Maja Savic

MAJA SAVIC was born on 5th September 1979 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 has worked with many musicians varying from one style to another, finally finding herself in more jazzy tunes.

She started with a more pop/rock band called Flyer in 1998, performing as a lead female vocalist along with a male vocalist and a rhythm section, 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.

After a significant break from music she starts again with the band Flyer, this time as a backvocalist (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, Deborah Carter, Miles Griffith, Kiran Ahluwalia, Francisco „Latino“ Blanco, Pedro Moreira,...

After two years of collaboration with Anton Glasnović (guitar), Vjekoslav Crljen (double bass) and Nikola Dupor (drums) with whom she had a fixed quartet, Maja starts new projects. Since Nikola Dupor left the band from personal reasons, Maja decided to focus more on other projects she started simultaneously. These projects include Savich & Razz Working Unit, a collaboration with an alt saxophonist from Rijeka - Denis Razumović, Maja Savić Hammond Trio where she's working with a Slovenian pianist/hammondist Erik Marenče and legendary drummer Ratko Divjak Rale, as well as collaboration with a French pianist Regis Kattie, with whom she performs as a duo as well as in bigger formations.

Apart from dedicating herself to new projects, she is still working on new materials with which she will present herself on her first solo album and she is a guest singer on her colleagues' albums as well (Tihomir Hojsak - Jazz Room, Bastardz, etc.).
She composed and recorded a tune called "O Sol" (the Sun) with Tomislav Žnidaršić which was published on the cd "Dancing Bear Lounge 2".
She also recorded a song "How does it feel" for DJs Ludvig & Stelar, which was published in 2009 on the famous Cafe del Mar.

She writes all her lyrics, vocals, back vocals. Co-operates with many musicians from Portugal, Spain, the UK, the USA and Croatia.

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 performs with the Croatian Radio Television Big Band presenting herself as a composer with her composition "Sonhos Musicais" (Musical Dreams).

The same year, she founded an organization for promoting jazz music & culture called JAZZart and in 2009 she organized the first international jazz workshop & festival in Krk. Also known as Krk Jazz Days, were organized in collaboration with Global Music Foundation and teachers coming from the UK, Israel, Argentina and the USA.

In 2009, she was nominated for the Status Award given by the Croatian Musicians' Union in the category of the "New Jazz Musician".

She performed on major jazz festivals and events in Croatia such as: Osijek Jazz Festival, Liburnia Jazz Festival, Krk Live Music Festival, Jazzlook – Banja Luka Jazz Festival, Jazz Nights in Mala Scena of the Cultural Center Čakovec, New Jazz Musicians 2007 (Lisinski), Croatian Composers Night with HRT Big Band in 2008, etc.

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