Zvonimir Bajević
Jam Session Host
Zvonimir Bajević (born 1978, Bjelovar) studied musicology and trumpet at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. He has been a long-time external collaborator as an editor in the Classical Music Editorial Office of the Third Program of Croatian Radio, a long-time member of the Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) Jazz Orchestra and the HGM Jazz Orchestra Zagreb, as well as various ensembles such as B’s FUNstallation, Zdenka Kovačiček & Greenhouse Blues Band, Balkan Zoo feat. Nina Ćorić, MIMIKA Orchestra, Hommage Collective, Lasse Lindgren Big Constellation, and Azil Quartet. As a trumpeter or arranger, he collaborates with the RTV Slovenia Big Band, the Jazz Orchestra of the Croatian Army Forces, the Sarajevo Big Band, the Bjelovar Big Band, the Makarska Big Band, and the Vodice Big Band. From 2018 to 2024, he led the Big Band of the Croatian Medical Chamber.
He collaborates with numerous Croatian jazz and pop artists whose releases have won the Porin discography award. He is also a recipient of the Status award for jazz trumpet and was the Croatian representative in the European Jazz Orchestra in 2009. Bajević has performed in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Spain, England, Belgium, Austria, Indonesia, China, and the USA. He works as a trumpeter, educator, producer, arranger, composer, and organizer as an independent artist.
B’s FUNstallation (short for Baja’s) is a jazz ensemble formed by trumpeter Zvonimir Bajević in the spring of 2012, bringing together six prominent musicians from Croatia’s middle jazz generation. The lineup includes Mario Bočić on tenor saxophone, Zvonimir Bajević on trumpet and flugelhorn, Davor Doležal on guitar, Luka Žužić on keyboards, Zvonimir Šestak on double bass, and Borko Rupena on drums.
The ensemble has performed in numerous Croatian cities, including Koprivnica, Zagreb, Bale, Poreč, Grožnjan, Vrbnik, Zadar, Murter, Rijeka, Rovinj, Šibenik, Ljubljana, Novigrad (Istria), Sesvete, Silba, Biograd, Bilice, Bjelovar, Velika Gorica, Lastovo, Vela Luka, Umag, Hvar, Makarska, Varaždin, Cres, Duga Resa, Sisak, Županja, Trieste, Dubrovnik, Osijek, Čakovec, Križevci, Gospić, Daruvar, Virovitica, and Jastrebarsko. Their first major international tour was a two-week visit to China from September 20 to October 2, 2017. During this tour, they performed nine concerts in the cities of Mudanjiang, Dalian, Jilin, Shijiazhuang, Nanchang, Lizhou, and Wuhan, successfully playing in large concert halls to numerous Chinese audiences.
B’s FUNstallation has released three albums featuring original compositions by its members: Sixto (2015), Blue Line (2018), and Hold On (2022), the latter of which was nominated in several categories for the Porin music award.
The band plans to record and promote their fourth album, B’s FUNstallation Plays Mozart, in 2025. This will be the first album by the ensemble that does not feature original compositions by its members. However, they will be credited as arrangers of some timeless Mozart themes and compositions such as Rondo Alla Turca, Ave Verum Corpus, Miserere, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, etc. This crossover approach combines classical music heritage with contemporary jazz, creating a dialogue that encourages the broadest audience to connect with music that, due to its timeless quality, is passed down to future generations. The B’s FUNstallation Plays Mozart program has already been successfully performed at the Amadeus Festival in Bjelovar, the Jaska Summer of Culture, and the Zrin Festival in Čakovec.