This project was presented on November 9 last year at the Jazzdor jazz festival in Strasbourg as part of the Lithuanian Season in France. Especially for this occasion, Vilnius Jazz brought together the Lithuanian contemporary jazz musicians of young generation – the Improdimensija Orchestra led by Liudas Mockūnas and Arnas Mikalkėnas – and French jazz masters led by one of the most prominent improvisers, Marc Ducret. 

For their performance in Strasbourg, the longtime stage partners Mockūnas and Ducret together with the Improdimensija Orchestra joined by their experienced colleagues, French double bassist Bruno Chevillon, drummer Peter Bruun and Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser, offered the program of the musicians’ own compositions.

“I had no doubt that this project would be a success, knowing what excellent virtuosos and improvisers all the orchestra musicians are, especially since the Jazzdor festival is similar in style to Vilnius Jazz, where the Improdimensija Orchestra made its impressive debut and has already presented several programs. It was also met with recognition and favourable reviews in Strasbourg,” said Antanas Gustys, the project’s initiator, producer of Vilnius Jazz.

It is worth mentioning that, thanks to the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Lithuania to the Council of Europe, the concert in Strasbourg attracted the attention of the diplomatic corps, as it symbolically marked the end of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, testifying to common European values through creativity and energy.

The Vilnius Jazz is not only the godfather of the Improdimensija Orchestra. It was also the first to introduce the young formation abroad. The Orchestra made its debut at the Vilnius Jazz 2020, captivating the audience with excitement, inventiveness and unusual sounds. Thanks to the efforts of this festival, it soon made a virtual appearance before the audience of the London Jazz Festival.

The Orchestra, formed on the initiative of improvised music masters Liudas Mockūnas and Arnas Mikalkėnas, involves alumni and the then students of the Contemporary Music/Improvised Music Master’s Program at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LAMT) as well as their associates.

The aforementioned program was developed by Mockūnas and composer Vykintas Baltakas in 2016. They invited their close friend Mikalkėnas to join the lecturers team. Before long, the new program brought fresh air to the LAMT and became an integral part of Improdimensija – a creative platform for improvisation, experimentation and education.

The platform has its origins in the free jazz and improvised music concert series Improdimensija, the idea of which was conceived in 2011 in Kaunas, when pianist, percussionist and composer Mikalkėnas and the current head of the LRT “Klasika” program, Julijus Grickevičius, decided together with their friends to organise musical projects in various venues of Kaunas.

In 2017, Improdimensija turned a new page. When Mikalkėnas was joined by Mockūnas, a saxophonist and composer well-known not only in Europe but also beyond its borders, Eladijus Kirijanovas, a consultant in finance and business management, and Arūnas Zujus, the owner and sound director of the recording studio “MAMA Studios”, the Improdimensija concerts started to be held in this studio in Vilnius.

The Improdimensija series has hosted not only the Lithuanian jazz and improvised music coryphées Vyacheslav Ganelin, Vladimir Chekasin, Vladimir Tarasov, Dalius Naujokaitis, Juozas Milašius, Arkady Gotesman, Tomas Kutavičius and many others, but also the world stars of the genre: Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Nate Wooley, Peter Evans, John Butcher, Jim Black, Drew Gress, Agusti Fernandez, Frank Gratkowski and others.

Improdimensija encourages and fosters intergenerational dialogue and collegial collaboration. Almost all improvisers from abroad also give masterclasses for young Lithuanian jazzmen. Musicians of the younger generation share the Improdimensija stage with the Lithuanian and international luminaries. The young improvisers also introduce their compositions here.

The Improdimensija movement prompted the rise of improvised music in Lithuania, bringing the students of the LAMT Contemporary Music/Improvised Music Master’s Program, who have become an integral part of Vilnius’ underground life, to the vanguard.

They are active not only in the Improdimensija Orchestra, but also in the ensembles they have formed – Fleitų Trio, Laivo Troupe, Džiazlaif, Kanalizacija, Dj. Extended ft. K. Jušinskas, etc.

In previous Vilnius Jazz festivals, we have heard the Improdimensija Orchestra performing two programs of original music by their leaders Mockūnas and Mikalkėnas, later, ensembles of musicians from this orchestra presented their aesthetic approach to improvisation here. In Vilnius Jazz 2022, the collective met for the first time with French guitar virtuoso and composer Marc Ducret.

Marc Ducret has performed at the Vilnius Jazz on numerous occasions. He is one of Mockūnas’ most loyal associates. The two musicians began collaborating in 2002, when the guitarist joined Mockūnas and Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg’s band Toxikum and together won a Danish music award for the Toxikum album, and later toured Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, and France. 

At that time, Liudas also began playing with Marc as a duo. They soon released an album. In Lithuania, we heard them in various projects. 

Ducret is a true one-man band. Empowered by acoustic and electric guitars the self-taught virtuoso does not restrict himself to a particular style, plays distinctive and unexpected music.

The guitarist started his professional career by playing in folk groups, rock and dance bands, accompanying singers and singing himself. This experience was his ‘Alma Mater’. In 1986, Ducret joined the French Orchestre National de Jazz and started frequenting domestic and international festival scene. He soon gained recognition – was awarded Django Reinghardt Prize in 1987, in 1988 and 1989 Jazz Hot magazine voted him to be the best French jazz guitarist, and in 1989 he was hailed as SACEM (The Society for the Advancement of Continuing Education for Ministry) star.

Since 1991, the collaboration with American saxophonist Tim Berne brought recognition overseas for Ducret. He has since worked in a number of formations led by Berne, including Caos Totale, Bloodcount, Science Friction and Big Satan Trio (featuring drummer Tom Rainey). Ducret is regularly playing in the motherland of jazz.

He has collaborated with David Sanborn, Django Bates, Joey Baron, David Friedmann, Michel Portal, Joachim Kühn, Franco Ambrosetti, Didier Lockwood, Miroslav Vitous, Enrico Rava, Adam Nussbaum and Michel Godard, as well as AKA Moon, Louis Sclavis and Dominique Pifarely Acoustic Quartet, Andy Emler Quintet, Francois Jeanneau Pandemonium Orchestra, Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Ensemble Cairn, François Corneloup Quartet, Bobby Previte Quartet among many other notables.

The guitarist’s artistic horizons are extremely wide. He is also involved in multimedia art projects. In the past he had formed and led Seven Songs Tentet, exploring the music of the ‘60s with a very personal touch. He has performed solo in opera production, worked with the performers of traditional Chinese music, recorded several soundtracks. Currently, he also collaborates with Ictus Contemporary Music Ensemble. Lady M is one of his projects after Shakespeare involving vocalists and instrumental ensemble. Inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s writings, Ducret recorded five Tower albums (Ayler Records) with several ensembles.

The guitarist combines his touring with giving master classes, which he has led in France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Finland, USA, Scandinavia and Baltic States. Ducret’s discography includes dozens of albums that he has released as a leader.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and group leader Liudas Mockūnas is one of the most important representatives of improvised music in the Baltic region. Graduate of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LAMT) and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, he instantly took active stance on the European improvised music scene.

Today he is the most dynamic Lithuanian jazz master, constantly migrating between European festivals and jazz clubs, building new creative partnerships in Scandinavia, Baltic States, Poland, Portugal and other countries.

Liudas is the leader of Mockūno Nuclear and Traffic Trio, a co-leader of international collectives Toxikum and electro-acoustic trio Red Planet, a member of Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Markus Pesonen’s Hendecet, Stefan Pasborg’s Free Moby Dick and Odessa 5, international groups Dirty Mountain, Heavy Beauty and Mikko Innanen’s Innkvisitio, contemporary music ensembles Gaida and Konvoj Art. In addition, he is an associate of the Lithuanian Ensemble Network.

The saxophonist has played in a duo with Marc Ducret and Ryoji Hojito, Barry Guy, William Hooker, Petras Geniušas, Artūras Bumšteinas, Vladimir Tarasov and Mikko Innanen, collaborated with Pierre Dørge and his New Jungle Orchestra, Jacob Anderskov, Nils Davidsen, Vladimir Chekasin, Arkady Gotesman, Mats Eilertsen, Mark Solborg, Jonas Westergaard, Jakob Riis, Jaak Sooäär, Hugo Carvalhais and many other intriguing jazz musicians.

He has taken part in programs of Andrew Hill’s Jazz Par octet, Ibrahim Electric, British TrioVD, Free Tallinn Trio, Mats Gustaffsson, Raymond Strid and Frank Gratkowski among other jazz innovators.

Mockūnas is famed as an expert of contemporary academic music. His repertoire includes works by such composers as Bronius Kutavičius, Anatolijus Šenderovas, Arvydas Malcys, Vyacheslav Ganelin, Dietrich Eichmann, Vykintas Baltakas, Raminta Šerkšnytė, Giedrius Puskunigis, Osvaldas Balakauskas and Vytautas Germanavičius.

As a soloist the saxophonist has performed with Kralovy Hradec Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra as well as St. Christopher and Klaipėda chamber orchestras and Chordos String Quartet. With various formations he has toured in Europe, the USA, China, Japan and Israel.

He is a prize winner of various jazz competitions in Lithuania, Latvia and France, a recipient of Vilnius Jazz and Birštonas Jazz prizes for contribution to Lithuanian jazz, as well as “Golden Disc” awarded by the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union. In 2011, he was decorated with a “Golden Cross of the Stage” (award for achievements in the Lithuanian theatre field) for the best music for theatre production. Moreover, as a composer Mockūnas has written music for Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra and Chordos String Quartet.

The musician has inspired a number of progressive phenomena in jazz life as a teacher at the Jazz Department of the LAMT. In 2016, together with composer Vykintas Baltakas, he created the Contemporary Music/Improvised Music Master’s Program at the LAMT, which has brought a qualitatively new generation of improvisers and jazz composers to the country’s jazz scene and has inspired the rise of improvised music in Lithuania.

The musician and his associates founded Improdimensija, a creative platform for improvisation, experimentation and education. In 2020, Mockūnas and his colleague Arnas Mikalkėnas co-founded the Improdimensija Orchestra, which involves former and current students and their colleagues from the Master of Music in Contemporary Music Program.

The saxophonist’s discography amounts to around 70 albums. He is a co-founder and co-strategist of an independent record label NoBusiness Records. In 2020, NoBusiness Records was awarded Vilnius Jazz Prize for contributions to Lithuanian jazz.