October 12-16 lovers of modern jazz in the capital will see a long-seen swarm of music stars. The most outstanding improvisers of their generation brought together by the 36th "Vilnius Jazz" festival will take to the stage of the Vilnius Old Theater every day.
Many participants of this year's festival are connected by creative ties, although they represent different countries. It is natural - the elite of the world's modern jazz will gather in Vilnius.
In this regard, the program for Sunday, October 15, is eloquent. One of its stars, the Frenchman Louis Sclavis, appears in the biographies of many festival luminaries, as he is one of the most prominent free jazz and avant-garde clarinetists, playing with Evan Parker, Lola Coxhill, Tony Oxley, Peter Brötzmann, Trilok Gurt, Cecil Taylor, Aki Takese, Enrico Rava , Nguyên Lê, Craig Taborn and other luminaries of the scene.
His work has been recognized with many awards, including the Django Reinhardt prize for "the best French jazz musician" (1988), the First Prize of the Barcelona Biennale (1989), the "British Jazz Award" at the MIDEM fair as "the best foreign artist" (1990, 1991), "Django d'Or" for the best French jazz recording of the year (1993), "Grand Prix" of the Association of Music Authors, Composers and Publishers SACEM (2009).
JAV The Village Voice has named him the most prominent bass clarinet master since Eric Dolphy. However, music itself has proven many times that its real instrument is the ensemble.
This fall, Sclavis is touring his 70th birthday with the classic jazz quartet he returned to after a long hiatus to record his 13th album for ECM, Characters on a Wall. This album was inspired by L. Sclavis's friend, the artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest's street art works that decorate the cities of the world - from Ramallah in Palestine to Rome in Italy: the jazz virtuoso dedicated a composition to each of them.
E. Pignon-Ernest is also a classic among his colleagues: his art stands out for its elegance, subtle color and emotional drama. And L. Sclavis has always been attracted to the borders of music genres and styles and the territories where ultra-modernity and tradition meet.
The music of the quartet of this project, which is closest to jazz, also has a strong touch of classical music. "When creating, I try to find the most suitable way to convey my visions - sometimes classical strokes are the most suitable for this," said the clarinetist.
The "Characters on a Wall" works will also be appreciated by the Vilnius Jazz audience.
The leader of the next October 15th project, Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, belongs to the young generation of improvisers, but is also already inflected in celebrity biographies. A PhD student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, she has played with the bands of Mats Gustafsson, Tobias Delius, Rudi Mahal, Wilbert de Joode, Axel Dörner, John Edwards, Craig Taborn, Barry Guy and other jazz authorities. She performs about 150 concerts a year!
In the world of free jazz and improvisational music, Mette Rasmussen is famous for her "explosive energy". Whether playing solo or M. Gustafsson's Fire! Orchestra and Godspeed You! Black Emperor”, sparks fly from her improvisations. At times, Mette's alto saxophone evokes passages of the legendary Albert Ayler, at other times the ferocious M. Gustafsson, but the Dane has managed to resist the influences and form her own individual sound and playing style, characterized by piercing treble and controlled free jazz improvisations.
Exploring the sonic possibilities and limits of expression of the saxophone, M. Rasmussen uses a colorful palette of techniques, constantly expanding the musical vocabulary of her instrument.
Since the beginning of her career, she has performed in various trios, and in 2019 she teamed up with her worthy Norwegian fans - bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Olaf Moses Olsen and made her debut at the famous Oslo jazz club "Victoria" with an original program. Last year, M. Rasmussen's trio, performing her compositions, already applauded the jazz festivals of Berlin, Tampere, Sarajevo, the most famous European jazz clubs - Vienna's "Porgy & Bess", Amsterdam's "Bimhuis", Munich's "Unterfahrt", the elite halls of Ljubljana's "Cankarjev Dom", Cologne Stadgarten audience.
Such a leap is not surprising when you have improvisers of the highest caliber around. The audience of "Vilnius Jazz" has been convinced of the mastery of the double bassist and composer IH Flaten many times: he played at this festival with the legendary Scandinavian groups "The Thing" and "Atomic", his American group "The Young Mothers", and in 2019 he took to this stage with US jazz luminary David Murray.
In 2018, the bassist was awarded the most important Norwegian jazz award "Buddy Prize". With the band Atomic, he twice won the Spellemannprisen, known as the Norwegian Grammy. IH Flaten has featured numerous times in the polls of the top critics of the influential jazz magazine Downbeat.
