Charles Lloyd performance at the Second Day of Skopje Jazz Festival

Second day of the Skopje Jazz Festival 2011 started with Miroslav Vitous Quintet followed by another jazz legend Charles Lloyd and finished with experimental project Fire of the Swedish Saxophone player Mats Gustafsson.

MIROSLAV VITOUS "REMEMBER WEATHER REPORT"
feat. Franco Ambrosetti (Czech Republic/Italy)

Many gifted musicians start playing at an early age, and Vitous began playing the violin at the age of six. He subsequently played the piano at age 10, before settling on the bass at 14. He studied under F. Posta at the Prague Conservatory in Czechoslovakia. The history of the conservatory is fascinating, with noteables such as Antonín Dvorák serving as their director. The conservatory has a very disciplined program requiring all students to study for 6 years and pass stringent exams. During this time he played in a trio with his brother Alan, and Jan Hammer. After winning a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he came to the U.S. A year later in 1966, Miroslav moved to New York & collaborated with musicians such as Bob Brookmeyer, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, Charlie Mariano, and Herbie Mann. In 1970, the group Weather Report was formed along with Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul. Three years later, he formed the Miroslav Vitous Group along with John Surman, Kenny Kirkland and Jon Christensen. In 1979, Vitous became the director of the Jazz Department at the New England Conservatory in Boston. We will explore more of his teaching experience under the educator section. In 1982, Vitous reunites Chick Corea and Roy Haynes and tours the world, and produces 2 albums under the ECM label. There were several performances at the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra and at Music of Viva in Boston. In 1988, he removed himself from academia in order to focus all his energy on composing and performing. Around this time, he returned to Prague and recorded an album with his brother. In Skopje he will present his last project “Remembering Weather Report” (2009).

CHARLES LLOYD NEW QUARTET (USA)

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Charles Lloyd began playing the saxophone when he was nine years old. Surrounded by a wealth of musical sources such as the blues, gospel and jazz, as a teenager he played with musicians like Johnny Ace, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King. In Los Angeles he sought out West Coast musicians like Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Eric Dolphy, whom he was to replace in 1960 as musical leader of Chico Hamilton's band. This was his breakthrough. In 1964 he was invited to join the Cannonball Adderley Sextet and he played with Nat Adderley and Joe Zawinul. Not long afterwards he achieved his greatest success with his own quartet (Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Cecil McBee). The quartet performed at rock venues side by side with legends like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Cream and Jefferson Airplane. Suddenly, the successful saxophonist fell silent; Lloyd retreated from the public eye and devoted himself to meditation, occasionaly recording and performing wih The Beach Boys and Doors . This lasted until the eighties when a young pianist, Michel Petrucciani, convinced him to take to the stage again. New albums followed as well as new tours. Lloyd has since been active again for many years, dedicated to making music and recording marvelous CDs for the jazz label ECM. His latest album, “Mirror”, came out last year earning a lot of praise from critics. He will perform in Skopje with the same lineup as on this album: pianist Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.

FIRE! (Sweden)

Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin make up the Swedish super group Fire!, and although this without a doubt is a jazz trio, everything from garage rock to free jazz is on the menu when these three create music together. The winner of the Nordic Council Music Prize 2011, Mats Gustafsson, is probably best know from The Thing, but he is also known for his collaborations with amongst others Peter Brötzmann and Sonic Youth. Johan Berthling is a member of Tape and also has a background from bands such as Sten Sandell Trio and LSB. Wildbirds & Peacedrums drummer Andreas Werliin is the youngest of the three, and he is currently also a member of Dan Berglund's Tonbruket. With inspiration drawn from mining, large lorry engines, electro acoustic music from Sweden and a large variety of creative garage rock and free jazz, Fire! is building up a new language and new models for how improvised music can be done. Fire! debuted in 2009 with "You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago". On the second album, recorded in Japan and released earlier this year under the name "Unreleased?", they teams up with none other than the legendary Jim O'Rourke on guitar. Fire! have played all over Europe and Japan, and this year they are set to tour South America as well as giving a number of concerts in Europe including this one in Skopje.