The organizers of the “Kaunas Jazz” festival revealed unheard-of details to the audience

Although “Kaunas Jazz” has left a bright mark in the country’s jazz history, the festivals of this music direction started to be held much earlier. The first jazz festival in Elektrėnai took place in 1968, and since the 1980s, jazz lovers have been gathering in Birštonas every two years.

“Kaunas Jazz” is distinguished by the scale of the event and the brilliance of the music stars participating in it.

“This year we have prepared a very broad program, in terms of volume it is equal to several smaller festivals combined. We even slightly overestimated our strength”, admitted Jonas Jučas, organizer of “Kaunas Jazz”.

During the festival, he promised both innovations and traditional events already loved by the audience. One such is “Dziazo modas” in Kaunas shopping center “Akropolis”.

Children will once again be able to participate in the drawing campaign “Kaunas Jazz on the pavement”, which will be held in the garden of the War Museum, and maestro Giedrius Kuprevičius, who is celebrating his 80th anniversary this year, will also hold a bell music concert there.

Free night concerts in clubs that have not been held for several years will be revived. It will also be possible to enjoy music for free at the concerts held in Independence Square.

On April 28, the big concert of the festival will take place – the band from the USA “Snarky Puppy” will perform on the stage of “Žalgiris” arena. This team will arrive in Kaunas on the eve of the concert, so you can expect various surprises and even unplanned performances.

On May 14, traditionally, a concert will be held at the Kaunas Oncology Hospital.

– Spectators watching the concerts probably have no idea how the preparation for the festival actually goes. Are even experienced concert organizers struggling? – “Temporary capital” asked J. Juča.

– The work starts a few months before the event. Negotiating contracts takes a lot of time. Agencies offer traditional contracts, but not everything in them suits us, not everything complies with Lithuanian laws, so we spend a long time negotiating controversial issues.

When the signatures are added, both parties are already bound.

Arrival schedules are prepared, hotels and transport are booked. The needs of each group are different, they need to prepare properly in advance for the concert. It is invisible work, but it requires a lot of time and logistical skills.

We make mistakes too, but we try not to let the listeners feel them, because it’s not their problem. Unexpected things happen and not everything depends on us. Airports may go on strike, and performers may struggle to arrive on time.

We have to try to provide them with the best possible conditions before the concert, the artists are in a good mood and energetic.

A large part of the success is determined by the fact that the audience of “Kaunas Jazz” is very good, a mutual relationship is established with the performers, and the reviews after the concerts are very favorable. On the other hand, the audience has become very picky.

– What unusual needs or wishes of the festival participants did you remember the most?

– Many years ago, the American saxophonist David Samborn performed in Kaunas, who at that time was suffering from an oncological disease and someone advised him to eat as much papaya as possible. At that time, it was still difficult to get papayas in Lithuania, but we fulfilled the requirement and only then did we find out that D.Samborn still had half of his suitcase of papayas with him.

Concert organizers always receive a description of what needs to be provided for the lounge where the performers rest after rehearsals, before the concert and during intermission. These are usually sandwiches, nuts, fruit, beer, wine, and spirits.

A signature whiskey was ordered during the concert at the Combo club. We found the desired drink in one store, but only then did we find out that a bottle of this drink costs more than 1000 euros. This time we managed to agree that there would be no drink, and now we look at it more carefully and when we find inadequate requirements we try to make changes in time.

– “Kaunas Jazz” can be called the biggest festival for jazz lovers in the country, but there are also smaller festivals that have been successfully held for several decades. How can you explain the Lithuanian public’s favor for this direction of music?

– We are not unique in this region, because many high-level jazz events take place in Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Finland. It is very good that there are smaller festivals as well, because they educate the listener.

There are about 2 thousand in Lithuania. people who are seriously interested in jazz music and can buy a ticket to the desired concert. Others might want to, but can only watch free concerts. We want to include as many people as possible in the fan base, so we invite them to additional events, we offer entertainment for children, and the audience grows slightly every year.

People of all ages choose – from elementary school children to gray-headed people. A lot is determined by family traditions. If grandfather, father or mother were interested in jazz music, they took their children to concerts, it became an interesting pastime for them. Babies born during the first “Kaunas Jazz” festivals have already become parents and our helpers.

Some of the people close to the festival have left for a better life during those years, among them the artistic director of the festival, my daughter Indrė.

– Don’t you feel aggrieved that the talents discovered by the organizers of “Kaunas Jazz” later become the most important stars of other festivals held in Lithuania? One such is Gregory Porter.

– Everything depends on the ethics of star managers. I am more conservative in this matter, but if financially good offers appear, other issues become unimportant to the management, and they do not evaluate some circumstances at all.

There are also examples of other behavior – artists they know simply call and ask if we are going to invite them to the festival because they have other offers.

If the performer organizes a concert in Lithuania after performing at the “Kaunas Jazz” festival, we cannot object. If it were to take place before the festival, it would already be a violation of the contract, as it usually provides for restrictions.

– Are you already preparing for the 2025 festival and do you know which stars will come to Kaunas?

– We are preparing a little. Weak administrative capacity is our weakest link. We have the vision and the plans, we just need to finish everything, but we have not been able to close the contracts due to lack of time, because now all the attention is focused on this year’s event. If we implement what is up to us, the program will be really good.