Jazz is almost always a breaking of stereotypes, an attempt to swim against the tide. A RG correspondent was told about what it’s like to be a jazzman in Russia famous musicians, father and son Leonid and Nikolai Vintskevich.
Russian newspaper: Leonid Vladislavovich, in the USSR jazz was under an unspoken ban. Then the bans were lifted, but this direction is still not widely popular. Why?
Leonid Vintskevich: When we played jazz in the USSR, we thought: “If this music is officially allowed, it will be heard everywhere.” When the ban was lifted, it turned out that there were no more listeners. After all, in the USSR, jazz was not just music, but a form of political opposition. Only true connoisseurs remained devoted to him.
RG: You have played in the best halls in the world, including in the homeland of jazz - America. Was there a desire to leave the USSR, and then Russia, in order to live where your art is in demand?
Leonid: To be honest, I had no such thoughts - I never imagined myself outside of Russia. I just loved this art and never hoped that I would be able to practice it officially. Moreover, make money. It was impossible to even dream about it. Therefore, for me, trips to the largest jazz festivals in Europe and America, the opportunity to play on the same stage with those whom I idolized are like miracles...
RG: Why didn’t you move to Moscow, but stayed in Kursk?
Leonid: I answered this question for myself this way: it doesn’t matter where you live. It matters where you play. Of course, there are more opportunities in Moscow. However, just being in the capital does not give a reason to play in its halls more often.
Besides, I always liked to break stereotypes. For example, to come up with a “Jazz Province” in Kursk - international festival, where world stars have been coming for the 15th year now... Once upon a time this seemed like a crazy idea. Now it has become the norm. Besides, I love my hometown and accept it with all its pros and cons...
Nikolai Vintskevich:...The main one is the lack of demand for our music. As on musical art at all. However, not only in Kursk, but throughout the country. We don’t have quality music other than classical and jazz. What can we talk about if stars perform to a soundtrack? And if you ask them to sing live in front of an audience, people will ask: “Who is this anyway?”
RG: Nikolay, as far as I know, have you had experience performing with Russian pop stars?
Nikolay: When I was a first-year student at Gnesinka, I needed to live on something in the capital. So I worked with some pop stars. But then I realized that it was better to be malnourished than to deal with these people. Imagine: the entire concert is accompanied by a soundtrack, and they tell me: “Play the saxophone on top, create the feeling of a live performance!” I won’t name names, they are all like that, with the exception of a few.
RG: Isn’t it a shame that these people have the status of “stars”, while you are known in narrow circles?
Nikolay: When you play in the best halls in the world with people who are making jazz history today, when these people appreciate your work, such complexes do not arise.
Leonid: It’s much worse, in my opinion, when you are called a “star” without any reason for it. For me personally, this is scary.
RG: What, in your opinion, is needed for there to be a demand for music as art in Russia? And the industry that you talk about the absence of has appeared?
Leonid: There must be a state policy in the field of culture. And it must be connected with enlightenment. We have already lost a lot of time and maybe several generations. It would be sad if people in Russia forget that Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninov were born here. It is a fact that today few people can name me the latest laureates of the competition. P.I. Tchaikovsky. But this competition is one of the shrines of Russian culture.
RG: How does the new generation of musicians feel in this situation?
Nikolay: In Moscow and St. Petersburg we still have a serious school classical music and jazz. But now the question arises: who will teach after the masters leave? Most of the students who could replace them leave for the West. Those who remain are unlikely to go to work for a teacher's pittance salary.
Leonid: What can we talk about if at the Moscow Conservatory - the best music educational institution in the world - the accompanist, working part-time, earns... two thousand rubles!
As a result, Gnesinka graduates, having been pushed around in the capital, where there is little demand for jazz, go to Europe and America. Because even a small salary there is still another money.
RG: Leonid Vladislavovich, you have repeatedly said that art cannot be self-sustaining. How pressing is the issue of project financing for you?
Leonid: Spicy. And this takes up the lion's share of my time. I constantly resolve some administrative and organizational issues - from tour schedules before searching for sponsors. Luckily, there are jazz enthusiasts who are willing to help. The Kursk Region Culture Committee and the Kursk administration are doing a lot to ensure that there is a “Jazz Province”. And this is costly against the background of the indifference of the Ministry of Culture and the Russian Cultural Foundation, which until last year was the founder of this festival.
But I'm not complaining. The main thing is that life has given me the opportunity to play what I love for those I love.
Dossier "RG"
During his 30-year jazz career, Leonid Vintskevich took part in many prestigious international jazz festivals in Europe and America. He has performed with such jazz masters as Lembit Saarsalu, Elvin Jones, Lionel Hampton, Kevin Mahogany, Valery Ponomarev, Evelyn White, John Stowell, Conrad Herwig, Eva Cornelius, David Friser, Utah Glaser, Jarmo Hekkala. He is the leader of the Russian-American quartet, the artistic director of the international jazz festival "Jazz Province", which takes place annually in 13-18 cities in Russia.
Nikolai Vintskevich is one of the most prominent representatives younger generation Russian jazz musicians. In 1999, Lionel Hampton, a legend of world jazz, awarded the 23-year-old Russian saxophonist the honor of playing a duet at the closing of his own festival in America. Nikolai Vintskevich performed with such famous jazz performers as Lewis Nash, Grady Tate, Santi Debriano, Bill Charlap, Mike Ellis, Daniel Moreno, Barry Widgell, Igor Butman, Alexey Kuznetsov. Today he plays in the Leonid Vintskevich quartet and takes part in the Visional of sound project of the soloists of the Arsenal ensemble.
Nikolai Vintskevich is one of the brightest jazzmen of the young generation. Jazz Faculty Graduate Russian Academy music named after the Gnessins in the class of Professor A. Oseichuk. Winner of the Moscow Association of Jazz Journalists "Jazz Ear-98" award in the category "Musician Deserving Wider Recognition." A hard worker, artistic and charming musician, saxophonist, whose talent was recognized by world jazz stars with whom Nikolai had the opportunity to perform on the same stage: Lewis Nash, Grady Tate, Santi Debriano, Bill Charlap, Mike Ellis, Slide Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Kim Nazaryan, Jay Ashby, Igor Butman and many others. Nick is a regular participant in jazz festivals - Music” (Moscow), “Moscow Autumn”, “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden” (Moscow), “Stroom-jazz (Ukraine), “Russian Music Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” (England), “ Russian jazz on the Dnieper”, “Jazz maratonas Nida” (Lithuania)... Unexpectedly for the jazz public, he took the path of composing and... unusually succeeded in a new quality! His albums recent years consist almost entirely of Nikolai’s compositions and attract constant interest and recognition from listeners: “Songs from the Black Earth” (2007), “Vive L`Amour” (2011), “Russian Ornament” (2013).
- You have played on the same stage with many great jazz musicians. Which one of them left the strongest impression on you? What have you learned from them? Maybe some difficult situations arose?
Lionel Hampton!!! on my first visit to the USA in 1999, I was 23 and he said that he wanted to listen to me, I thought it would be in one of the classrooms of his school (Lionel Hampton Music School) Moscow Idaho, but he wanted to hear me on the stage of his festival and this is a huge stadium and every day 10,000 people come to the festival (the festival lasts three days) and here I am playing two pieces in the company of the legendary drummer Grady Tate, pianist Bill Sharlap and bassist Santi DeBriano, such a cool line-up supported my performance! Hampton liked my performance, he says every other day: “You will play with my Big Band as a soloist!” And I didn’t speak English then. And here is the day's rehearsal, we play "Perdido" - the whole orchestra and the maestro himself at the vibraphone! I’m soloing, I played three squares, I think that’s probably enough, and every time he finishes a square he says: “One more.” And this lasted for about 20 minutes! It was an unforgettable experience in my life - to touch a Legend of such a scale as LH!!! he became mine godfather in jazz!
Lionel Hampton introduces Nick Vintskevich:
- Your main instrument is the saxophone. Why was this the choice? Is this just your decision?
This was inevitable, since my father Leonid Vintskevich played in a duet with two excellent saxophonists for many years. Volodya Konovaltsev (played in the first line-up of Allegro) performed in a duet with his father for several years. It’s a pity that not a single disc of this duet was recorded, only amateur concert recordings remained. And later - saxophonist Lembit Saarsalu from Estonia, this duo existed for 20 years and was successful (two albums on the Melodiya company and four albums in Germany: one duet, a trio with the American guitarist John Stowell, a quartet and a trio with the German singer Jutta Glaser in ethno-folk style). My father and Lembit toured Europe and Scandinavia, and in 1989 they became the first Soviet jazzmen officially invited to tour the USA by Lionel Hampton himself, with whom they played dozens of times! My first saxophone lessons were given to me by Vladimir Konovaltsev, later by Lembit Saarsalu, and then I found myself in the hands of Alexander Oseichuk in Gnesinka, and everything was very serious there! I received an excellent education from Oseichuk and I am glad that I ended up with this Master, Teacher and Saxophonist!
- What (brand, age, history) are you playing today? What is the character of your saxophone?
Saxophones: alto Selmer mark 6 and soprano Yanagisawa. It’s difficult to answer about the character of my saxophone; from the outside it can be seen better. Someone says about my alto - “hard Paul Desmond”, about the soprano, when I play smooth - then “Grover”, and when in the Vintskevich-Taylor quartet - “Joe Farrell”. And most importantly, more and more often I hear from different people that I have a characteristic, recognizable style and for me this is the MOST IMPORTANT!!! Be different from others!
How did you move from performing to composing music? Who from the world of music inspires you? Whose composer's experience are you interested in today, who admires you?
Indeed, for many years I focused only on saxophone lessons (especially in Gnesenko), but then I began to spend time at the piano and look at chords, various sequences, analyze, disassemble songs and compositions. And somehow, at one point, I started writing my own. There are a lot of composers who inspire me: from Led Zeppelin to Antonio Carlos Jobim, from Ravel to Herbie Hancock! Thanks to them - without their music the world would be boring and uninteresting, it is a cure for depression!!!
- How did the idea for the album “Vive L’amour” come about, what does it consist of? What is the most important composition for you on this disc? Who took part in the recording?
The idea for the album was born a long time ago, about eight years ago. By that time, I began to compose a lot, I came up with beautiful melodies and I decided that they could be made into good songs. That's how it all started. The first few songs were sung by JD Walter, very good singer from NYC. My father had a big tour with him in Finland and later we invited him to the Jazz Province festival. On one of his visits to Russia, we started working in the studio of Evgeny Sharikov, an excellent bass player and sound producer. Evgeniy made a great contribution to the creation of this album, the disc became our common brainchild!
A few more songs were sung by an amazing singer with strong energy and a wonderful timbre - Eve Cornelious (she is known for her performances in the group of Roy Hargrove, Chucho Valdes and many others). Eve Cornelius is also from New York, and I got to know her closely at the Jazz Province festival, because we were the first to invite her on tour to Russia!
And the third participant in the recording is the famous Kim Nazarian, lead singer of the famous group NY Voices, Grammy Award winner! Meeting her was unexpected. My father and I performed in the USA at the Hampton Festival, giving daytime master classes. After our performance, famous trombonist Jay Ashby suddenly came up to us and asked how busy we were the next morning. We were free, and he asked us to take part in his master class, which he was going to give together with trumpeter Claudio Roditi. In the morning we took part in this amazing master class, where we talked about the Brazilian bossa nova, how to play it correctly and how to accompany it (a piano and three wind instruments took part). After class we started talking, I told Jay that I was currently working on an album of songs. And then he says that his wife is a singer, and he’s always interested in vocalists new material, so he would like to listen to some of our compositions. A little later in the day, Jay Ashby invited us into a room with a piano, where my father and I played my tunes, including the one that later became the Vive Lamour song. It was on this that Jay focused his attention, noting that he had to show it to his wife. Then I asked what her name was and, hearing “Kim” in response, asked if she was from the group NY Voices? And indeed, it was so!
Later, we had a joint tour with Kim & Jay in Russia, where Kim showed the first sketches for this song. Then we recorded it at their cool studio in Pittsburgh! Jay Ashby played percussion and co-produced. And the fantastic Joel Taylor played drums, father played keyboards, Evgeny Sharikov and Kip Reed played bass. The song VIve Lamour in 2012 lasted two months in the TOP 10 in the state of Colorado (USA) on Aspen Beat Public Radio: it was at number three in April and at number eight in May!!! The album turned out strong, and the songs Vive Lamour and Maybe became real Hits!!!
- What are you most grateful to your family for? What does it mean to you to be part of a famous musical dynasty? This is both a responsibility and an inevitable framework - both in life and in creativity... How do you get along with this and what are your future plans?
I am glad that I was born into this family, into a family of musicians! I fell asleep on my father’s lap while he practiced on the piano, spending hours learning Rachmaninov’s concertos. Have been in the house since childhood the best musicians countries from Oleg Lundstrem to Igor Butman! I think almost everyone has visited us))) Not in life, not in creativity, there is no framework yet, I hope - and there never will be. There are disagreements, even serious ones, but in a dispute the truth is born. This is exactly what happens in our case.
A month ago our album was released on Butman music new album"Russian Ornament", recorded with our regular musician partners, drummer Joel Taylor and bassist Kip Reed, with whom we have been playing together for over 7 years. The album was made together with the folk choir "Rostan", the disc contains tracks with both the quartet and the choir, the result is such an ethno-fusion!
Now we are working on a new album in the spirit of "Vive Lamour", with amazing musicians taking part in the recording: vocalist Kim Nazarian, guitarist Mike Miller (known for his work with such titans as Chick Corea Electric Band 2 and Gino Vanelli) and, of course, my father Leonid Vintskevich, Joel Taylor and Kip Reed! And there is another very famous name of a person who took part in the recording of this album. But you will find out about it later, it’s a surprise!)))
Vintskevich - Taylor quartet "Groto"s Pillow"
Nick and Leonid Vintskevich: 7 years Butman Music
31.03.2018
Vintskevich Leonid Vladislavovich
Russian Musician
Leonid Vintskevich was born on April 1, 1949 in the city of Kursk. He started playing the piano at the age of seven. Graduated from Kursk music school No. 1, then - Kursk Music School, where he studied with teachers N.L. Kireevskaya and L. Ya. Uporina. In 1968 he entered the Kazan Conservatory to study piano. On his own initiative, he attended composition classes. He was friends with students of the composition department and was the first performer of their new compositions. In parallel with his studies in academic music, he was interested in jazz. At the end of the 60s, I constantly listened to Arkady Petrov’s “Metronome Radio Club” broadcasts on the “Yunost” radio station.
After graduating from the conservatory, Vintskevich returned to his hometown and became a soloist with the Kursk Philharmonic. It remains so to this day. In 1974, the creation of the first state jazz bands began in the USSR. educational institutions- pop and jazz departments music schools. Kursk was among the first 20 cities where such a branch was created, and Leonid took an active part in its organization. Since there was no organizational experience, the creators of jazz departments from all over the country were helped by Muscovites who had such experience - after all, back in 1967, a jazz studio began operating at the Moskvorechye House of Culture. Two of the studio's teachers, German Lukyanov and Igor Bril, as well as theorist Yuri Chugunov and others, also advised Vintskevich.
In addition to purely pedagogical experience, Lukyanov and Bril also influenced Leonid with their attention to Russian music. Around the same time, Vintskevich accidentally heard recordings of a folk choir in the village of Foshchevatovo, Belgorod region. The musician was struck by the harmonic and rhythmic structure of these songs, he transferred their fragments to music paper, trying to comprehend the nature of the rhythmic organization of folk singing, similar in perception to jazz drive.
The result of the generalization of all these influences was the first original compositions of Leonid Vintskevich, which he showed at jazz festivals in Fergana and Kuibyshev in 1978. Since 1978, he began active concert activities, participating in jazz festivals held throughout the territory in those years former USSR. In 1979 he performed at a festival in Tallinn as part of a trio. In the same year he played with the same trio at the Moscow Jazz Week. Newspaper " Komsomolskaya Pravda“she wrote about this performance: “The group plays with nerve and good enthusiasm. Sharp, caustic harmonies, energetic development of melodic material, easily recognizable features of Russian songwriting, subvocal polyphony..."
In 1984, Leonid met Estonian tenor saxophonist Lembit Saarsalu at a jazz festival in Sverdlovsk. Having played together once, the musicians created a duet that still exists today. The Vinckevich-Saarsalu duo took part in the Lionel Hampton Festival several times. The duo's first performance at the festival was accompanied by a surprise - Lionel Hampton himself, who was then 81 years old, suddenly appeared on stage and joined the duet with his vibraphone. And this despite the fact that the festival is exclusively traditional, swing, and in the playing of Vintskevich and Saarsalu, more modern notes were still visible... Later, Down Beat magazine wrote about this performance: “Two musicians from Soviet Union showed that the style of Erroll Garner and the style of Cecil Taylor do not contradict each other at all."
The musicians played at this festival annually until 1993. In February 1999, Winckevich and Saarsalu's sixth performance took place in Moscow, Idaho, where this annual festival takes place; Leonid’s son, saxophonist Nikolai Vintskevich, was present with them and performed very successfully. In 2001, Leonid and Lembit again visited the festival for his master class. During their visit to the USA, Leonid and Lembit recorded the music of festival director Lionel Hampton, Dr. Lynn Skinner.
... read more >Although the name of Leonid Vintskevich is quite well known in Russian jazz and, as they say, is constantly heard, the information published about him contains, as a rule, simple listings of concerts and festivals. IN in this case I decided to take advantage of his three-day visit to Yekaterinburg and our long-standing acquaintance to find out, first of all, the “way of thinking” of one of the best, in my opinion, Russian-Soviet jazz pianists. His son Nikolai also took part in the conversation, and another musician from Vintskevich’s trio, drummer Oleg Yudanov, silently listened to our conversation and smiled benevolently.
Leonid Vintskevich: In my jazz career, a lot is connected with Sverdlovsk. One of my first professional concerts took place here, and here I met Lembit Saarsalu, with whom I subsequently played and recorded a lot. Then it was surprising to me that the Philharmonic hall, where a jazz duet played for two evenings, was full of people. I know there are people in Yekaterinburg who have always supported this art...
Gennady Sakharov: ...and those who are still alive...
Thank God we still get to know each other...
If I didn’t recognize you by sight, I would recognize you by your music. So, twenty years ago, on the stage of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, the Estonian saxophonist Lembit Saarsalu performed in one section, and in the other, the Kursk pianist Leonid Vintskevich, unknown to him, and after this concert we talked over a cup of coffee, and I invited you to play together. Thus was born this duet, which existed for twenty years. Does it still exist or has it collapsed?
Lembit and I recently played at a festival in Norilsk, then we have plans to go to America in February with my son. Maybe we don’t perform as often as before, there are various reasons for this.
Aesthetic, musical or geographical?
There is a geographical problem, but there is another one related to creativity. There are some visions that may differ, there are things that I personally would like to try, and Lembit, probably, something else. You can be stubborn in something of your own, but for a certain period. No one has the truth in their pocket, and having the courage to admit the authoritarianism of a partner is very important. If you can compromise for the sake of the whole for a certain period, then everything is in order, but if you can’t. It's better to play with other musicians.
I want to cling to your expression “the truth is in your pocket.” Times are different now than they were 20 years ago, and that's why for so many musicians, "money in your pocket" is more important than "truth." Is the truth still there for you, or is the balance gradually shifting towards money? Because “you have to live,” as we say in Russia.
If we talk about money, then it could be earned in a simpler way, because if you lose the musical guidelines that are important to you, then the activity itself loses its meaning. Of course, I think about finding money for projects that interest me. But I don’t want to make compromises, there is not much time left in life, and answers have already appeared to some questions that were previously difficult to answer. For example: what is the guideline of values for a musician? I think only harmony with oneself. You can only be honest with yourself.
But what about the audience that fills the hall, pays money and expects from you, well, let’s say, some standards, well-known melodies, well-established programs that are well-known? Doesn't this conflict with new ideas and attempts to experiment?
First of all, I'm not really sure that the public wants to listen only to standards. Gone are the days when you had to play like Charlie Parker or Oscar Peterson to be called a jazz musician. There is a lot of information now. It seems to me that we have begun to react to secondary products in the same way as in Europe or America.
Well, in America, in my opinion, they react very positively to the secondary product.
Not true, not true. You see, it is absolutely impossible to imagine a musician in America who would play like Chick Corea and would be a huge success. Everyone will immediately say that this is a copy, but the original is right there, next to it. Do you remember how twenty years ago, Alexey Kozlov, who was very successful in Russia, came to West Berlin and disappointed the local public, while the Ganelin Trio was a fabulous success...
Then there was the era of the avant-garde...
It's not just about the avant-garde. I believe that Arsenal had simply a secondary product in their repertoire.
I agree, it was truly secondary music, while Ganelin’s music was highly original. It was during this period that we met. You then played an almost free-jazz variety of Russian folklore and with incredible drive. If I'm not mistaken, one of the programs was called "Kursk Songs".
In fact, it was built on the folklore of the Kursk region. This is a unique treasure that still needs to be studied, and maybe I will still have time to show something from it, because there are colossal origins, improvisational foundations and amazing rhythmic organization. I think the whole Stravinsky arose from this.
Interesting parallel. By the way, I still remember the absolutely incredible impression that I got from listening to this program. But here's what's interesting: last night, when I was listening to your CDs. then suddenly I discovered that there was essentially nothing left of your former drive and expression - some kind of lyrics and a very “cautious” piano. I have imagined several reasons for this evolution, e.g. the desire to promote my son, who, in my opinion, is quite an outstanding saxophonist.
Well. depending on what disc you're talking about...
About everyone. Lyricism, peace, tranquility are everywhere. in some places there are exquisite and even interesting harmonic discoveries, but, one way or another, the powerful drive that was present twenty years ago is completely absent. What happened? Maybe age? Material or social well-being?
The social well-being of a jazz musician is, in general, an illusion. You yourself know that this music cannot achieve that financial advancement. I think that this is not the reason. There was a period when I really wanted, after “Wormwood Grass”, various negative, tragic emotions, right up to the “endless Fyodor Dostoevsky” (as Lembit and some other musicians called me), to find something bright, which I also had in life. Maybe it turned out unsuccessfully, and we still need to develop.
It’s very simple: Kramer called me and said that he has such a festival in several cities in Russia, and he would like to see me at this festival in any version that I offer. I can’t say that it was very unexpected or expected: I am an active artist, and I get some calls from time to time.
But did he explain his choice somehow? Because, firstly, you are both pianists, and if you take a serious look, your music is diametrically opposed. Kramer, in my opinion, is very virtuoso pianist, technically almost flawless, but with insufficiently developed musical thinking. While Vintskevich is a pianist of European level, and everything seems to be in order with your musical thinking.
There should probably be very different musicians at the festival. I myself cannot raise my hand and say that I am an amazing pianist, take me to the festival... But when Kramer calls me and says: “Lenya, you are an amazing pianist, and I really want you to take part in my festival,” - Well, probably everyone is pleased to hear this. The world is amazing in its diversity. Thanks to a coincidence of circumstances, I may have a happy character. Initially, when I fell in love with jazz, I liked Erroll Garner and Paul Bley and Ornette Coleman at the same time for the same thing: when these people played their instruments, I believed them, no matter what style they worked in. For me, this still remains the most important thing, because there are many examples when, behind complex harmonies, emptiness is discovered, and behind technical perfection, thoughtlessness.
That's what I mean by asking how you ended up on Kramer's team.
I can say that there are quite worthy musicians in this team... The Polish trio, for example, they have their own completely unique view of music. I don’t think it was very easy for Andrzej Jagoszynski to go on stage with Chopin’s program. In Poland, at least, it is not safe, because there it is a shrine for many thousands of people...
...in general for the European academic tradition...
But they do not deceive anyone and do not pretend that they love. They really love it.
Now I would like to learn more about the Jazz Province festival, since you are its author, ideological organizer, inspirer, leader and main performer. Unfortunately, this festival never reached Yekaterinburg.
This is a completely non-commercial project. The concept of the festival is very simple: to show, as far as possible, a cross-section of today's jazz in Russia and show it in those cities and concert halls in which it is rarely heard, without imposing either avant-garde, mainstream, or swing. Each ensemble is given 25 minutes, but no one has a whole section in the concert. Of course, this is expensive and cannot possibly pay off if there are no subsidies and sponsors, and therefore you may have to change positions.
It sometimes seems to me that now jazz is becoming more popular, especially among rich people, and they are starting to pay money for it, and therefore some kind of prospect opens up in the form of sponsorship.
I think that there are those who simply love this music, and those who are ready to serve it selflessly... But one way or another, “Jazz Province” will be held next year for the tenth time. Eighteen cities, can you imagine!.. My wife keeps telling me: “You’re crazy!” That's probably true.
How did “Jazz Province” influence your music? After all, the public is not the same everywhere, and we probably have to take this into account.
I can answer quite honestly that my music does not depend on the public. If there is a good piano on stage, we will definitely tell you what we want to tell you. There are, of course, nuances; a person is not an automaton - and this is understandable. But this doesn’t scare me at all; I’ve been asked dozens of times: “Are you really playing these programs in Kursk? This cannot be.”
What programs? Do you play free jazz?
I never considered myself an avant-garde musician, but simply played what I heard, and those who are with me do the same... By the way, about my son: now he has become an equal partner for me, and his music is in our programs approximately eighty percent.
When I said that you are promoting your son, I didn’t mean anything bad, because if he is a talented, capable guy, and he has prospects, it is, after all, your duty. To raise a partner, even for yourself, you have to sacrifice something. So everything is quite logical. Fortunately, Oleg Yudanov does not need to be raised.
This is an amazing musician! In general, I was thinking about taking on another drummer, i.e. quartet. But for various reasons this did not work out.
More drums - less piano. It's still a question of what the quality of the music will be.
Well, the outcome is difficult to predict.
In one of the booklets for your discs, I found the following quote from the American press: “A beautiful, unself-contained avant-garde performed by Vintskevich, where Erroll Garner does not contradict Cecil Taylor.” Firstly, it’s not entirely clear to me what kind of avant-garde you perform, and secondly, you yourself just said that you are not an avant-garde pianist. What does this quote mean, or did they mix something up?
No, nothing was mixed up. You know, they were amazed that I was playing clusters on the piano in a rhythmic version that Erroll Garner might have played. Maybe the rhythmic energy of Garner's solo music, but the harmonies and aesthetics are completely different. This was a review in Down Beat after a performance at the Lionell Hampton festival. Some critic came up to us and said: “How did you get to this festival, because you play music that Hampton almost struggles with?”
How can a real musician, a musician with a capital M - it doesn't matter if it's Hampton or Duke Ellington or Ella Fitzdrerald - how can they fight any other music? Absurd! Poor Americans!
Don't fight, of course, it's in figuratively, but after several trips to America I realized that a person must have very precise beliefs in art, and sometimes they can be so opposite that, for example, make Cecil Taylor play with Hampton...
...totally unrealistic.
The point is that I perceive Cecil Taylor as an interesting musician for me, and at the same time I admire Hampton, because when I listen to the old records of the Benny Goodman trio, they are perfect masters!
Well, with Hampton - it’s clear, but as for the cross-section of world jazz - how do you see it?
Today jazz is the music of bright individuals.
???
How could it be otherwise? Otherwise, art cannot exist at all.
Where are these individuals? Well, in Russia - maybe a couple or three, in America, probably the same amount, in Europe, perhaps, more than in America, because in America there is solid technology, and in Europe the old idea of musical thinking still remains. In my opinion, you have shifted the emphasis a little, because the time of individuals is passing, and the time is coming for some faceless, professional, strong, technologically advanced performers who can do anything and everything, who simply play secondary, tertiary and other music, but very rarely major ones emerge fish that make circles. Well, Joshua Redman, for example, is a good saxophonist, it seems to me.
You see, something adds up. It is clear that today it is not easy to imagine Miles Davis or Coltrane. But not only Johann Sebastian Bach was in art... You named Joshua Redman - I was shocked when I listened to him in America, talked to him during solo concerts in Germany... You can argue for a long time - what is he playing? Some will say - this is secondary music, but he plays in such a way that you believe every note. And in piano jazz, isn’t Gonzalo Rubalcabo a unique event?
Perhaps, but still, these are rather exceptions that prove the rule. It is not for nothing that most jazz musicians are waiting for the messiah, and some completely thoughtlessly turn to folklore, because they have already played themselves out and they simply have nothing to say.
For some, this may come from opportunism, but if someone turns to their roots, this is normal. I am still sure that the word belongs to the new generation. Some musicians playing in Moscow or Europe simply amaze me. When I heard John Taylor's As It record...it was an event. I believe that jazz is not dead. The fact that it is technologically advanced today means growing pains.
An interesting idea, I don’t think anyone has expressed it yet. Perhaps something will come out of this technology, because a person cannot just play well, he must definitely speak out personally.
Definitely. This will definitely happen. Another thing is that such a phenomenon as Coltrane is born once every hundred years. But for it to be born, there must be the prerequisites of hundreds of musicians, and this happens every day. Even in Moscow alone, many saxophonists, drummers, and pianists appear.
Now I want to ask a question to your son, who studied with Alexander Oseychuk. Tell me, Nikolai, are you completely satisfied with this circumstance, or do you have complaints against your teacher, maybe in terms of technology, creativity, cultural outlook or something like that. What can you say about him as a jazz teacher and a man of culture?
Nikolai Vintskevich: He is a professor, and that says it all.
Professor by title, or by business?
He gives comprehensive knowledge.
Musical and technical knowledge is understandable, but what about cultural outlook and general musical erudition?
Since Alexander Viktorovich is a saxophone master, he focused on saxophonists: Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman, Michael Bracker or anyone. And everyone must decide according to their own taste what they like and what they don’t.
I am not delighted with Oseichuk the saxophonist, but this does not mean at all that he is a bad teacher.
Technically, he is an excellent musician, but on the other hand, if you look at what kind of music he likes or doesn’t like, that’s a different question. But the fact that he trained a whole galaxy of cool Moscow instrumentalists is an indisputable fact.
Agree.
This is Lenya Shupik, Denis Shvytov, Alexey Kruglov...
I really like Kruglov, here I sign your statement
But they parted ways because Alexey Kruglov wanted to play in his own way, and Alexander Viktorovich said that he was looking in the wrong direction and doing the wrong thing.
Another facet of his pedagogical approach begins to become clear: “you’re looking in the wrong place...”
He wants musicians to play high-tech modern mainstream music.
It's clear. And if a musician wants to play something else, then get out of here? Of course, I'm exaggerating a little, you'll forgive me. In principle, I am generally full of respect for all jazz teachers, even if they fall short in some areas, because this is a completely non-profit, but sacred cause. And all my complaints and “attacks” are purely creative problems. I wish you great success, especially since in your solo episodes on the recordings I find very interesting ideas and generally great potential, which, in collaboration with my father, I hope will develop into something significant, and therefore the flag is in your hands.
Thank you. They took the flag.
Leonid Vintskevich: And I would like to say thank you and the public for their interest in the music that we have been serving for many, many years and, thank God, these values do not change.
Gennady Sakharov
JAZZ-KBADPAT No. 2"2005
On October 28, the XXI traveling festival “Jazz Province” will begin its march across Russia. On the eve of the opening, founder Leonid Vintskevich spoke about how the festival became traditional, whether the political situation influences the formation music program and how they manage to control a large-scale event in ten cities at once.
- Hello, Leonid! The XXI Jazz Province is opening very soon. Please tell us how the festival became a part of your life 21 years ago?
– I am very pleased that the festival is in demand. Since 1984, I have been organizing Jazz Days, but then I did not have a clear idea of all the nuances of organizing such events. There was a time then when jazz was not interesting, and I needed to communicate with other musicians who were also lovers of improvisation. This is how the idea to create a festival came about. My family has always supported me and continues to support me.
Thanks to the festival, my son Nikolai became one of the most sought-after young saxophonists - I constantly brought him to the stage. And it’s good that everything worked out, because the stage will definitely filter everything out. You can make a lot of effort, rent Carnegie Hall and hire the Philadelphia orchestra, but this will be the first and last time if there is no talent.
– Does the political situation affect the holding of the festival, the ability to bring foreign musicians to Russia? How do you deal with this?
– Our festival is supported by Embassies different countries. Jazz communities help their musicians come to Russia to show how different and multifaceted the art of jazz can be, representing as fully as possible the trends in modern improvised music. The festival, presenting musicians from all over the world, certainly contributes to the growth of mutual understanding, trust and friendship between peoples and shows that culture has a positive influence on politics.
– Organizing a festival in one city is not an easy job. And “Jazz Province” will change 10 locations this year. How do you manage to control and be responsible for the quality of such a large-scale event?
– Of course, holding such large-scale musical projects impossible without financial support from government and public organizations and representatives of private business. I can’t boast that we have achieved much, but there are changes, there is a dialogue with top officials in the regions and relevant federal officials. It’s just that our culture is financed on a residual basis. There are many interesting events in Russia, and our project has not yet been reached.
– At the festival you will play as part of the Vintscevich-Taylor Quartet with musicians from the USA and Georgia. What program awaits guests?
