BOŠTJAN SIMON

BOŠTJAN SIMON, saxophone and electronics

Saxophonist and electrophonist Boštjan Simon (Etceteral, There Be Monsters, Velkro, Litošt) presents his solo album Fermented Reality, on which he further develops the fusion of saxophone and electronic sounds. In some places he exposes the saxophone keys as percussion, in others he uses them as an interface to trigger notes and sequences on a modular synthesizer.

Sequences of varying lengths played simultaneously roll over each other, following an internal rhythm that is not quantised to an external matrix. The result is a living, moving and, due to the nature of the modular synthesizer, inimitable mass of saxophone and electronic sounds.

Education:

2001 – 2005 Music Conservatory of Ljubljana, Jazz Saxophone
2001 – 2008 Master of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana
2005 – 2009 Bachelor of Music, Jazz Saxophone, Conservatory of Amsterdam

Notable collaborations with:

Zlatko Kaučič, Evan Parker, Trevor Watts, Guillaume Orti, Marco Colonna, Jos Zwannenburg,
Artur Majewski, Patrick Bartley, Massimo De Mattia, Giovanni Maier, Onno Govaert, Stephan
Meidell, Luis Candeias, Vitja Balžalorsky, Bojan Krhlanko, Robert Jukič, Kristijan Krajnčan,
Dre Hočevar, Mirko Cisilino, Tomaž Grom, Big Band RTV Slovenia, Chris Eckman, Alastair
Mcneill Brown

Notable concerts:

Ljubljana Jazz festival 2014, 2017, 2021, Beograd Jazz festival 2019, Udin Jazz 2019,
Budapest Music Center 2020, Sud Tyrol Jazz, Bolzano (IT) Etceteral European tour January
2020 and May 2023, Etceteral concerts at: The Colors of Ostrava (CZ), Das Fest Karlsruhe
(DE), Smida Jazz (RO)

Teaching:
2002-05 leading Big Band Nova, 1st prize international competition Saas Fee 2004
2009,15, 19: Jazz Saxophone on the Saxophone festival in Nova Gorica, Slovenia
2012: Creative workshop in Sajeta, Tolmin
2012-13, 2020-23: Saxophone in the public music school of Ilirska Bistrica
2013-18: Saxophone in the public music school of Nova Gorica
2021: Creative jazz workshop in Jazzinty, Novo Mesto

Production:

From 2016: Artistic director of SAXGO, international Saxophone meeting / festival in Nova
Gorica, Slovenia
From 2022: Artistic director of Sound Explicit, festival of experimental and improvised music in
Ljubljana, Slovenia

Releases:

Vanilla Riot (w. Stephan Meidell, Onno Govaert): Stitch (AIMSoundCity 2009)

Velkro: The future of the past (PLING music 2011)

Vanilla Riot: Stretch, (Playdate records 2012)

IORI trio (Dimitris Christides, Tasos Savvopulous), IORI (Konnex records 2012)

NEPOSLUŠNO: duet z Vitjo Balžalorskim (SPLOH-L’Innomable 2012)

Litošt (Vitja Balžalorsky, Bojan Krhlanko), LITOŠT (self release 2013)

Trus: First Step (ZARŠ, Moonlee 2013)

Eksperiment: Antologija Slovenske eksperimentalne glasbe (SIGIC 2013)

Trus: Banana Split w. Kleeemar (God Bless This Mess, Moonlee 2013)

Velkro: Don’t Wait For the Revolution (Clean Feed 2013)

Kombo B: Hramo (Zvočni izviri 2015)

Litošt: Time Fabric Silkworms (Cantabel 2016)

Velkro: Too Lazy to Panic (Clean Feed 2017)

Boštjan Simon: There Be Monsters (Klopotec 2017)

Container Doxa: Less Than Nothing (ZARŠ 2018)

Milan Stanisavlević kvintet: Eastern Star ( Klopotec 2019)

Boštjan Simon „There Be Monsters“: The Ark (Klopotec, 2019)

Quadro Dialogorum: Quadro Dialogorum (Klopotec 2019)

Arkos – with Evan Parker, Massimo de Mattia, Zlatko Kaučič (Klopotec 2019)

Etceteral: Ama-Gi (Kapa Records, 2020)

Robert Jukič kvartet: Caminos De Gloria (ZKP 2021)

Etceteral: Rhizome (Glitterbeat/Tak:til 2022)

Boštjan Simon / Zlatko Kaučič: Žepi / Pockets (Jazz Cerkno 2022)

There Be Monsters: Rubikon (Klopotec 2022)

Rok Zalokar Zhlehtet: Portals Vol. 1 (self release 2022)

Robert Jukič kvartet: Caminos De Gloria (Jazz Cerkno 2023)

Rok Zalokar Zhlehtet: Portals Vol. 2 (self release 2023)

Boštjan Simon: Fermented Reality (Naturescene studios 2024)

Reviews by Monolithcocktail, TheQuietus, Psychedelicbabymag