VILNIUS JJAZZ ENSEMBLE AND KOTRYNA JUODZEVIČIŪTĖ

Simonas Šipavičius – sax

Jievaras Jasinskis – tb, leader

Valentas Mãrozas – tb

Albinas Gražulis – tb

Kamilė Makarevičiūtė – tb

Karolis Šarkus – sax

Leonardas Pilkauskas – sax

Liutauras Janušaitis – sax

Donatas Petreikis – sax

Apolinaras Dubauskas – tp

Laurynas Lapė – tp

Mindaugas Vadoklis – tp

Valerijus Ramoška – tp

Domantas Razmus – dr

Artūrs Duckis – bg

Pranas Kentra – g

Andrius Savčenko – keyb

Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė – voc

Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble, an orchestra of professional jazz musicians led by trombonist and composer Jievaras Jasinskis, has managed to gain recognition on the Lithuanian jazz scene, perform at many important festivals, and release three albums of original works in just a couple of years of intense activity.

For their debut at the Birštonas Festival, the ensemble brings a programme of original compositions from their albums. They will team-up with their frequent stage partner, one of the most talented vocalists of the younger generation, Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė, who will also enrich the ensemble’s repertoire with the first Lithuanian song.

Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble involves not only performers but also composers – most of the ensemble members write music. All of them are active musicians and well-known personalities. The ensemble made its thunderous introduction at the 700th anniversary of Vilnius in the Vilnius Film Cluster to a crowd of thousands when they performed live the music of Kipras Mašanauskas and Jasinskis, composed for the film Vilnius Poker directed by Donatas Ulvydas, based on the cult novel by Ričardas Gavelis.

Although the first performances of the Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble took place only after the pandemic, the idea of forming a high-level jazz orchestra in Vilnius, the likes of which had never existed in the city before, was born much earlier. The predecessor of this ensemble, Lithuanian JJAZZ Ensemble, formed by Jasinskis and saxophonist Liutauras Janušaitis, made its debut at the Broma Jazz festival in 2017. The ensemble subsequently gave several more performances, and in 2022 released its debut album American Stories, featuring original compositions by Jasinskis and Janušaitis.

A year later, the ensemble’s saxophone group album Saxcess was released, as well as the album Deadly Dance with compositions by Jasinskis, Dorotėja Būdaitė and Janušaitis, recorded with Juodzevičiūtė. The fourth album Rave’n’Jazz, featuring compositions by the ensemble’s composers Jasinskis, Domantas Razmus and Simonas Šipavičius, is on the way.

The variety of Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble’s compositions reflects its mission – to promote high-quality, professionally performed Lithuanian jazz, to encourage collaboration and sharing of experience between different generations of musicians.

Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble performs in various line-ups at music festivals, clubs and concert halls across the country, and strives to enter international jazz scenes. More than a year ago, at the Berlin fair jazzahead! the ensemble’s friendship with the Danish trio Kemaca Kinetic began. They exchange ideas, experiences and music.

Having received the funding from the Lithuanian Council for Culture, the Lithuanians were able to invite the Danes to the workshop and share their experience with jazz students, teachers and experts from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Aalborg (DK). In 2023, Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble received a grant from the Danish Arts Foundation enabling the performance of Danish composer Kenneth Dahl Knudsen’s Anti Robotic Dance Music, written especially for Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble, in Lithuania together with Kemaca Kinetic.

The name of the ensemble contains the initials of its leader Jasinskis. With higher education diplomas in trombone and composition, Jievaras considers himself first and foremost a jazz person. He fell in love with this genre and with big band music while working in the Kaunas Big Band, where he advanced from musician to bandleader in eleven years. At the beginning of 2023, he left the Kaunas Big Band due to the ambitious plans of Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble.

Jasinskis is increasingly recognised as a composer with a distinctive style, manoeuvring between jazz and academic music in his compositions.

Vocalist Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė rose to fame in 2016 in the music TV show The Voice of Lithuania, and later successfully performed in the Eurovision Song Contest qualifiers, reaching the finals.

The singer has represented Lithuania at jazz festivals in Ukraine and Serbia, performed with Lithuanian artists of various genres, including Vidas Bareikis, Gabrielius Vagelis, and Leon Somov’ Highly Sedated, and has appeared in various venues with her group Collective.

Juodzevičiūtė is involved in a number of creative projects with the Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble. She made her debut as a guest vocalist of this jazz orchestra in the film concert Vilnius Poker, later recorded the album Deadly Dance together, appeared at the Pažaislis Festival and other venues. “It is a pleasure to work with her – we find ourselves on the same page”, enjoys Jasinskis.