Ljubljana hosted a double event last week: the Euroradio Jazz Orchestra concert, a youth ensemble made up of promising talents from the European jazz scene, and the annual meeting of jazz producers from the European Broadcasting Union.Our colleague Viorel Grecu was there with the support of the Union of Interpretative Creation of Romanian Musicians, having the opportunity to gather some impressions from the jazz artists and radio professionals he met in the Slovenian capital.

The Euroradio Jazz Orchestra celebrated its 60th anniversary this year. The event was marked by two concerts in Ljubljana on the evening of the 12th of May and in Zagreb on the 13th. The first was live on Radio Romania Muzical. The orchestra consisted of 18 young musicians from 16 different countries, led by Slovenian conductor Matjaž Mikuletič, who also wrote the music performed in both concerts.

"It's not traditional jazz, there are pop, funk influences. That's why we chose to use electric instruments, with bass guitar on a few pieces and we also had Rhodes piano on stage." - Matjaž Mikuletič, conductor Euroradio Jazz Orchestra

On the electric piano was Matīss Žilinskis from Latvia, who made an excellent impression, although he confessed that he is not a pro at this instrument.

"I love classic jazz trios and the classic Steinway piano sound, but I also like to experiment with these electric sounds, especially with the pieces Matjaž Mikuletič wrote for our project, which really called for the fresh electric piano sound." - Matīss Žilinskis, pianist Euroradio Jazz Orchestra

The members of the Euroradio Jazz Orchestra were selected by jazz producers from the national radio stations in their countries. They first met in Ljubljana on May 7th, when rehearsals began. Trombonist Anoushka Nanguy, from Scotland, and saxophonist Miłosz Pieczonka, from Poland, were thrilled by this experience.

"It was great, filled with passion, very intense, in the best possible way. I think we really bonded, we learned from each other, both humanly and musically." - Anoushka Nanguy, trombonist Euroradio Jazz Orchestra

"We most likely will spend time together from now on too, both as musicians and in our personal lives. I also learned a lot from the conductor. Such experiences are always pleasant." - Miłosz Pieczonka, saxophonist Euroradio Jazz Orchestra

Slovenian vocal soloist Joliette Anžlovar, shares the enthusiasm of her two colleagues.

"We're really thinking about future projects, not in a big band, although we'd love that. But realistically, we're planning to do concerts and tours in smaller combo formats that can include all of us." - Joliette Anžlovar, vocal soloist

In Ljubljana, I had the pleasure of exchanging experiences with jazz producers from radio stations in 15 European countries-an opportunity to learn many interesting things about their work.For example, Roman Hošek from Swiss Radio and Television also brought a camera along, as he is working on a documentary about Gloria Ryter, a bass trombone player in the Euroradio Jazz Orchestra,who only recently began studying the instrument. Roman explained to us that the documentary is actually part of a larger Swiss Radio and Television project.

"Four to five times a year, we choose a young musician specialized in classical music, contemporary music or jazz. They must be around 20-25 years old. We keep track of them for a while; they appear in various formats within our project, we produce an album for them or make a short documentary, like I'm doing now." - Roman Hošek, jazz producer, SRF Switzerland

Our host was Hugo Šekoranja from Slovenian Radio and Television. We discovered that Hugo has had a remarkable career as a jazz saxophonist. In 1988, he even performed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The big band was then led by Mercer Ellington, son of the legendary jazzman.

"He came to Ljubljana with Duke Ellington's original handwritten scores, along with reviews from his famous musicians: Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton. We felt like we were right in the middle of jazz history. The concert took place in one of the biggest churches in Ljubljana, because we played Duke Ellington's sacred second concert. We remember this concert to this day. It lived in our hearts, but also on a double LP." - Hugo Šekoranja, jazz producer, RTV Slovenia

In the meantime, the charismatic Hugo Šekoranja has retired from music and has become a very popular radio host, as we saw from the audience reaction when he presented both the Slovenian and Croatian concerts.

"Someone convinced me to take the position of artistic director of the Slovenian Radio Big Band, and I'm afraid that was the end of my career as a saxophonist.I am now a jazz producer at the Slovenian National Radio, an exciting job, which gave me the opportunity to organize such a great event as the Euroradio Jazz Orchestra concert." - Hugo Šekoranja, jazz producer, RTV Slovenia