When he made his Belgrade Jazz Festival debut in 1990 at Kolarac, saxophonist Donny McCaslin (1966) was just one of the talented students in the Gary Burton quintet. In 2006, on his next performance at the same place, he already played side by side with Dave Douglas. Today, he arrives as the music spirit of David Bowie’s epitaph Blackstar and the creator of Beyond Now, a tribute to Bowie, the winner of the North Sea Jazz Festival Paul Acket Award 2017, and voted the international jazz artist of the year by the Jazz FM Radio poll, where he shared the stage with The Rolling Stones. He is also a three time Grammy nominee.

McCaslin released 12 albums as a leader and collaborated with prominent contemporary jazz figures and bands, including Maria Schneider, Danilo Pérez, Brian Blade, Steps Ahead… For years now he has been an unavoidable name on the DownBeat magazine polls, he was the winner of the magazine’s Critics Poll ‘Rising Star’ category (2008 and 2009). Since 2011 he developed interest in blending electronic, dance music, funk, dub and jazz, something his former “boss” Maria Schneider especially appreciated and that would eventually lead him and the rest of the quartet (Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre, Mark Guiliana) straight to David Bowie.