BIG BAND RTS

RTS Music Production

The RTS Big Band, the only professional Serbian Jazz ensemble, was established in 1948 in the form of a Big Band. It was quickly recognised as a group of performers with excellent interpretational abilities, with its prominent conductors, composers and arrangers that have been guiding it ever since. Some of them are: Mladen Bobi Guteša, Vojislav Bubiša Simić, Zvonimir Skerl, Duško Gojković, Stjepko Gut.

The ensemble has performed with some of the world’s greatest jazz artists, such as: Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, Maynard Ferguson, Tony Scott, Jerome Richardson, Ernie Wilkins, Alvin Queen, Reggie Johnson, Eddie Henderson, Hank Mobley, Philly Joe Jones, Jon Hendricks, Roy Hargrove, Brad Lilley, Ack van Rooyen, Peter Herbolzheimer, Ed Thigpen, Sal Nistico, Nathan Davis, Don Bajas, Lee Konitz, Don Menza, Steve Turre, Ronnie Cuber, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Chuck Findley, Bobby Shew, Heinz von Hermann, Vic Vogel, Karlheinz Micklin, Adrian Mears, Peter King, Ilja Rejngoud, Bert Joris, Gregory Hutchinson, Jens Winther, Jesse Davis, John Fedchock, Klaus Raible, Andrea Tofanelli, Simon Rigter, Samuel Blaser, Omar Sosa, Nils Wogram, John Marshall, as well as with the stars of worldwide show business, such as: Ray Charles, Danny Kaye, Josephine Baker, Diana Schuur, Mireille Mathieu, Enrico Macias, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Abba), and others.

The orchestra has yielded some of the best, world famous and renowned solo performers, such as: Mile Pavlović, Bora Roković, Duško Gojković, Lala Kovačev, and Stjepko Gut.
As a relevant representative of the Serbian jazz scene, the RTS Big Band has held concerts all around Serbia, and has participated in leading domestic jazz festivals, such as: the Belgrade Jazz Festival, the Novi Sad Jazz Festival, the Valjevo Jazz Festival, the Nišville Jazz and Blues Festival, the Pančevo Jazz Festival, and the International Jazz and Blues festival in Šabac. It has performed in a number of prominent world festivals, in Tel Aviv, Montreux, Marseille, Thessaloniki, Munich, Stara Zagora, Ingolstadt and Neuburg, as well as at the concerts organized by UNICEF in Belgrade, Paris and Geneva.

In 2023, the RTS Big Band was awarded the Sretenje Order of the Third Degree, for its lasting contribution to the culture.

In the orchestra’s discography, the most notable studio albums are: “The Jazz Orchestra of Radio Belgrade 1948-1978’’, “The Music of my Youth”, Stjepko Gut and the RTS Big Band “Afro-Balkan Sketches’’, “Willy Johans and the Big Band of Radio Belgrade – 75 years of Radio Belgrade’’, “Caravan’’, “It’s Time for Jazz’’, “Sweet Love’’, Duško Gojković and the RTS Big Band “Latin Haze’’, “Balkan Soul’’, RTS Big Band and Samuel Blaser “Aquarelle’’ and “Mimo od Budve’’, Big Band RTS and Francesco Santucci “New Seasons”.

Today, the RTS Big Band is a modern orchestra that realises successful concert seasons by performing with the most eminent contemporary foreign and domestic performers. In its performing oeuvre, it nourishes the tradition of jazz music by successfully meeting the requirements and interpretations of the modern Big Band music of the 21st century. A special place in the ensemble’s repertoire belongs to the cultivation of jazz music, inspired by the domestic musical heritage, which significantly contributes to the preservation and public promotion of the national cultural tradition, presented with a new sound. Depending on the requirements of the programme and the concert, the RTS Big Band also performs as a revue orchestra, along with the members of different RTS Music Production ensembles, thus expanding the repertoire with popular compositions of various genres.