Biography

Guitar player Primož Grašič was born in 1968 in Kranj, Slovenia. After high school in Kranj he went abroad and studied guitar at the Klagenfurt Conservatorium. Very soon jazz bands and orchestras became aware of the young but very talented musician and so after his studies he immediately became a member of the “Greentown Jazz Band”. His music career flourished after this and we can only share his biggest achievements with you.

Since April 1998 he has been a full-time member of “Big Band RTV Slovenia” and the “Big Orchestra of RTV Slovenia”.

In cooperation with known Slovenian singer he has received two awards for his arrangements from International Professional Juries. In 1995 he was nominated for the musical award “Zlati petelin” (Golden Rooster) for the best arrangement of a foreign song. He was then cooperating with the “Jože Privšek Orchestra” at concerts in Portorož and in Ljubljana’s “Cankarjev Dom” and also as a studio musician at their recordings of more than two hundred albums. In July 1993 he was performing at one of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe, in Perrugia, Italy. On his own and as a member of the “Greentown Jazz Band” and the “B.P. Club All Stars”, he was performing at jazz festivals all over America, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands,…

In October 1994 he was performing in Amsterdam as a member of the “EBU Big Band”, under the leadership of Jerry van Roojen and Henk Meutgeert. In all these years he was performing together with many different musicians such as N.H.O. Pedersen, Martin Drew, Alvin Queen, Gianni Basso, Toots Thielemans, Jimmy Woode, Clark Terry, Duško Gojković, Steve Gut, Boško Petrovič, Csaba Deseo, Jesse Davis, Bobby Durham, Massimo Farao, Curtis Fuller, Dado Moroni, Manfred Josel, Evald Oberleitner, Red Halloway, Steve Swallow, Dennis McCrell, Ed Thigpen, Ray Brown, Helen Merrill, Gary Burton, Bruce Adams, Peter Mihelich, Mark Elf, Lasse Lindgren, Petar Ugrin, Mornington Locket, David Gazarov, Richard Buckley, Lew Solloff, Alan Skidmore, Nigel Hitchcock, George Makinto, Fritz Pauer, Georgie Fame, Lenny White, Buster Williams, George Colligen...

As a member of the “Big Band of RTV Slovenija” he has been cooperating with a variety of conductors such as: Peter Herbolzheimer, Herb Pomeroy, Jerry van Roojeen, David Deviliere, Walter Proost ,Maria Schneider, Mathias Ruegg and the guests Ack van Roojen, Gary Burton, Johnny Griffin, Michael Abene...

In June 1995 he was a guest at the “Jazz Cruise” on ship AZUR under the leadership of the trumpet player Clark Terry, with such musicians as Ray Brown, Ed Thigpen and Curtis Fuller.

Under the name “Primož Grašič Trio” he recorded a CD with N. Pedersen and M. Drew in 1995 in Zagreb. The record was nominated as the best jazz record of 1995 in Croatia.

In July 1996 he performed at the “European Jazz Night” in a trio with the well known bassist Steve Swallow and the drummer Dennis McCrell. In June 1997 he performed with the “EBU Big Band” in Ljubljana as a representative of Slovenia with Jože Privšek as its conductor. After that at a jazz festival in a trio with Steve Swallow and Ratko Divjak. In the same year he received the two highest Slovene music awards (“Zlati Petelin 97”) in the field of jazz for the record “Noč ima tisoč oči” (A night has a thousand eyes) – “Primož Grašič Quartet”.

In October 1997 he recorded a CD for the publishing house JAZZETTE in cooperation with two other famous European guitar players Ulf Wakenius and Phillip Chaterine, with Pedersen and Drew as the rhythm section.

In April 1998 he performed in Italy as a member of the “Grašič-Ugrin Quintet” with David Gazarov as its guest, and was a guest at the “Zagreb Festival” in the same month. In July he performed in the same cast at a jazz festival in Ljubljana. In October 1998 he performed at the Jazz festival in Cork, Ireland as a member of the "B.P. All Stars Band" and in Sarajevo in the November.

In the beginning of October 1999 he performed in Zagreb as a guest of the “Big Band” of Damir Dičič and was a guest of the festival in Ireland – Cork with “B.P. All Stars” and Lew Soloff at the end of October 1999.

In March 2000 he was working together with the well-known English saxophone players Alan Skidmore and Nigel Hitchcock.

In June 2000 he recorded CD MY WISH with smooth-jazz music. In December 2000 he worked with Lalo Shifrin, very known movie music composer from Hollywood.

In April 2001 he worked with Niels Pedersen and Johnny Griffin in Quintet, July 2001 he played at Copenhagen Jazz festival and in September 2001 he played in Teheran, Iran with Manfred Josel Quintet.

December 2003 he worked with big Symphonic Orchestra and performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue, written for guitar by leader of Vienna Art Orchestra Mathias Ruegg.

In 2004 he organized Jazz Kamp Kranj with his brother and many known European musicians, and this workshop and festival is still going on.

From 2004 he is performing with Bosko Petrovic Trio, Big Band RTV SLO, Mike Sponza Kakanic blues band and some others.

In May 2009 he played with Lenny White, Buster Williams and George Colligan in Lincoln Centre, New York.

Now he works as guitarist, arranger, producer and co leader of Jazz Kamp Kranj!

Since Year 2000 Primoz is proud presenter of Yamaha Guitars, he plays Yamaha SA2200, Cpx 15, Cpx1200, RGX 420, SG1800.