The End is an experimental music group that emerged in 2018, bringing together an explosive mix of talents from Norway, Sweden, and Austria will also perform on Friday evening. Formed by members with extensive experience in a wide variety of creative music ensembles over the past years - such as Fire! Orchestra, Cloroform, Møster, The Thing, Ultralyd, MoHa, Datarock, The Core, Noxact, NU-ensemble, Brutal Blues and many others - The End fuses a broad range of musical influences into something entirely new

On Saturday evening, New York based pianist and composer David Virelles and Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra are to perform at the National Opera and Ballet, while Alabaster DePlume, an English jazz musician, saxophonist, spoken word poet, composer, is set to perform at MKC.

While David Virelles views his work as “a hundred percent traditional,” drawing from multiple traditions, in practice, he is creating a syncretic new personal music, rather than a mixture of elements or a recreation. Besides his solo work, he has also worked with Henry Threadgill, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Oliver Lake, Bill Frisell, Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Paul Motian, Chucho Valdés and Hermeto Pascoal, among others.

Composer, cornetist, visual artist, musical director, abstractivist, and a modern music mogul of Chicago’s avante-garde scene since the 1990s, Rob Mazurek gained excellent reputation with Chicago Underground, a group that metamorphosed from a duo to an orchestra.

Described by NPR as an artist whose “greatest value is openness,” Alabaster dePlume, born Gus Fairbairn, is a British musician who fuses jazz, spoken word, and performance poetry into a distinctive and socially conscious form. Hailing from Manchester and now based in London, dePlume creates music that defies easy categorization, blending serene melodies with politically charged anthems that challenge societal complacency and advocate for human connection.

Nicole Mitchell and Mark Sanders will perform on Sunday evening the National Opera and Ballet.

Nicole Mitchell is an award-winning creative flutist, conceptualist, composer, bandleader and educator. She is perhaps best known for her work as a creative flutist, having developed a unique improvisational language which has repeatedly awarded her “Top Flutist of the Year” by Downbeat Magazine's Critics Poll from 2010-2024.

Mark Sanders is a drummer/percussionist of British-Belizean heritage, known for his playing in the fields of free jazz and free improvisation, while also utilizing his skills and versatility across various genres, having worked with numerous artists, including Roscoe Mitchell, Derek Bailey, Jah Wobble, Bill Laswell, Thurston Moore, Mathew Shipp, Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith and William Parker, among others. In duo with Nicole Mitchell, they create a strikingly sparse and minimal sound that remains full of joyous melodic hooks and grooves, reminiscent of a stripped-back Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Fire! Orchestra will also perform on Sunday evening at the National Opera and Ballet. The brainchild of Swedish musicians Mats Gustafsson (saxophone), Johan Berthling (bass), and Andreas Werliin (drums), Fire! Orchestra has grown into a formidable collective that defies conventional genre boundaries, developing a fresh approach to improvised music that drew on influences ranging from free jazz, psychedelic rock, post-bop, noise, krautrock, and dub. Now in its 14th year, the unique and constantly evolving Fire! Orchestra returns with its most ambitious work to date, featuring a predominantly Scandinavian cast with a heavy French infusion. While the popular and widely praised 'Arrival' (2019) is a highlight in the band’s catalogue, this monumental version building on the triple album 'Echoes' ups the ante.

In addition, the festival will feature a screening of the documentary “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” the art exhibition “Rob Mazurek: Radical Chimeras,” a new CD Release Party for Next to Silence, the awarding of the best young Macedonian jazz musician, and the ‘Jazz for Kids’ workshop.

Photo: Skopje Jazz Festival