Press Kit

BIOGRAPHY - SHORT VERSION

In 2020, eleven years after releasing Doin’ the D, an album paying dynamic homage to the music and magic of Detroit, Alexander Zonjic got back in the throwback R&B groove with the release of another infectious, high-spirited valentine to his beloved adopted hometown. Written and produced for the veteran, multiple award winning flutist by Pieces of a Dream keyboardist James Lloyd, “”Motor City Sway” – the infectious lead single from Playing It Forward, Zonjic’s first collection on his own Hi-Falutin Music label – quickly hit the Billboard Smooth Jazz Songs chart and was one of the most added singles on the Billboard BDS chart two weeks in a row. Ten of the eleven tracks on Playing It Forward were produced by keyboardist Jeff Lorber, who helmed the majority of sessions for Zonjic’s previous albums Reach for the Sky (2001), Seldom Blues (2004) and Doin’ The D.

Also in 2016, Zonjic launched “Doin’ The D,” a magazine-style talk radio and music show, airing from 5-7 p.m. Sundays on WFDF 910-AM. Between in studio guests and call-ins, his mostly Detroit centric interviews have included Kenny G, Martha Reeves, former Detroit Police Chief Ike McKinnon and legendary Grammy and Emmy Award winning keyboard icon Bob James, who discovered Zonjic in 1981 when the flutist was playing in Detroit’s famous Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. James invited Zonjic to join his band on and off on tour, and the keyboardist later was a producer (along with saxophonist Kirk Whalum) on Neon, Zonjic’s first major label album (Reprise Records) in 1990. James also appeared on the flutist’s 1993 follow-up album Passion, which featured a vocal track by Angela Bofill.

Believing in Gandhi’s words that the “best way to find oneself is to lose oneself in the service of others,” Zonjic and Hi-Falutin work with numerous large charity organizations in the Detroit area. They host an annual “Soup City” fundraiser for COTS (Coalition on Temporary Shelter); and have partnered on a variety of fundraisers for many years with the Children’s Foundation, including he upcoming “Derby For Kids.” Their work with Mariner’s Inn, a shelter and treatment center for the homeless in Midtown Detroit, includes a recent virtual fundraiser. Other organizations Zonjic’s organization has supported include Franklin Wright Settlements, Habitat for Humanities, Lighthouse of Oakland County, Windsor Downtown Mission , SAY Detroit and Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac, Michigan.

BIOGRAPHY - LONG VERSION

Written and produced for the veteran, multiple award winning flutist by Pieces of a Dream keyboardist James Lloyd, “”Motor City Sway” – the infectious lead single from Playing It Forward, Zonjic’s first collection on his own Hi-Falutin Music label – quickly hit the Billboard Smooth Jazz Songs chart and was one of the most added singles on the Billboard BDS chart two weeks in a row. The track features a fascinating talk box solo by 14-year old South African born keyboard prodigy and emerging smooth jazz sensation Justin Lee Schultz. Ten of the eleven tracks on Playing It Forward were produced by keyboardist Jeff Lorber, who helmed the majority of sessions for Zonjic’s previous albums Reach for the Sky (2001), Seldom Blues (2004) and Doin’ The D.

As popular as the track has been at radio, “Motor City Sway” – which Zonjic calls a “flat out dance song” - became an even greater sensation on YouTube, where over 61,000 people so far have viewed the five and a half minute clip featuring the unbridled joy of Zonjic jamming with his band and Detroiters from all around the city doing the “Motor City Sway” - a colorful variation of the Detroit Hustle and Electric slide, created by Lloyd’s wife “Lady T” and “Front Row Phyllis,” one of Zonjic’s loyal assistants – at iconic locations throughout the city, including in front of Motown’s legendary Hitsville U.S.A. Museum.

A native of Windsor, Ontario (immediately across the Detroit River), Zonic is a 15-time Detroit Music Awards winner with deep and multi-faceted ties to and influence on the city. He has been a multi-media personality since he began hosting the morning radio show at the longtime smooth jazz station WVMV in 1998 – a popular stint that ran through 2010. Since 2016, he has hosted “Alexander Zonjic from A to Z,” a weekly half hour hybrid TV show on WADL TV-38 (airing Sundays at 10 p.m., with an encore at 1:30 a.m. mixing live concert elements with special guest live interviews. His guests have included numerous contemporary jazz greats, including Lorber, Alex Bugnon, Nick Colionne, Eric Darius, Peter White, Lin Rountree, Jackiem Joyner, Lindsey Webster and Phil Denny. It was inspired by Daryl Hall’s show “Daryl’s House” and Bravo’s “Inside the Actors Studio.”

Over the years, as Zonjic puts it, he has morphed from “that flute guy from Canada” into the owner of a veritable cottage industry as the artistic director and producer of more than 10 annual festival events in the region and philanthropist under the umbrella of his Hi-Falutin Music. . Launching his turnkey company with sponsored subsidized events, Zonjic’s events include Jazz on the River in Trenton (currently celebrating its 25^th Anniversary, with an annual attendance of 25,000 per day); the River Raisin’ Jazz Festival in Monroe (16 years); Alexander Zonjic’s Shoreline Jazz Festival in Muskegon (eight years); the St. Clair Jazz Festival (six years); and the Southfield Rhythm on Rhymes Festival.

Zonjic also presents a series called Dearborn Jazz on the Avenue, now going on its 12^th year. On the riverfront in his hometown of Windsor, he previously produced a world music festival called Carousel of Nations, which featured artists like Buffy Saint-Marie, The Four Tops, Jose Feliciano and Ray Parker, Jr. In the mid-2000s, Zonjic was also co-owner of the Detroit nightclub Seldom Blues (for which he named his second Heads Up International album).

The silver lining to the unfortunate shelving of these events in 2020 due to the pandemic is that Zonjic had time to focus on finishing Playing It Forward, which features one of the last performances by late guitar great Chuck Loeb in addition to Paul Jackson, Jr. , Michael Thompson, drummer Gary Novak and horn player and arranger David Mann.

Zonjic’s musical life is proof that one’s true destiny isn’t always revealed the minute a youngster picks up his first instrument. In his case, inspired by everyone from the Beatles and Dave Clark Five to The Ventures, he started on guitar. By his mid-teens, he had fallen for all the Motown and R&B music taking hold and he started playing in rock and soul bands – later including Crosstown Traffic in Toronto. The now legendary story of his transition to flute goes that at 21, when he was home on hiatus from a rock tour, a stranger on the street who had seen Zonjic play guitar offered him a flute – most likely stolen – for $50. Zonjic snagged it for nine.

“I liked how it looked in the case,” he recalls. “I saw mastering it as a challenge and found an immediate passion and all-encompassing desire to play it. I had the nerve to audition with it for the new University of Windsor music program and got in on a probationary basis. That’s where I started my classical training.”

His instructors at the University soon recognized Zonjic as a gifted student and recruited the second flutist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as a teacher for their promising scholar. Upon graduation, Zonjic continued his studies under the tutelage of Ervin Monroe, principal flutist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. During these years, Zonjic attended school during the day, worked as a rock guitarist by night and in his spare time taught others to play the flute. Over the years, he has performed with orchestras nationwide, including The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Windsor Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Symphony Orchestra and many others. His classical career includes collaborating on three critically acclaimed projects with Monroe: The Classical Album (1981), The Christmas-themed Pipers Holiday (1995) and Night (1997).

On the jazz side, Zonjic borrowed $18,000 to record his self-titled 1978 album, which included interpretations of classics by The Beatles, Stephen Sondheim and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and during the 80s, while touring on and off with Bob James, released Elegant Evening (1982), Romance with You (1984), and When Is It Real (1987). His Heads Up International albums in the 2000s reunited him with old friends like James, Kirk Whalum, Angela Bofill and Earl Klugh and featured guest performances by the likes of Peter White, James Lloyd, Kenny G. Chieli Minucci and Special EFX and Rick Braun, among others.

“It’s never the same ole same ole,” says Zonjic. “I’m always looking forward. I’m always optimistic, and for all of the incredible opportunities I’ve had as a radio and TV host and festival producer, there’s nothing I enjoy more than the daily challenge of trying to play the flute as well as I can play it. Some of the peak experiences of my creative life have found me in the practice room at 2 a.m., doing my best to master a Bach sonata.”