declared it an event of special cultural interest in 2007. And thanks to the European spirit, in 2014 the festival became the first (and to date only) Serbian member of the European Jazz Network. The event is regularly attend- ed by numerous foreign journalists and photographers, coming from the U.S. to Russia, and from the UK to Italy. The 16 “new” editions are rich in unforgettable mo- ments, guest performances of great jazz artists and numer- ous talented individuals who only later became famous. Charles Lloyd, Marc Ribot, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Cassandra Wilson, Anat Co- hen, Kurt Elling, Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, En- rico Rava, Joachim Kühn, Tomasz Stanko, Henri Texier, Rob Mazurek et al. These are just some of the jazz heroes that Belgrade has welcomed since 2005. This autumn marks half a century since the birth of the festival, which inspired the slogan of this year’s 37th edition: JAZZ FLAME. Indeed, the fire that was lit back in the day by Miles, Dizzy, Ornette and Monk still burns to- day. The loyal audience – the same audience that formed a 2,000-voice choir with Chick Corea back in 1979, refused to let Sonny Rollins leave the stage when the electricity was cut in the auditorium in 1980, and waited for the bakery across the street to open at a 1984 jam session with To- ny Scott that lasted until the morning – kept the flame of jazz burning during the long break and, with their hun- ger for jazz masters, reignited it with the first tones of the Dave Holland Quintet in 2005. With an awareness that we have no right to deprive them of their encounter with Planet Jazz, last year we were among the rare events to be held live during the peak of the second wave of the Coronavirus, under the slogan ‘Jazz Resistance’. And now we’re back with a full flame: throughout the entire week of jazz, 25 ensembles will per- form in the halls of Dom Omladine Belgrade and Kom- bank hall, with over 100 musicians from 18 countries cov- ering three continents. The biggest star is Maria Schneider, who has spent a quarter of a century as the most respected composer and arranger of orchestral jazz. She has won seven Grammys for her work, as well as several dozen awards of leading jazz magazines. For her debut appearance in Belgrade, she will perform the standout works of her entire career, con- ducting the Cologne Subway Jazz Orchestra. This event will be symbolically held at the same venue and on the same date (31st October) as the first concert of the in- augural Newport festival in Belgrade, at which the then greatest jazz arranger, Duke Ellington, launched the "A" train in the Serbian capital. The second evening, at the Kombank Hall, will enable Belgraders to finally see Azerbaijan’s Aziza Mustafazade, a pianist with miraculous technical ability and a singer with a heavenly voice. Prior to these spectacular concerts, Ser- bia’s youngest jazz musicians – from the jazz department of the Faculty of Music and the Stanković Music School – will present themselves. Youth and experience also con- nect the two American ensembles: trumpeter Theo Cro- ker will combine jazz with hip-hop for the opening, while
DŽEZMIJA HORN / JAZZMEIA HORN
From 1976, selection was handled by Saša Rado- jčić and the festival maintained a similar concept: sev- eral major stars from the U.S., alongside the best domes- tic jazz musicians and artists from Europe. The concerts were mainly held at Trade Union Hall, while jam ses- sions took place at the Dom Omladine Belgrade Dance Hall, and the festival only “returned” to Pionir Hall for the 1980 edition’s opening performance of the world’s then most popular jazz fusion band, Weather Report. During the difficult years of so-called economic sta- bilisation, the festival almost collapsed, but was “saved” in 1986 thanks to the great support of the U.S. Embas- sy for the return concert of Miles Davis in a packed hall of the Sava Centre. Having restored the interest of Bel- graders, the festival continued in the spirit of its halcy- on days until 1990, with a programme that presented, among others, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Si- mone and the Modern Jazz Quartet. And then, in the autumn of 1991, with the civil war fast approaching Bel- grade, the management of Dom Omladine Belgrade is- sued a statement confirming the postponement of the festival. That break lasted for an excruciating 15 years… The return edition was organised in 2005, under the slogan ‘Tradition and Futurism’. We wanted to invite an audience that remembered the first Newport events, but also new kids or music lovers who perhaps have an “ear for jazz” but don't yet know it. In the words of program- ming manager Dragan Ambrozić: “There is no tradition worth following that doesn’t have a futuristic dimension, and there is no futurism if it isn’t worthy of the past." The festival was opened by Dave Holland, then one of the world's leading jazz musicians. The Great Hall of the Belgrade Youth Centre was jampacked and the atmos- phere was red hot, while several hundred people were left without tickets. Returning to Belgrade were Al Fos- ter and Dave Liebman – the heroes of the first Newport editions. While walking the streets of the city for the first time were the likes of Denys Baptiste, Chris Potter and Nicola Conte – illustrating the bright future of jazz. The new concept didn’t only ensure a balance of var- ious aspects of jazz and a crossover with the popular mu- sic of the new age, but also more younger artists, as well as a shifting of the focus from the U.S. to Europe. Rec- ognising the festival’s importance to the creating of the best cultural image of the capital, the City of Belgrade
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