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Sanja Markovic

Sanja Markovic is an award-winning jazz composer (5th International Jazz Composition Competition in Katowice, Poland, 2018). She is a Belgrade born and based musician that has spent many years on the East Coast, US. Besides a Master’s degree in Music and a classical background, Sanja leans toward jazz music to become an autodidact saxophonist and jazz arranger (Big Band, “Kolarac” concert hall, 2012). Her debut “Ascension”, released for A.MA Records in Italy is already No.1 bestselling album on iTunes for Austria. Vinyl is also available at [email protected].

"Gentle and wondrous effects of my childhood have left me little choice but to never step aside from music and love of creation. Coming from a family of musicians - father's music laid pillars for acoustic movement in Yugoslavia and my brother is enjoying an international career as a conductor, I’ve continued on my varying musical path from studying classical music to developing a passion and taste for live jazz music. Expressing my ideas in these past years has led me to embark upon a solitary path of composition and music production."

Album 'Ascension" is a debut released as a vinyl and digital release for A.MA Records, Italy, April 2020. "Sovereign State of Mind" from this album has won an Award with a Distinction at the 5th International Jazz Composition Contest in Katowice, Poland.

Awards

"Awarded with a Distinction" at the 5th International Jazz Composition Competition in Katowice, Poland Awarded Best World Album of the Year 2021 by Spektar, Croatia

Sanja Markovic: Ascension

Read "Ascension" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
October 13, 2020

Enveloped in a dark though illuminating light, Serbia's Sanja Markovic delivers an assertive, immersive debut with Ascension, quickly proving herself an agile, articulate vocalist, multi-instrumentalist (tenor and soprano sax), arranger and composer. In lesser hands, the complement of nineteen musicians she has at her side and ready, and the seven questing, spacious songs of Ascension could have made this compelling endeavor come off unwieldy, unruly, or worse. But Markovic, whose creative instincts prowl the fertile crescent valley where ...

”KINDRED SPIRITS... The more I go through these times the more I feel the urge for music to be not an accomplished form of flattery and entertainment but art that may elevate our spirit to higher spaces so welcome Sanja Markovic, your music is here to share these feelings with its beauty, a breeze from the East.”

Nicola Conte - composer, guitarist, producer

"With Ascension, vocalist/saxophonist Sanja Markovic has crafted a detailed and artistic collection of compositions which forge new directions in contemporary musical design. Her vision, realized through music, embodies the full potential of expansive storytelling and an imaginative portrayal of her life and humanity.

Nicola Conte - composer, guitarist, producer

Greg Osby - saxophonist and composer

"Sanja Markovic... is also an excellent saxophonist and composer, but her real power, to me, is in her voice - deep and exciting, with that emotion which makes you want to listen to her over and over again."

Tim Dickeson, Jazzwise

"The debut album "Ascension" by singer Sanja Markovic ruins virtually everything you thought you knew about the Serbian jazz scene, except the fact that incredible music is being born here despite everything."

- Viktor Cikes

"We had to wait until the last day of the festival to hear more Serbian artists, where, among others appeared phenomenal Sanja Marković - composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. Her concert was a great surprise, because the artist's brand is beyond the borders of this country and is not known yet. She is endowed with an extremely deep, low and beautiful voice reminiscent of Cassandra Wilson herself. She was accompanied by a sensational band in which Max Kochetov on saxophone stood out, as well as an intriguing group of jazz vocals, unfortunately rare."

Marcin Puławski, LMF Poland

"Of the album's seven tracks, there isn't a wasted moment - the music is brimming with excitement and a tantalizing energy that begs repeated listens.....this album is Markovic's literal ascension to her rightful place as a respected and revered musical luminary in her own right."

Imran Mirza of Blue-in-Green RADIO

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