Lazar Tosic

Lazar Tošić has been present on the jazz scene since 1960, when he decided to play this kind of music. During his 50 years long presence in the world of Serbian jazz music, he was a member of Jazz Orchesta of the Radio Television of Serbia for 22 years (1972-1994), member of the Markovic Gut Sextet (1982-1987), and performed with many world famous jazz musicians, such as Lee Konitz, Earnie Wilkins, Kenny Drew, Terry Clarck, Duško Gojkovic, John Hendrix, Eddie Harris, Alvin Quinn (with whom he played more than 20 years ago a concert for two drums in the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation Concert Hall), Hank Mobley, Johnny Griffin, Dee Dee Mc Neal and many others. He took part in numerous jazz festivals all over the world. During the years spent as a member of the Markovic Gut Sextet, he visited Cuba, and he also took part in the realization of 5 albums among which is "A Message from Belgrade" recorded for the Dutch company "Timeless Records".

In the famous Jumbo Jazz Festivals held in former Yugoslavia (in Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana) in which all three Jazz Orchestras performed at the same time, he was the only drum player who covered the programme of all the three Big Bands. He was a special guest of the Ljubljana Jazz Orchestra upon invitation of Jože Privšek, a very famous musician of the former Yugoslavia's jazz scene, whose honest, firm and almost ascetic attitude towards jazz music influenced Lazar Tošić's work to a great extent. His work was also influenced by the world famous trumpet player (of Serbian origin) Duško Gojković.

Founding the jazz band "Lazar Tošić Quintet" in 1987, he gathered around himself jazz musicians of all generations (from the older ones to the youngest). His idea was to bring together recognized musicians which were to be taken as models and young ones, who needed guidance and support in their work as jazz musicians. This band has been promoting the main stream and hard bop style jazz music, which Lazar Tošić chose as a young jazz musician and never gave up during his long career.

During 1993, in the period when all true values were easily abandoned for some more practical purposes and quality music was lost in the whole territory of the former Yugoslavia, he committed himself completely to preserving the jazz music in Belgrade and Serbian jazz scenes.

Not only did he succeed in preserving the quality of work in the jazz club, but he also initiated "the Plato Jazz and Blues Festival" in 1994, when Almost Big Band was founded under the name of Lazar Tošić Plato Jazz Band. In the same year of 1994, he was also one of the organizers of the concert of the world famous jazz trumpet player Duško Gojković (at that time still not popular enough among younger people in Serbia), whose musical numbers have been part of the Lazar Tošić Quintet's repertoire since its foundation in 1987.

In 1995 Lazar Tošić Quintet and Lazar Tošić Plato Jazz Band made some new recordings in the production of the Radio Television of Serbia.

In the period 1997-1998 Lazar Tošić initiated the foundation of a big band under the patronage of Budva Grad Teatar (Budva the Theatre Town festival) called Theatre City International Jazz Band, which was to be a home band to jazz musicians from all over the world coming to Budva to join this summer festival. The band had its first performance in 1998, and gathered more than 30 musicians from former Yugoslavia and abroad.

Of all recorded materials, Lazar Tošić published only one musical cassette in his own production, named "Free at Last" after his drum number of the same name realized in 1987. Miša Krstić, the famous jazz pianist suggested this name. For 15 years the drum number "Free At Last" is part of its author, Lazar Tošić's life and work.

In 1996 Lazar Tošić was proclaimed the best jazz drummer, by both critics and audience.

He was born in 1941. As a jazz drummer he acquired the status of a distinguished artist. He was retired in 1998. He is constantly and diligently working on the promotion of the Serbian jazz scene. In 2007 he celebrated the 20 years of Lazar Tošić Quintet by a concert held in the Belgrade Jazz Festival.

On 22nd of January 2008 the Radio Television of Serbia Jazz Orchestra organized his concert in the concert hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation in Belgrade, for the 40th anniversary of his work as a jazz drum player. Show less