The Jazz Festival Ljubljana is more than a celebration of outstanding live performances – it is also a place for exchange, reflection and conversation with the artists shaping contemporary jazz. This year’s edition featured two inspiring talks exploring creativity, improvisation, artistic responsibility, jazz heritage and the world we live in today.
Jazz in Dialogue: Inheriting Her Voice – with all the beauty and burdens it carries: Melissa Aldana & Sun-Mi Hong
Jason Olaine, Vice President of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center and Grammy Award-winning producer, sat down with Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana and Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong for a conversation about jazz heritage, artistic development and finding one’s own musical voice. The two musicians shared their very different personal journeys, reflected on the influence of jazz masters, the importance of mentorship, creating music in an increasingly uncertain world, and the responsibility they feel towards younger generations of artists. Offering an intimate glimpse into their creative processes, the conversation reveals how both musicians view jazz as a space for freedom, curiosity and lifelong discovery.
Jazz in Dialogue: What If Jazz Ruled the World? – Soweto Kinch
In conversation with Ljubljana Jazz Festival Artistic Director Tina Lešničar, British saxophonist, rapper and composer Soweto Kinch reflected on ideas that reach far beyond music. Together, they explored jazz as a way of thinking, improvisation as a social practice, the importance of listening, the artist’s responsibility, and the role of culture in times of political, social and environmental uncertainty. The discussion also touched on Afrofuturism, education, artificial intelligence, and Kinch’s thought-provoking vision of what the world might look like if it embraced the values of jazz – openness, dialogue and collective creativity.