The festival already has international credibility – aside from notable presence of relevant international media and not just jazz publications, we are particularly proud that a number of concert agents, managers and record executives from different parts of the world attended the festival, which testifies to the fact that BJF is accepted as a significant part of the world’s music community and concert market. The total of 100 accredited reporters, out of which 30 from international media (from USA to Russia, the presence of several most renowned jazz critics was also noted) covered the festival, whereby the festival had 32 media sponsors from the country.

The preparations for the festival started last year and the first concerts were confirmed in February. The campaign lasted six months (starting from April 1), exceeding the record for published announcements and interviews. It is fairly certain that last year’s book containing 350 pages of articles about Belgrade Jazz Festival will be surpassed.

All concert reviews were positive – after many years, two days of program in Sava Center consisting of four concerts, attracted the biggest crowds, yet the general quality of all performances and good attendence of small performances makes evident the high position that the festival currently maintains. Everybody can agree – none of the artists who performed was not randomly invited to Belgrade Jazz Festival and that is why all performances will be remembered. Regardless of whether we talking about chopped up Latino rhytms of Alfredo Rodriguez or subtle notes of Vlada Maričić and trumpet player Brian Lynch, unforgetable seductive trio of Avishai Cohen or Antonio Serrano’s harmonica, fantastic free jazz ventures by Jack DeJohnette or meaningful improvisations by Dave Holland and all-star ensamble Aziza, Vincent Peirani’s passion or Gianluca Petrella’s mystic energy, lyrical charm of Portuguese big band Orchestra Jazz De Matosinhos – all of them amazed the audience and entered the history of Belgrade Jazz Festival with their memorable musical creations and eventful atmosphere. The night program also had its share of big stars, such as magnificantly emotional Tord Gustavsen, dynamic David Helbock and melancholic, yet endlessly playfull Sao Paulo Underground, as well as all others who performed in this time slot – they became new heroes!

Memory simply can not store all these impressions, which seem already to invite more sensations that will arrive in 2017 with 33rd Belgrade Jazz Festival.

With this year’s edition of Belgrade Jazz Festival, as an event with particular significance for the City of Belgrade and the member of European Jazz Association, the festival definitely entered the list of artistically relevant, renowned European mid-sized festivals. Many bigger European cities can not boast with such homegrown cultural brand, while the task of our loyal audience is to continue to support it, the same way it was doing it all these years with unparallel confidence. This is the reason why the festival is always dedicated to maintaining of unbreakable bond between musicians and audience, as well as celebrating music as an art form. And that is the only winning formula we have – the fact that such great unity of world music community is demostrated every year in Belgrade is the biggest reward for all of us.

Planet Jazz has been conquered!  

So far, this bend released two albums Reincarnation of a Lovebird (2012) and Satan in Plain Clothes (2015), thus expressing in equal measure the passion towards intense and lyrical ambience, obsessive groove and complex structures.

All Included will play at Belgrade Jazz Festival tonight (00:30) in Dom omladine Beograda (Belgrade Youth Center)

Your quintet consists of members with notably experience in other projects – tell us how you have gathered in All Included. What was the essential creative sparkle between you as artist individuals?

Tollef Østvang: Me, Jon Rune Strøm and Martin Küchen played as a trio back in 2009 mainly working in a freely improvised context. We wanted to bring compositions in and mix it with our freely improvised interplay, and involving two additional horn players was a natural step in that direction. We invited Mats Äleklint and Thomas Johansson to join into a quintet. Martin and Mats had worked a lot together for years, and me, Jon Rune and Thomas had been playing together for a while as well. So in 2010 the Swedish and the Norwegian fractions teamed up to form All Included.

Your second album is called “Satan in plain clothes” – can you tell us what the title refers to? How would you compare it to first band album in terms of music expression, but also from the perspective of you as musicians who are some years now playing and creating music together?

Tollef Østvang: I think you have to ask Martin Küchen regarding the true meaning behind that title since he wrote the composition. But it obviously indicates a general lack of trust in society. Things in life are rarely what they present themselves to be. We want our music to be honest and raw. Our goal is to execute spontaneous collective improvisation even within given forms such as written melodies, harmonies and rhythm.

I feel that our second album reflects that we have been on the road for some years. We have been lucky to get to tour in thirteen different countries together. The band sound hopefully comes out as more compact then before. Even though the first album had more freely improvised parts, the second album states a more relaxed and flexible way of playing together. It feels like we more easy can float inn and out of melodies, harmonies and rhythms then before. A more unified group of musicians in many ways. But that said, I think our first album had a very nice edge to it since each one of us was pulling things in a lot of different directions. I mean, we still do, but our almost kind of “traditional jazz” way of thinking of interplay are much more clear on our latest album. We all have a lot of “old school” references when it comes to how our instruments sounds, but also when it comes to how we interact with each other.

On “Satan in plain clothes” you are bringing together stylistic extremes: traditional jazz, with blues harmony and collective improvisations, as well as individually liberated playing and frequent changes of tempo. Tell us something more about the creative process of making it, and the inner spirit you are sharing with your audience through this album.

Tollef Østvang: I really appreciate the “everything can happen”- mentality we have in this group. A way of thinking about improvisation that brings references back to Art Ensemble of Chicago and others. Our mix of compositions and free improvisation can also be said to have clear reference to that part of the history. Often freely improvised settings can end up quite strict, or conceptual. It´s nothing wrong with that, but in this group it feels like we all want the music to potentially have a very broad stylistic outcome. We don’t always choose to take advantage of that, but the fact that we know everything is accepted within this group gives a funny twist and nerve to our live performance. I feel like a bird in a cage if I have to many “does and don’t” hanging over me. That counts both technically, musically and aesthetically. In this band we try to have none.

You have the opportunity to work with improvisers throughout Europe and the USA- could you compare these two jazz scenes?

Tollef Østvang: Well, “we play who we are”, and who we are partly reflects where we come from. It would make little sense for me to try to be someone I´m not. Or “to play someone I´m not”. That fact is what troubles me most when it comes to jazz education. Here I think Scandinavian jazz education have really understood something essential, that also explains parts of the next question. But that said, the world is getting smaller every day, and everything is just a big bowl of music and noise. But anyway, it´s hard and perhaps wrong to draw conclusions on how people play and sound based on what continent they come from, but historically you could of course look at differences between so called American free jazz and European improvised music with it´s different schools, and how that whole transcendence happened. As a young musician today I can relate to so many forms of music and expressions. We´re exposed to everything constantly. That´s both heaven and hell.

There is something specific in the Scandinavian jazz scene, and its unique artistic expression and emotional vibe it brings to audience. What would be yours description and definition of it?

Tollef Østvang: The fact that Scandinavian jazz education have been, and still is, a pioneer compared to jazz education worldwide with its strong focus on individual expression and aural training, is one of the keys to the Scandinavian sound in my point of view. Specially the jazz department in Trondheim where I live and have studied. It has existed since 1979. From day one the students learn that “why” is just as important as “how”. It´s no point of producing a bunch of perfectly skilled instrumentalists that don’t know why they are musicians. In Trondheim the teachers relate to the students as colleagues and fellow human beings instead of masters creating small copies of themselves. The most important thing a teacher learns his students is to ask right and critical questions. That is questions we need to ask our self for the rest of our life to be able to move forward. Both as human beings and as musicians.

You could of course look at key points in Scandinavian jazz such as Jan Garbarek, Bobo Stenson and the whole influence of ECM to explain the Scandinavian sound, but if you ask me it gives much more meaning to basically look at Scandinavian society with its politics and social democracy as an answer to why there is a lot of interesting things going on.

This year’s slogan of the Belgrade Jazz Festival is “Planet Jazz” – do you think that jazz around the world is the same, universal language of music, or are there differences? How do you see and feel jazz in 21st century?

Tollef Østvang: I say music is music, and it´s definitively universal. There are differences, but that is what makes it exiting and beautiful. It would be terribly boring if everybody sounded the same. Sadly, there is already too much music that sounds exactly the same. Usually that is a result of the need of labeling things into familiar categories and genres. My mantra is, If I manage to stay clear of those labels and categories that people too often put on top of our heads, it means that I´m doing something right. As David Bowie said: “It´s terrible dangerously for an artist to fulfill other people´s expectations. I think they generally produce their worst work when they do that”

What do you know about Belgrade and Serbia? Are you familiar with some jazz (or other) musicians from our country?

Tollef Østvang: Two years ago we played at Kanjiza Jazz Festival with All Included. That was my first visit to Serbia. Earlier this year I visited Belgrade for the first time when I played at the RingRing festival in May with Joe McPhee and Universal Indians. Both where great experiences due to a very listening and welcoming audience. I don’t know too many Serbian musicians yet, but I studied together with saxophone player Luka Ignjatovic at Conservatorium van Amsterdam in Amsterdam back in 2011. He is also playing at this year’s festival. Looking very much forward to hear his concert. It´s also a Serbian composer and accordion player that lives in Trondheim where I live. His name is Jovan Pavlovic. Great musicians. I will stay two extra days in Belgrade, so I hope to get to hear and get to know more musicians.

What program will you play for the audience at the Belgrade Jazz Festival?

Tollef Østvang: A combination of the material on our two albums, and maybe some brand new stuff, or and wherever the moment takes us.

You have an impressive career as a jazz musician, with the specific emotional intensity, melancholy and beauty as your unique artistic expression – what were the main influences and inspirations on your professional and personal path?

Tord Gustavsen: Well – my first and perhaps most basic influence was my father; he played the piano a lot at home when I was a child, and we improvised music together from when I was 2-3 years old. We played hymns, lullabies, and made up songs together – I am so grateful for being brought into music this way, instead of beginning with a classical training focusing on playing the ‘right’ notes and avoiding mistakes rather than expressing yourself.. Then, further on, a wide range of huge influences and inspirations have come my way – impossible to name them all, but the musicians and singers I’ve played with over time are among the most important; especially  Jarle Vespestad, Mats Eilertsen, Kristin Asbjørnsen, Solveig Slettahjell, Tore Brunborg, and lately Simin Tander. Then, of course, there are the main pianist Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, plus James P. Johnson (!), Scandinavian Jon Balke and Jan Johansson; plus the great performers of melody and emotion in the jazz canon; especially Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Wayne Shorter, Arve Henriksen.. And, not to forget: Bach, Ravel and Schostakovitch. And folk musicians from different traditions… wow, so many..

You were and are working in a different ensemble formations – how different settings of a band, (un)presence of an instrument or a vocal are affecting the creative process and changing the music?

Tord Gustavsen: I feel that there is a clear line going through all my playing and my projects – one of melodic and contemplative focus; of searching for stripped-down essentialism and un-sweetened beauty; and of finding the spaces where sensual, hymn-like groundedness and explorative openness can coexist.

Then, of course, the role of the piano changes slightly between settings with or without voice, with or without saxophone – but the basic attitude towards playing is the same. I cherish interplay and accompaniment just as much as I value solistic playing. And the musicians and singers I work with all share the basic humble imperative of ‘listening more than you play’.

Your latest album “What was said” was published this year, in cooperation with an amazing singer Simin Tander and drummer Jarle Vespestad, and brings, in a way, some new moments in your music: electronics and synth bass elements. Tell us please more about this new project.

Tord Gustavsen: This project has been a very important journey for me; musically, personally and also spiritually. We developed a repertoar with Sufi-like interpretations and translations of ancient Norwegian Christian hymns, into the Afghan language Pashto (which was the mother-tongue of Simin Tander’s father). The hymns that I grew up with – that are so important for my musical and spiritual foundation – are set into a field of dialogue and mantra-type singing which makes them relevant way outside traditional Christian theology. We emphasis what unites liberal open-minded spirituality across religions, instead of looking for things that separate us.

Then, musically, I have started using  some electronics the last couple of years, which I never thought I would… Adding subtle synth-textures, drones, bass-synths etc. has become an important part of my instrument. In the project with Simin and Jarle, I play bass this way instead of having the normal double bass in the band – opening up for both more transparency and space when I play only the piano, and for more deep-end sounds and actually louder and more present bass than in the acoustic band, when I do go down there. It’s been a really fruitful development for me, and I feel I have also grown a lot as a pianist through this. I have taken some of the electronics into the acoustic quartet (where we do still have the traditional double bass), but then in a slightly different and perhaps less insisting way.

You were guest teacher at the Institute of Musicology, University of Oslo – how did you manage in pedagogical work, was it hard for you to transfer your knowledge, experience and music philosophy to young colleagues?

Tord Gustavsen: Teaching advanced students was very interesting and rewarding, but I did not do it for many years – I was touring too much to have time for it.

You have studied psychology, sociology and religion – what is your personal feeling of strings that are connecting these fields with music? You wrote a theoretical thesis “The Dialectical Erotism of Improvisation” – can you tell us something about it.

Tord Gustavsen: The thesis is about the fundamental paradoxical challenges that are parallel or analogues in intimate life and in making music. Challenges between the need for emotional intensity and control or clarity; the need for being in the moment and at the same time seeing the bigger picture; the urge for immediate gratification and the necessity of building tension and distributing energy over time.. in fields like this I feel that relationship theory and musicology can learn a lot from each other, and my thesis was a contribution to establishing this theoretical conversation.

There is something specific in the Scandinavian jazz scene, and its unique artistic expression and emotional vibe it brings to the audience. What would be yours description and definition of it?

Tord Gustavsen: To me, the differences between projects coming out of Scandinavia are more striking than the similarities. But still, I guess it is fair to say that many of my Scandinavian colleagues – at least the Norwegian ones (not so much the Swedish and the Danish I have to say) – share a certain taste for minimalism and a sense for playing with space as a constitutive element in the music; trying to go for what feels essential instead of playing everything you know all the time..

This year’s slogan of the Belgrade Jazz Festival is “Planet Jazz” – do you think that jazz around the world is the same, universal language of music, or are there differences? How do you see and feel jazz in 21st century?

Tord Gustavsen: Too big a question for an interview… but anyway: jazz is a globalized and yet very multi-layered musical family. Everything from New Orleans parade bands to hard core atonal free impro belong there, and there is no point trying to set strict borders towards the jazz that is perhaps just as much ‘world music’, pop-jazz, contemporary classical music with impro, etc.. we can all learn from each other – and the most important thing is to try to play what feels true, authentic and essential  here and now, given the unique location each and everyone of us are given in the world with our upbringing and our influences and or experiences in life. When people do this, every sub-genre is highly valuable. Both the players mainly rooted in American jazz traditions, and the players – like us – who have our roots just as much in folk traditions, European classical music, church music etc. and bring these in touch with ‘jazz sensibilities’ belong to the scene and can play with each other and appreciate each other deeply.

This will be your second visit to Belgrade and Serbia, what can you recall from the previous time you played here? Are you familiar with some jazz (or other) musicians from our country?

Tord Gustavsen: I’m really looking forward to coming to Belgrade again – it is a long time since last time; then it was with my old trio with bass player Harald Johnson, who sadly passed away so young a few years after this. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about the local music scene in Serbia – would really like to take it in and listen.

What program will you play for the audience at the Belgrade Jazz Festival?

Tord Gustavsen: We will play pieces from several of my albums, but in new versions. Plus also some brand new compositions. And; the great Norwegian drummer/percussionist Rune Arnesen will be playing with the quartet instead of our normal drummer this evening, so it will be a unique line-up for Belgrade, bringing out the groovy aspects of the music even more than what often happens.  So, perhaps somewhat less minimalistic, but still very focused and with meditative qualities.

These days you have released your new  album “Into the Mystic” – tell us please more about it and the creative process of making it.

David Helbock:  With this Album I wanted to dive into a mystic world. For me Mystic is always a search or path to your inner self – something that touches you inside on a mystical level. Music can do that but also mythology, stories from all over the world can do that – so that was also a big inspiration for the new Album. Old stories like persian legends told by Hafez, the Sufi poet from the 14th century, or old greek stories like the one about the old greek god „Eros“. All this together inspired me to write new music.

You had an opportunity to learn from the great jazz pianist Peter Madsen from 2000 to 2008 – what was the most important lesson you have learned from him? You became friends too, how important figure is he in your professional life?

David Helbock:  I guess the lessons with him were very motivating. I first met him when I was around 16 and I brought my favorite Jazz CD into the lessons with him – and he had a personal story to most of the musicians on these CD, because he played with most of them. But we did not only talk about music, we talked about life, philosophy , why do we play music?, the music business and so on.

In your biography there is a line “Helbock is not only a great pianist, he is also a very individual thinker, who is investing not only a lot of dexterity but also quite an amount of brain activity to his projects”. Can you tell us something more about that, please?

David Helbock: Well that is something that some journalist wrote about me, so it´s strange for me to explain that. I guess that he meant, that I like to have a certain theme for a new CD or a new Project. I like to be inspired by all kinds of stuff, Books, Stories, Films, Emotions… – the last CD is about Mystic and Mythology, the one before was about Colors, I did one only dealing with numbers and so on…

One of your greatest achievements in your composing creativity is a book with over 600 pages of music called “Personal Realbook” from 2010, where you wrote one new piece every day for a whole year. How difficult was it to maintain a continuous inspiration for a so long project? How did you come up with the idea to do something of this kind?

David Helbock: This is an idea by the great Hermeto Pascoal who did this in 1998. I wanted to do the same and also I tried to not repeat myself to much – so for me this was just a big learning process, because after some moth I felt really empty and felt like I don’t have any ideas left and then a big search began where I tried all kinds of different composing techniques, inspired by people like John Cage, or graphic notation and so on.

In your career you have won many awards – which of them are you most proud of and why?

David Helbock: I´m not proud of these awards. They just help – you can write them into your CV and they help to get promoters of concerts getting interested. Still I think music is a very individual thing and you can not really compare it next to each other in a competition. Of course it´s nice when your work is noticed and acknowledged, especially if the jury who gives the award are really other musicians that I respect.

This year’s slogan of the Belgrade Jazz Festival is “Planet Jazz” – do you think that jazz around the world is the same, universal language of music, or are there differences? How do you see and feel jazz in 21st century?

David Helbock:  Jazz is certainly not the same language everywhere. But music is. There are thousand forms of different Jazz but still if musicians come together from different countries – maybe the can not communicate through language, because they don´t speak the same language, but they can communicate through music on a much deeper level than language can every reach.

What do you know about Belgrade and Serbia? Are you familiar with some jazz (or other) musicians from our country?

David Helbock:  Actually I don´t know too much about Serbian Music and I´m very interested in learning more, especially also about serbian folkmusic. Of course I know Dusko Goykovich or also in Vienna there quite a few serbian musicians like Vladimir Kostadinovic, who played at the Belgrade jazz festival last year.

What will you present to the audience of the Belgrade Jazz Festival, together with your Trio?

David Helbock:  We will present our new Programm from our latest CD released on ACT Music this Fall – „Into the Mystic“.