Zvončki in trobentice / Snowdrops and Primroses

18.00
Mladi Raziskovalci VIII. – Neža Okorn – Intima
Neža Okorn, vocals; Maximilian Gerstbach, piano; Nina Feldgrill, bass; Jonas Zink, drums

Written mostly in 2024, Neža Okorn’s original compositions stem from a vulnerable inner core and the desire to capture feelings in different life situations – the music and lyrics reflecting the composer’s states of mind at a given point of time. For her latest project, Okorn recruited Austrian musicians she met as a student in Vienna. 

She started out on her musical career at the Grosuplje Music School, playing violin for six years, and then went on to study singing. After attending the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana for three years, she decided to study jazz music at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität Wien. She regularly participated in seminars and festivals such as Jazzinty, Jazz Klinik and Jazz Festival Ljubljana, thus honing her skills with world-renowned artists such as Ben Wendel, Mike Moreno, Joe Sanders, Gregory Hutchinson, Jure Pukl, David Binney, Joel Ross, Femi Temowo and others. Her other passions are writing poetry, taking photos and painting.

19.00
Blaž Švagan – Absolute Candor
Blaž Švagan, tenor saxophone; Tjan Šoštarič, double bass; Arsenije Krstić, piano; Gaj Bostič, drums

After presenting his debut album, Sound in Time, at the 9th edition of the Snowdrops and Primroses Festival, the Maribor-based tenor saxophonist and composer Blaž Švagan now demonstrates his growth as an artist with a new release, Absolute Candor. For his quartet, Blaž Švagan recruited double bassist Kim Cass, pianist Marek Črnčec and drummer Kush Abadey and recorded the album in September 2024 in New York City. The New York ensemble brough an exciting modern sound to the new material, which also taps into death metal and science fiction. Occasionally breaking the rules of counterpoint, the complex structure also allows for a space of calm during the highly charged moments. The main track, Kolinahr, taking the form of a suite, illustrates the ritual of the transition towards absolute control over emotions and a commitment to logic. Švagan will present his latest release with his ‘Viennese’ band.
 

20.00
Lenart De Bock – A Plea for Tenderness 
Lenart De Bock, saxophone; Tomaž Gajšt, trumpet; Tomaž Zevnik, bass clarinet; Melani Popit, vocals; Rok Zalokar, Rhodes piano; Miloš Čolović, double bass; Sebastian Baumgartner, drums

Saxophonist and composer Lenart De Bock is finishing his studies in jazz saxophone at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. A permanent member of Zhlehtet, he has released five albums with the collective over the last three years. With Miloš Čolović and Sebastian Baumgartner De Bock co-leads the trio Soothsayer, which released his first album, Paleontology, featuring his own original music in May 2024. Accompanied by an ensemble of distinguished musicians, De Bock will present A Plea for Tenderness, his most recent project and the first made entirely in his own name. His music is grounded in the tradition of spiritual jazz, but also draws on ethno and classical music.
 

21.00
Timotej Kotnik – Via Ad Aeterna 
Timotej Kotnik, trumpet; Vid Jamnik, vibraphone; Jure Praper, guitar; Marko Čepak Maki, guitar; Miha Koren, bass; Gaj Bostič, drums

Slovenian trumpeter and composer Timotej Kotnik's debut album, Via Ad Aeterna, unfolds like an eclectic modern mass, whose liturgy extols influences from Afrobeat to Balkan, all the while infused with the omnipresent, eternal spirit of Miles Davis. Progressing through the album’s six tracks, the jazz fusion weaves a narrative of redemption from start to triumphant finish. The elated music, punctuated with dynamic soli and melodic riffs, allows the musicians to express their own artistry.
Kotnik, a professor at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, has played and recorded with an array of prominent musicians, including Souad Massi, Peric Sambeat, Magos Herrera, Ivan "Melon" Lewis and Danilo Perez. He has toured in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, Finland and Norway, each of these varied experiences informing and deepening his own signature sound of playing and composing.