Juozas Milašius (b. 1968), a guitarist, composer and originator of various performances, is one of the most uncompromising personalities in Lithuanian jazz, who explores absolutely free jazz and noise, and alternative ways of creating sound. He is able to make his instrument speak with incredible voices. He is a conceptual artist and experimenter, who has been exploring the possibilities of the guitar for 30 years, playing solo and as part of various projects with renowned improvisation and electronic musicians and sound artists.

Milašius first appeared on the Lithuanian jazz scene in 1986 with Petras Vyšniauskas’ quartet, and soon established a reputation as an enfant terrible. He was provocative by producing strident dissonance and noise aesthetics instead of the expected melodies, and broke the deep-rooted standards from the very beginning, discovering his own ways to create sound, and thus expressing his creative vision. He declared his uncompromising style by playing in ensembles with Vladimir Chekasin, Vytautas Labutis, Vladimir Tarasov and others, and at international projects with Jim Meneses, Martin Schutz, Hans Koch, Fredy Studer, Sainkho Namchilak, Ned Rothenberg, Lindsay Cooper, Jimmy Owens, Jonas Mekas, Dror Feiler, Luc Houtkamp, Kouhei Matsunaga, and many others. He has initiated and participated in a myriad of creative collaborations. His duo with the drummer Dalius Naujokaitis (currently living and working in the USA), which they formed at the end of the 1980s, became an important platform for creative experimentation, as did the Lithuanian Young Composers Orchestra, founded by the duo and other like-minded professionals. The projects they realised always came close to the performance genre (for example, Musica de Bailes para Soldados, 1994). Other ways in which Milašius declares his love for his instrument are through forming guitar ensembles (Gitarmanija, 1989, Auksinės gitaros, 1998), and on solo albums j.m.eilė (2002) and Slow (2009), as well as the unique creative fusions recorded on the albums Kab_Lys (2015) and Sun Sun Up (2016). In recent years, he has played solo, and in projects with Dalius Naujokaitis, Darius Čiuta, Artūras Bumšteinas, Sabir Mateen, and Vladimir Tarasov.

In 2008, he received the Vilnius Jazz Festival Award for his ‘contribution to Lithuanian jazz culture’.

www.juozasmilasius.bandcamp.com

Stream/download this:KAB LYS

Juozas Milašius’ music is available at: www.pakartot.lt/project/juozas-milasius