"Today It's All About Jazz Vol 7" – 11-hour festival of smiles
To the jazz happening on the occasion of the International Jazz Day, which took place on Sunday, April 30, in Ibni Pajko Park
That jazz is music that knows no boundaries and prejudices was shown and proved by this year's edition of the all-day jazz happening under the title Today It's All About Jazz, which was held for the seventh time this year in the organization of the Association for Jazz Musicians and Free Artists - ZJM Skopje. Having learned from past years and already having enough experience behind them, ZJM managed to organize an event to remember, a happening that resulted in beautiful smiles on the faces of all the visitors who stayed there during the entire event. The festival managed to offer a quality program that responded to the current trends and concepts in music, and of course to the refined tastes of the audience.
The event started with torrential rain, but that was not an obstacle for the exceptional pianist and composer Gordan Spasovski to gather and shelter all the children present on the stage and create real magic together with them.
That there are more than talented young musicians in our country was proved by the members of the youth jazz ensemble - Petar Markov - Marush (guitar), Simeon Boudro (bass) and David Gjorgiev (drums), together with their guests.
The gentle sounds of bossa nova and traditional Brazilian jazz music, transmitted by the jazz ensemble named Aquarella, entertained the audience in Ibni Payko Park.
Nikola Bochvarov unreservedly expressed all his musical maturity, which arises as a result of his many years of extensive work and his rich musical experience.
The performance of the Nikola Bochvarov Quartet was followed by the performance of the guitarist and composer Filip Dinev's trio, which includes Tilman Oberbeck on double bass and Jan Tzajmets on drums/percussion.
The ZJM Big Band Orchestra's Zappa project was performed for the first time during the corona, in tight conditions in which it was not possible to release all the energy invested in this project by the members of the ZJM Big Band and the striking soloists Kalina Velkovska and Sasho Gigov – Gish.
The big band was immediately followed by the performance of Jure Pukl's trio – the Slovenian jazz musician (tenor and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, composition) who plays modern jazz.
Rounding off the entire jazz happening was the performance of the Nigerian singer, guitarist, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Adedeji, who this time performed with Macedonian jazz musicians who perfectly captured the Afro-beat that dominates his music.
This edition of Today It's All About Jazz was more than successful, both in terms of quality and variety of the program, and in terms of organization, which was proven by the flawless smiles in the audience. ZJM once again responded to the challenge of organizing an event that promotes peace and freedom of expression, dialogue between cultures, diversity and respect for human rights and human dignity, as opposed to discrimination and intolerance – what the international organization of the International Jazz Day also promotes. UNESCO and Ambassador Herbie Hancog.