Maja Savic

MAJA SAVIC was born in Zadar, Croatia. At the age of 7, she convinces her parents that she wants to learn how to play the piano and ends up in Music School “Pavao Markovac” in Zagreb, where she studies the piano until 1992. She starts composing and arranging and occasionally singing in public.

She started performing as a lead female vocalist along with a male vocalist and a rhythm section with a pop/rock band called Flyer in 1998, doing all sorts of covers. After that band she finds herself in one original band named Bazaar dealing with a harder style, mixing hard core and jazzy sounds, where she wrote her own lyrics and vocals. They release a demo "Broken pieces" and get pretty good reviews.

She stops with music for a few years in order to finish her studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in English and Polish Language and Literature. After the break she reunites with the band Flyer, this time as a back-vocalist (of the two) singing now more mellow tunes from covers to originals, from funky and disco to soul...This leads to a record deal with Croatia Records and the first album of the group called "Epopeja". Performing from small stages to big stage events, she gains more experience in performing.

In 2005 she leaves the band and moves to Portugal, where she starts working on her debut album with a prominent jazz musician Zé Eduardo. Apart from recording, she starts working intensively in jazz, educating herself as a vocalist and a musician, and performing with various bands. She works in smaller groups performing jazz standards, Bossa nova tunes, latin and blues, as well as early jazz, New Orleans repertoire with one big band and two more vocalists.

She studies jazz, Bossa nova, Latin and Indian music styles through various jazz workshops in Portugal, Spain, B&H, Croatia and learns from high quality musicians such as Zé Eduardo, Romy Camerun, Judy Niemack, Guillermo Rozenthuler, Deborah Carter, Miles Griffith, Shawnn Monteiro, Deborah Brown, Charles Gayle, Kiran Ahluwalia, Francisco „Latino“ Blanco, Pedro Moreira,...

After the return to Croatia she establishes a two-year collaboration with Anton Glasnović (guitar), Vjekoslav Crljen (double bass) and Nikola Dupor (drums) forming a quartet performing mainstream jazz. She decides to start new collaborations and forms Savich & Razz Working Unit with an alt saxophonist from Rijeka - Denis Razumović Razz, a Hammond Trio with a Slovenian Hammond player & pianist Erik Marenče and legendary drummer Ratko Divjak - Rale, as well as a duo with a French pianist Regis Kattie. Later on she forms two duos - with a pianist Hrvoje Galler performing modal jazz, early jazz standards and original tunes, a bossa nova duo with a guitarist Joe Pandur, as well as Maja Savić Jazz Ensemble with Serbian alto saxophonist Uglješa Novaković, Hrvoje Galler on piano, Zvonimir Šestak on double bass and top notch drummer - Krunoslav Levačić. The quintet is currently preparing a CD, which will contain instrumental tunes in a vocal arrangement and original compositions by Maja Savić and Hrvoje Galler.

Currently co-operating with various musicians from Croatia, from jazz professionals to a collaboration with a funk group Bastardz, Less Than a Minute, DJs Ludvig & Stelar who invite her to sing and publish for Cafe del Mar in 2009, etc. She records for her colleague - a double bass player Tihomir Hojsak at his debut album - Jazz Room on two compositions. She writes all her lyrics, vocals, back vocals. Co-operates with many musicians from Portugal, Spain, the UK, the USA and Croatia.

Major performances include: Osijek Jazz Festival, Liburnia Jazz Festival, Krk Live Music Festival, Jazzlook – Banja Luka Jazz Festival, Jazz Nights at Mala Scena - Cultural Center Čakovec, Nove Jazz Nade (New Jazz Talents) 2007 (Concert Hall Lisinski, Zagreb), Fertinates Jazz Festival in Omišalj, Krk, Jazzlook Festival 2008 in Bosnia, Croatian Composers’ Night with the HRT Big Band (Croatian Radio Television orchestra) in 2008. where she performed her own composition “Sonhos Musicais” (Musical Dreams) for the first time in the arrangement of Igor Savin, performances with the HGM A Band during seasons 2011 and 2012 at the Cinema Forum, numerous performances in various jazz clubs and cultural centers in Croatia, Slovenia and Portugal. In 2008 jer talent was recognized and she was nominated for a Status Award in the category of “Young jazz talents”. In 2007 she makes her childhood dream come true and starts learning tenor saxophone, her big passion. Hopefully, soon she will be doing her own solos!

In 2008 she establishes the Association for Promoting Jazz Music and Culture - JAZZart, and organizes the first international jazz summer school and festival in Krk - Krk Jazz Days, in collaboration with the organization Global Music Foundation from Great Britain. She performs there with an Argentinian singer Guillermo Rozenthuller, which is only the first of many performances they had together throughout the following years. Through the organization she emphasizes the importance of education in jazz music and continues to organize jazz workshops and master classes in order to support and develop the Croatian jazz scene. More information about activities in the organization of JAZZart at their official website - www.jazzart.hr . She also starts working for the Croatian Radio national station covering jazz events and from October 2012 she gets to edit and host her LIVE jazz show on the radio.

She begins teaching singing in 2009. at the School for modern singing - Mikrofon Star, with several other mentors from the professional music scene. More info about their courses is available at their website -www.mikrofon.hr

At the beginning of 2011. she joins the HGM A Band and performs with the orchestra mainly jazz standards from the beginning of the 20th century under the leadership of an Austrian conductor - Sigi Feigl.

Between 2012. and 2014. she performs regularly with numerous musicians, as well as with her jazz ensemble Maja Savic Jazz Ensemble, with which she is working on arrangements of instrumental and vocal standards, as well as original compositions. These compositions are included in their first album called “Invitation” which is to be released in fall 2015. Musicians in this ensemble are Hrvoje Galler on piano, Zvonimir Šestak on double bass, Krunoslav Levačić on drums and Uglješa Novaković on alt saxophone.

She performed on several occasions with the HRT Jazz Orkestar (Croatian Radio Television big band) both in the Vip club and at the 1000th emission of the legendary radio show “Zvjezdana prašina” ( Stardust ) by Dubravko Majnarić which took place in Studio Bajsić at the HRT (Croatian Radio Television).

In 2013 she begins collaborating with a Brazilian guitarist, composer, arranger and singer - Marco Antonio da Costa who actively collaborates with the HGM Jazz Orkestar (current: Zagreb Jazz Orkestar). The perform a repertoire based on Brazilian music, as well as their original compositions. They occasionally perform Latin-American music because da Costa is partly from Peru. Their performances often feature the Brazilian vocal ensemble Bossa Banda , which Maja has been leading since 2010 and which usually performs popular Brazilian tunes as well as standards from the Jobim’s songbook. This Brazilian-Croatian duo performs both in Croatia and Austria, and have sung together at the Christmas concert in the renowned concert hall Lisinski with the HGM Jazz Orkestar on the 1st December 2013. In summer 2014 they record their first demo, which they hope is the beginning of their first album. In the bigger formation they are joined by Zvonimir Šestak on bas and Matheus Jardim on drums.

In October 2014 Maja moves to Paris where she continues to collaborate with the Jazz Vocal Academy International , specializing to be the vocal instructor of this school, as well as Arts Embassy International with whom she is organizing the annual Jazz Tour and International Singers Workshop in Paris. The first one was held in June 2014, and together they hope to do the same in Zagreb in collaboration with Udruga Jazzart, in Chicago in collaboration with SongShop lead by a Cabaret performer Claudia Hommel and the above mentioned associations in Paris lead by the jazz vocalist Keri Chryst.

In spring 2015 she records two albums: “Tradition” - a beautiful collaboration with a pianist Petar Ćulibrk as an hommage to tradition, playing standards they love as a duo, and a modern jazz album “Invitation” with her ensemble which contains original tunes and arranged standards. They will both be launched in fall 2015.

She is currently based in Paris where she is working on her international career and planning her first European tour with current projects.

Her motto is - It's never too late! Hoping to inspire others to do the same and follow their heart... Show less