A new musical direction called jazz originated in turn of the 19th century and 20th centuries as a result of the merging of European musical culture with African one. He is characterized by improvisation, expressiveness and a special type of rhythm.
At the very beginning of the twentieth century, new musical ensembles began to be created, called. They included wind instruments (trumpet, trombone clarinet), double bass, piano and percussion instruments.
Famous jazz players, thanks to their talent for improvisation and ability to subtly feel music, gave impetus to the formation of many musical directions. Jazz has become the primary source of many modern genres.
So, whose performance of jazz compositions made the listener's heart skip a beat in ecstasy?
Louis Armstrong
For many music connoisseurs, his name is associated with jazz. The musician's dazzling talent captivated him from the first minutes of his performance. Merging together with a musical instrument - a trumpet - he plunged his listeners into euphoria. Louis Armstrong went through a difficult journey from a nimble boy from a poor family to the famous King of Jazz.
Duke Ellington
Unstoppable creative personality. A composer whose music played with the modulations of many styles and experiments. The talented pianist, arranger, composer, and orchestra leader never tired of surprising with his innovation and originality.
His unique works were tested with great enthusiasm by the most famous orchestras of the time. It was Duke who came up with the idea of using the human voice as an instrument. More than a thousand of his works, called by connoisseurs the “golden fund of jazz,” were recorded on 620 discs!
Ella Fitzgerald
The “First Lady of Jazz” had a unique voice with a wide range of three octaves. It is difficult to count the honorary awards of the talented American. Ella's 90 albums were distributed around the world in incredible numbers. It's hard to imagine! Over 50 years of creativity, about 40 million albums performed by her have been sold. Masterfully mastering the talent of improvisation, she easily worked in duets with other famous jazz performers.
Ray Charles
One of the most famous musicians, called "a true jazz genius." 70 music albums sold around the world in numerous editions. He has 13 Grammy awards to his name. His compositions have been recorded by the Library of Congress. The popular magazine Rolling Stone ranked Ray Charles number 10 on its “Immortal List” of 100 great artists of all time.
Miles Davis
American trumpeter who has been compared to the artist Picasso. His music was highly influential in shaping the music of the 20th century. Davis represents the versatility of styles in jazz, the breadth of interests and accessibility for audiences of all ages.
Frank Sinatra
The famous jazz player came from a poor family, was short in stature and did not differ in any way in appearance. But he captivated the audience with his velvety baritone. The talented vocalist starred in musicals and dramatic films. Recipient of many awards and special awards. Won an Oscar for The House I Live In
Billie Holiday
A whole era in the development of jazz. The songs performed by the American singer acquired individuality and radiance, playing with tints of freshness and novelty. The life and work of “Lady Day” was short, but bright and unique.
Famous jazz musicians have enriched the art of music with sensual and soulful rhythms, expressiveness and freedom of improvisation.
As one of the most revered forms musical art in America, jazz laid the foundation for an entire industry, revealing numerous names to the world brilliant composers, instrumentalists and vocalists and spawning a wide range of genres. 15 of the most influential jazz musicians are responsible for a global phenomenon that has occurred over the last century in the history of the genre.
Jazz developed in the late years of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th as a movement combining classical European and American sounds with African folk motifs. The songs were performed with a syncopated rhythm, giving impetus to the development, and subsequently the formation of large orchestras to perform it. Music has made great strides from the days of ragtime to modern jazz.
The influence of West African musical culture is obvious in the kind of music that is written and how it is performed. Polyrhythm, improvisation and syncopation are what characterize jazz. Over the past century, this style has changed under the influence of contemporaries of the genre, who brought their ideas to the essence of improvisation. New directions began to appear - bebop, fusion, Latin American jazz, free jazz, funk, acid jazz, hard bop, smooth jazz, and so on.
15 Art Tatum
Art Tatum was a jazz pianist and virtuoso who was practically blind. He is known as one of the greatest pianists of all time, who changed the role of the piano in the jazz ensemble. Tatum turned to the stride style to create his own unique style of playing, adding swing rhythms and fantastic improvisations. His attitude towards jazz music radically changed the meaning of the piano in jazz as a musical instrument compared to its previous characteristics.
Tatum experimented with the harmonies of the melody, influencing the chord structure and expanding it. All this characterized the bebop style, which, as we know, would become popular ten years later, when the first recordings in this genre appeared. Critics also noted his impeccable playing technique - Art Tatum was able to play the most difficult passages with such ease and speed that it seemed that his fingers barely touched the black and white keys.
14 Thelonious Monk
Some of the most complex and varied sounds can be found in the repertoire of the pianist and composer, one of the most important representatives of the era of the emergence of bebop and its subsequent development. His very personality as an eccentric musician helped popularize jazz. Monk, always dressed in a suit, hat and sunglasses, openly expressed his free-spirited approach to improvised music. He did not accept strict rules and formed his own approach to creating essays. Some of his most brilliant and famous works were Epistrophy, Blue Monk, Straight, No Chaser, I Mean You and Well, You Needn’t.
Monk's playing style was based on an innovative approach to improvisation. His works are distinguished by shock passages and sharp pauses. Quite often, during his performances, he would jump up from behind the piano and dance while the other band members continued to play the melody. Thelonious Monk remains one of the most influential jazz musicians in the history of the genre.
13 Charles Mingus
A recognized double bass virtuoso, composer and band leader, he was one of the most extraordinary musicians on the jazz scene. He developed a new musical style, combining gospel, hard bop, free jazz and classical music. Contemporaries called Mingus "the heir to Duke Ellington" for his fantastic ability to write works for small jazz ensembles. His compositions demonstrated the skill of playing by all members of the group, each of whom was also not just talented, but was characterized by a unique playing style.
Mingus carefully selected the musicians who made up his band. The legendary double bassist had a temper, and once even hit trombonist Jimmy Knepper in the face, knocking out his tooth. Mingus suffered from a depressive disorder, but was not ready to allow it to somehow affect his creative activity. Despite this disability, Charles Mingus is one of the most influential figures in jazz history.
12 Art Blakey
Art Blakey was a famous American drummer and bandleader who made waves in his drumming style and technique. He combined swing, blues, funk and hard bop - a style that is heard today in every modern jazz composition. Together with Max Roach and Kenny Clarke, he invented a new way of playing bebop on drums. For more than 30 years, his band The Jazz Messengers gave a start to big jazz to many jazz artists: Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Clifford Brown, Curtis Fuller, Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, etc.
The Jazz Ambassadors didn't just create phenomenal music, they were a kind of "musical testing ground" for young talented musicians, like the Miles Davis group. Art Blakey's style changed the very sound of jazz, becoming a new musical milestone.
11 Dizzy Gillespie
The jazz trumpeter, singer, composer and bandleader became a prominent figure in the times of bebop and modern jazz. His trumpet playing influenced the styles of Miles Davis, Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro. After his time in Cuba, upon his return to the United States, Gillespie was one of those musicians who actively promoted Afro-Cuban jazz. In addition to his inimitable performance on the characteristically curved trumpet, Gillespie could be identified by his horn-rimmed glasses and incredibly large cheeks while playing.
The great jazz improviser Dizzy Gillespie, as well as Art Tatum, innovated harmonies. The compositions Salt Peanuts and Goovin' High were rhythmically completely different from previous works. Remaining true to bebop throughout his career, Gillespie is remembered as one of the most influential jazz trumpeters.
10 Max Roach
The top ten of the 15 most influential jazz musicians in the history of the genre includes Max Roach, a drummer known as one of the pioneers of bebop. He, like few others, influenced modern drumming. Roach was a civil rights activist and even recorded the album We Insist! with Oscar Brown Jr. and Coleman Hawkins. – Freedom Now (“We insist! – Freedom now”), dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Max Roach has an impeccable playing style, capable of performing extended solos throughout the entire concert. Absolutely any audience was delighted with his unsurpassed skill.
9 Billie Holiday
Lady Day is the favorite of millions. Billie Holiday wrote only a few songs, but when she sang, she captivated her voice from the first notes. Her performance is deep, personal and even intimate. Her style and intonation are inspired by the sound musical instruments that she had heard. Like almost all the musicians described above, she became the creator of a new, but already vocal style, based on long musical phrases and the tempo of their singing.
The famous Strange Fruit is the best not only in Billie Holiday’s career, but in the entire history of jazz due to the singer’s soulful performance. She was posthumously awarded prestigious awards and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
8 John Coltrane
The name of John Coltrane is associated with virtuoso playing technique, excellent talent for composing music and a passion for exploring new facets of the genre. On the threshold of the origins of hard bop, the saxophonist achieved enormous success and became one of the most influential musicians in the history of the genre. Coltrane's music had an edgy sound, and he played with great intensity and dedication. He was capable of both playing alone and improvising in an ensemble, creating solo parts of incredible length. Playing tenor and soprano saxophone, Coltrane was also able to create melodic compositions in the smooth jazz style.
John Coltrane is credited with rebooting bebop by incorporating modal harmonies. While remaining a major figure in the avant-garde, he was a very prolific composer and continued to release discs, recording about 50 albums as a band leader throughout his career.
7 Count Basie
A revolutionary pianist, organist, composer and bandleader, Count Basie led one of the most successful bands in jazz history. For 50 years, Count Basie Orchestra, including incredibly popular musicians such as Sweets Edison, Buck Clayton and Joe Williams, has earned a reputation as one of America's most sought-after big bands. Winner of nine Grammy awards, Count Basie instilled a love of orchestral sound in more than one generation of listeners.
Basie wrote many compositions that became jazz standards, such as April in Paris and One O'Clock Jump. Colleagues described him as tactful, modest and full of enthusiasm. Without Count Basie's orchestra in the history of jazz, the big band era would have sounded different and probably would not have been as influential as it became with this outstanding band leader.
6 Coleman Hawkins
The tenor saxophone is a symbol of bebop and all jazz music generally. And for that we can thank Coleman Hawkins. The innovations that Hawkins brought were vital to the development of bebop in the mid-forties. His contributions to the instrument's popularity may have shaped the future careers of John Coltrane and Dexter Gordon.
The composition Body and Soul (1939) became the standard for tenor saxophone playing for many saxophonists. Other instrumentalists were also influenced by Hawkins: pianist Thelonious Monk, trumpeter Miles Davis, and drummer Max Roach. His ability for extraordinary improvisations led to the discovery of new jazz sides of the genre that were not touched upon by his contemporaries. This partly explains why the tenor saxophone has become an integral part of modern jazz ensemble.
5 Benny Goodman
The top five 15 most influential jazz musicians in the history of the genre opens. The famous King of Swing led almost the most popular orchestra of the early 20th century. His 1938 Carnegie Hall concert is recognized as one of the most important live concerts in the history of American music. This show demonstrates the advent of the jazz era, the recognition of this genre as an independent art form.
Despite the fact that Benny Goodman was the lead singer of a large swing orchestra, he also participated in the development of bebop. His orchestra was one of the first to combine musicians of different races. Goodman was an outspoken opponent of the Jim Crow Law. He even canceled a tour of the Southern states in support of racial equality. Benny Goodman was an active figure and reformer not only in jazz, but also in popular music.
4 Miles Davis
One of the central jazz figures of the 20th century, Miles Davis, stood at the origins of many musical events and oversaw their development. He is credited with innovating the genres of bebop, hard bop, cool jazz, free jazz, fusion, funk and techno music. Constantly looking for something new musical style he always achieved success and was surrounded by brilliant musicians, including John Coltrane, Cannoball Adderley, Keith Jarrett, JJ Johnson, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea. During his lifetime, Davis was awarded 8 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Miles Davis was one of the most active and influential jazz musicians of the last century.
3 Charlie Parker
When you think about jazz, you remember the name. Also known as Bird Parker, he was a pioneer of jazz alto saxophone, bebop musician and composer. His fast playing, clear sound and talent as an improviser had a significant influence on the musicians of that time and our contemporaries. As a composer, he changed the standards of jazz music writing. Charlie Parker became the musician who cultivated the idea that jazzmen were artists and intellectuals, and not just showmen. Many artists tried to copy Parker's style. His famous playing techniques can also be traced in the manner of many current beginning musicians, who take as a basis the composition Bird, which is consonant with the nickname of the alt-saccosophist.
2 Duke Ellington
He was a great pianist, composer and one of the most outstanding orchestra leaders. Although he is known as a pioneer of jazz, he excelled in other genres including gospel, blues, classical and popular music. It is Ellington who is credited with elevating jazz to its own art form. With countless awards and honors to his name, the first great jazz composer never stopped improving. He was an inspiration to subsequent generations of musicians, including Sonny Stitt, Oscar Peterson, Earl Hines, and Joe Pass. Duke Ellington remains a recognized genius of the jazz piano - instrumentalist and composer.
1 Louis Armstrong
Unarguably the most influential jazz musician in the history of the genre, Satchmo is a trumpeter and singer from New Orleans. He is known as the creator of jazz, who played a key role in its development. The amazing abilities of this performer made it possible to elevate the trumpet into a solo jazz instrument. He is the first musician to sing in the scat style and popularize it. It was impossible not to recognize his low, “thundering” voice.
Armstrong's commitment to his own ideals influenced the work of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. Louis Armstrong influenced not only jazz, but the entire musical culture, giving the world a new genre, a unique style of singing and style of playing the trumpet.
Oleg Lundstrem - Caravan
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While jazz was actively developing in the USA, in post-revolutionary Russia of the 20s it was just beginning its timid movement. It cannot be said that this musical genre was categorically prohibited, but that the development of jazz in Russia did not proceed without criticism from the authorities. The expression “Today he plays jazz, and tomorrow he will sell his homeland” (or another less popular “From the saxophone to the Finnish knife - one step”) - clearly reflects the attitude towards jazz in the USSR.
There is a version that jazz survived in the USSR due to the fact that it was considered “the music of blacks,” and blacks as an oppressed nation, and therefore friendly to the Soviet power. Therefore, jazz in the Union was not completely strangled, despite the fact that many talented jazzmen could not “break through” to the general public. They were not allowed to perform or record on records. Jazz in Russia was still considered an allegedly ideological weapon with the help of which the United States was going to enslave the USSR. Mentions of jazz in the media were secretly prohibited.
The first jazz orchestra in Soviet Russia was created in Moscow in 1922 by the poet, translator, dancer, theater figure Valentin Parnakh and was called “The first eccentric orchestra of jazz bands of Valentin Parnakh in the RSFSR.”
The first professional jazz ensemble to perform on the radio and record a record is considered to be the orchestra of Moscow pianist and composer Alexander Tsfasman - his AMA-Jazz orchestra performed in 1927 on Moscow radio and recorded the record “Hallelujah.” Following him, early Soviet jazz bands specialized in performing fashionable dances - foxtrot, Charleston and others.
However, Leonid Utesov can be considered the “father” of Russian jazz. In the mass Soviet consciousness, jazz began to gain wide popularity in the 30s, thanks to the Leningrad ensemble led by actor and singer Leonid Utesov and trumpeter Ya. B. Skomorovsky. Popular comedy film with his participation “Jolly Guys” (1934, original title"Jazz Comedy") was dedicated to the history of a jazz musician and had an appropriate soundtrack (written by Isaac Dunaevsky). Utyosov and Skomorovsky formed the original style of “thea-jazz” (theater jazz), which was based on a mix of music and theater, operetta, that is, vocal numbers and the element of performance played a large role in it.
Leonid Utesov - Mishka Odesit
The work of composer and orchestra leader Eddie Rosner significantly influenced the development of Soviet jazz. He began his career in Germany and Poland, and when he came to the USSR, he became one of the pioneers of swing in the USSR. Moscow groups of the 30s and 40s also played an important role in the popularization and development of the swing style. under the leadership of Alexander Tsfasman a and Alexander Varlamov a. The big-band of Oleg Lundstrem is also widely known (toured in China in 1935 - 1947)
Khrushchev's “thaw” weakened the persecution of musicians. VI World Festival youth festival, held in Moscow, gave birth to a new generation of Soviet jazzmen. Soviet jazz entered the European arena. The II Moscow Jazz Festival made history - the all-Union recording company Melodiya released a collection of the best musical numbers of the festival. The names of jazz musicians Igor Bril, Boris Frumkin and others became known. Leonid Chizhik's tour to the USA caused a real sensation among the American public, demonstrating the highest level of skill of Russian pianists.
In the 50-60s. In Moscow, the orchestras of Eddie Rosner and Oleg Lundstrem resumed their activities. Among the new compositions are the orchestras of Joseph Weinstein (Leningrad) and Vadim Ludvikovsky (Moscow), as well as the Riga Variety Orchestra (REO). Big bands have trained a whole galaxy of talented arrangers and improvising soloists. Among them are Georgy Garanyan, Boris Frumkin, Alexey Zubov, Vitaly Dolgov, Igor Kantyukov, Nikolay Kapustin, Boris Matveev, Konstantin Nosov, Boris Rychkov, Konstantin Bakholdin.
During this period, chamber and club jazz was actively developing in all the diversity of its stylistics (Vyacheslav Ganelin, David Goloshchekin, Gennady Golshtein, Nikolai Gromin, Vladimir Danilin, Alexey Kozlov, Roman Kunsman, Nikolai Levinovsky, German Lukyanov, Alexander Pishchikov, Alexey Kuznetsov, Victor Fridman , Andrey Tovmasyan, Igor Bril, Leonid Chizhik, etc.) Many of the above-mentioned masters of Soviet jazz began their creative career on the stage of the legendary Moscow jazz club “
The history of Soviet (after 1991 - Russian) jazz is not without originality and is different from the periodization of American and European jazz.
Music historians divide American jazz into three periods:
- traditional jazz, including New Orleans style (including Dixieland), Chicago style and swing - with late XIX V. until the 1940s;
- modern(modern jazz), including bebop, cool, progressive and hard-boy styles - from the early 40s. and until the end of the 50s. XX century;
- avant-garde(free jazz, modal style, fusion and free improvisation) - since the early 1960s.
It should be noted that the above indicates only the temporary boundaries of the transformation of a particular style or direction, although they all coexisted and continue to exist to this day.
With all due respect to Soviet jazz and its masters, one should honestly admit that Soviet jazz in the Soviet years was always secondary, based on those ideas that originally arose in the USA. And only after Russian jazz had come a long way, by the end of the 20th century. we can talk about the originality of the jazz that is performed Russian musicians. Using the wealth of jazz accumulated over a century, they are forging their own path.
The birth of jazz in Russia occurred a quarter of a century later than its overseas counterpart, and the period of archaic jazz that the Americans went through is not present at all in the history of Russian jazz. At that time, when young Russia had just heard a musical novelty, America was dancing with all its might to jazz, and there were so many orchestras that it was impossible to count their number. Jazz music conquered more and more audiences, countries and continents. The European public was much luckier. Already in the 1910s, and especially during the First World War (1914-1918), American musicians amazed the Old World with their art, and the recording industry also contributed to the spread of jazz music.
The birthday of Soviet jazz is considered to be October 1, 1922, when in the Great Hall State Institute theater arts performed a concert “The First Eccentric Jazz Band in the RSFSR.” That's exactly how they spelled the word - jazz band. This orchestra was organized by a poet, translator, geographer, traveler and dancer Valentin Parnakh(1891-1951). In 1921 he returned to Russia from Paris, where he had lived since 1913 and was familiar with outstanding artists, writers, poets. It was in France that this extraordinary and highly educated man, slightly mysterious, who loved everything avant-garde, met the first jazz tourers from America and, fascinated by this music, decided to introduce Russian listeners to musical exotica. The new orchestra required unusual instruments, and Parnakh brought to Moscow a banjo, sets of mutes for trumpet, tomtom with foot pedal, cymbals and noise instruments. Parnakh, who was not a musician, had a utilitarian attitude towards jazz music. “He was attracted to this music by unusual, broken rhythms and new, as he said, “eccentric” dances,” he later recalled famous writer, playwright, screenwriter Evgeniy Gabrilovich, who worked for some time as a pianist in the orchestra of Valentin Parnakh.
Music, according to Parnach, should have been an accompaniment to plastic movements other than classical ballet. From the very beginning of the orchestra's existence, the conductor maintained that jazz band should be a “mime orchestra,” so in its current meaning it is difficult to fully call such an orchestra a jazz orchestra. Most likely it was a noise orchestra. Perhaps for this reason, jazz in Russia initially took root in the theatrical environment, and for three years the Parnach orchestra performed in performances staged by theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold. In addition, the orchestra sometimes took part in carnival celebrations and performed in the House of Press, where the Moscow intelligentsia gathered. At the concert dedicated to the opening of the 5th Congress of the Comintern, the orchestra performed fragments from Darius Milhaud’s music for the ballet “Bull on the Roof” - a rather difficult composition to perform. The Parnakh Jazz Band was the first group invited to the State Academic Drama Theater, however applied value After some time, the orchestra became of little satisfaction to the director, and Vsevolod Meyerhold was annoyed that as soon as the orchestra began to play, all the attention of the audience was focused on the musicians, and not on the stage action. Despite the fact that the press noted the successful use of music to “manifest the dramatic rhythm, the beating pulse of the performance,” director Meyerhold lost interest in the orchestra, and the leader of the first jazz band in Russia, after great and noisy success, returned to poetry. Valentin Parnakh was the first author of articles on new music in Russia, even wrote poems about jazz. There are no recordings of the Parnakh ensemble, since recording appeared in the USSR only in 1927, when the group had already disbanded. By this time, much more professional performers had emerged in the country than “The first eccentric orchestra in the RSFSR - the Valentin Parnakh jazz band.” These were orchestras Teplitsky, Landsberg, Utesov, Tsfasman.
At the end of the 1920s. in the USSR there were enthusiasts, musicians appeared who played what was “heard of,” which somehow came from the jazz Mecca, from America, where large swing orchestras began to appear at that time. In 1926 in Moscow, a graduate of the conservatory and a brilliant virtuoso pianist Alexander Tsfasman(1906-1971) organized “AMA-jazz” (under the cooperative music publishing house of the Association of Moscow Authors). This was the first professional jazz orchestra in Soviet Russia. The musicians performed compositions by the director himself, his arrangements of American plays and the first musical opuses of Soviet composers who wrote music in a new genre for them. The orchestra performed successfully on the stages of large restaurants and in the foyers of major cinemas. Next to the name of Alexander Tsfasman, you can repeatedly repeat the word “first”. In 1928, the orchestra performed on the radio - for the first time, Soviet jazz sounded on the air, and then the first recordings of jazz music appeared (“Hallelujah” by Vincent Youmans and “Seminole” by Harry Warren). Alexander Tsfasman was the author of the first jazz radio broadcast in our country. In 1937, recordings of Tsfasman’s works were made: “On a Long Journey,” “On the Seashore,” “Unsuccessful Date” (suffice it to remember the lines: “We were both there: I was at the pharmacy, and I was looking for you at the cinema, So, that means tomorrow - in the same place, at the same hour! "). Tsfasman’s adaptation of the Polish tango, popularly known as “The Tired Sun,” enjoyed continued success. In 1936, A. Tsfasman's orchestra was recognized as the best in showing jazz orchestras. Essentially, it could be called a jazz festival, which was organized by the Moscow Club of Art Masters.
In 1939, Tsfasman's orchestra was invited to work on the All-Union Radio, and during the Great Patriotic War, the orchestra's musicians went to the front. Concerts took place in the front line and on the front line, in forest clearings and in dugouts. At that time, Soviet songs were performed: “Dark Night”, “Dugout”, “My Beloved”. Music helped the soldiers to take a short break from the terrible everyday life of war and helped them remember their home, family, and loved ones. It was hard to work in military hospitals, but here, too, the musicians brought the joy of meeting real art. But the main work for the orchestra remained work on the radio, performances at factories, factories and recruiting stations.
Tsfasman's wonderful orchestra, consisting of talented jazz musicians, existed until 1946.
In 1947-1952. Tsfasman headed the symphonic jazz of the Hermitage variety theater. During a difficult time for jazz (these were the 1950s), during the “ cold war"with the USA and the West, when publications discrediting and discrediting jazz began to appear in the Soviet press, the orchestra leader worked on the concert stage as a jazz pianist. Then the maestro assembled an instrumental quartet for studio work, whose hits were included in the collection of Soviet music:
“Happy Evening”, “Waiting”, “Always with You”. The romances and popular songs of Alexander Tsfasman, music for plays and films are known and loved.
In 2000, Tsfasman’s album “Burnt Sun” was released as part of the “Jazz Anthology” series, recorded on CD, including the composer’s best instrumental and vocal pieces. G. Skorokhodov wrote about Tsfasman in the book “Soviet Pop Stars” (1986). A. N. Batashev, the author of one of the most authoritative publications - “Soviet Jazz” (1972) - spoke in his book about the life and work of Alexander Tsfasman. In 2006, the book “Alexander Tsfasman: Corypheus of Soviet Jazz” was published by doctor of philosophy, writer and musicologist A. N. Golubev.
Simultaneously with Tsfasman’s “AMA-jazz” in Moscow, in 1927 a jazz group arose in Leningrad. It was "The first concert jazz band" pianist Leopold Teplitsky(1890-1965). Even earlier, in 1926, Teplitsky visited New York and Philadelphia, where he was sent by the People's Commissariat for Education. The purpose of the trip was to study music for illustrations for silent films. For several months the musician absorbed all the rhythms of new music and studied with American jazzmen. Returning to Russia, L. Teplitsky organized an orchestra of professional musicians (conservatory teachers, music schools), who, unfortunately, did not feel the jazz specificity of the music being performed. The musicians, who always played only from notes, could not imagine that the same melody could be played in a new way every time, i.e. there was no question of improvisation. Teplitsky's merit can be considered that for the first time the musicians performed in concert halls, and although the sound of the orchestra was far from a true jazz band, it was no longer the eccentric art of Valentin Parnach's noise orchestra. The repertoire of Leopold Teplitsky's orchestra consisted of plays by American authors (the conductor brought priceless luggage to his homeland - a pile of jazz records and a whole folder of orchestra arrangements Paul Whiteman). Teplitsky's jazz band did not exist for long, only a few months, but even during this short time the musicians introduced listeners to modern American dance music and wonderful Broadway melodies. After 1929, the fate of Leopold Teplitsky developed dramatically: arrest on a false denunciation, condemnation by the NKVD troika to ten years in the camps, construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. After his imprisonment, Leopold Yakovlevich was forced to settle in Petrozavodsk (“such people” were not allowed into Leningrad). The musical past was not forgotten. Teplitsky organized a symphony orchestra in Karelia, taught at the conservatory, wrote music, and hosted radio broadcasts. Since 2004, the international jazz festival “Stars and We” (organized in 1986 in Petrozavodsk) has been named after the pioneer of Russian jazz Leopold Teplitsky.
Music criticism of the late 1920s. could not appreciate the new cultural phenomenon. Here is an excerpt from that time from a characteristic review of jazz: “As a means of caricature and parody... as a rough, but biting and piquant rhythmic and timbral apparatus, suitable for dance music and for cheap “musical underpaintings” in theatrical use, a jazz band has its own reason. Beyond these limits - artistic value there is not much of it."
The Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) also added fuel to the fire, which affirmed the “proletarian line” in music, rejecting everything that did not correspond to their, often dogmatic, views on art. In 1928, the Pravda newspaper published an article entitled “On the Music of the Fat People” by the famous Soviet writer Maxim Gorky. It was an angry pamphlet denouncing the “world of predators” and the “power of the fat.” The proletarian writer lived at that time in Italy, on the island of Capri, and was most likely familiar with the so-called “restaurant music,” which was far from genuine jazz. Some meticulous jazz historians claim that the writer was simply “sick and tired” of the foxtrots that Gorky’s unlucky stepson was constantly performing on the ground floor of the villa. One way or another, the statement of the proletarian writer was immediately picked up by the leaders of RAPM. And for a long time jazz in our country was called “the music of the fat,” not knowing who was the true author of jazz music, in what disenfranchised layers of American society it was born.
Despite the difficult critical atmosphere, jazz continued to develop in the USSR. There were many people who treated jazz as an art. One could say about them that they had an “innate sense of jazz,” which cannot be developed through exercise: it is either there or it is not. As the composer said Gia Kancheli(born 1935), “this feeling cannot be imposed, it is useless to teach it, because there is something primordial, natural here.”
In Leningrad, in the apartment of a student at the Agricultural Institute Heinrich Terpilovsky(1908-1989) in the late 1920s. There was a home jazz club where amateur musicians listened to jazz, argued a lot and passionately about new music, and sought to comprehend the complexity of jazz as an artistic phenomenon. The young musicians were so passionate about jazz ideas that they soon formed an ensemble that created a jazz repertoire for the first time. The ensemble was called the "Leningrad Jazz Chapel", whose musical directors were Georgy Landsberg(1904-1938) and Boris Krupyshev. Landsberg back in the 1920s. lived in Czechoslovakia, where George's father worked at the trade mission. The young man studied at the Prague Polytechnic Institute, studied sports, foreign languages and music. It was in Prague that Landsberg heard American jazz - the “Chocolate Guys” Sam Wooding. Prague has always been a musical city: jazz orchestras and ensembles were already familiar with the overseas novelty. So Georgy Landsberg, having returned to his homeland, was already “armed” with more than a dozen jazz standards and wrote most of the arrangements himself. They helped him N. Minkh And S. Kagan. An atmosphere of creative competition reigned in the group: the musicians offered their own arrangements, each proposal was hotly discussed. The rehearsal process, at times, interested young musicians even more than the performances themselves. The “Jazz Capella” performed works not only foreign composers, but also original plays Soviet authors: “Jazz Suite” by A. Zhivotov, lyrical play by N. Minha “I’m Lonely”, “Jazz Fever” by G. Terpilovsky. Even in the Leningrad press, approving reviews appeared about the ensemble, noting the excellent performers who played harmoniously, rhythmically firmly and dynamically. “Leningrad Jazz Capella” successfully toured in Moscow, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, organized “review” concerts, introducing listeners to “ cultural jazz chamber type." The repertoire was selected very carefully, taking into account concert activities, but “academicism” did not bring commercial success, the audience was not ready to listen to difficult music. Theater and club administrators quickly lost interest in the ensemble, and the musicians began to move to other orchestras. Georgy Landsberg and several musicians worked at the Astoria restaurant, where already at the dawn of Russian jazz jam sessions were held with foreign jazzmen who arrived in the city on cruise ships.
In 1930, many of G. Landsberg's musicians moved to the more successful orchestra of Leonid Utesov, and Landsberg dissolved his orchestra and worked for some time as an engineer (the education received at the Polytechnic Institute came in handy). The Jazz Capella as a concert group was revived again with the arrival of the talented pianist and arranger Simon Kagan, and when G. Landsberg reappeared in the ensemble in 1934, the Capella sounded in a new way. The pianist made arrangements for Bond with brilliant creativity Leonid Andreevich Diederichs(1907-?). He made instrumental arrangements of songs by Soviet composers, creatively enriching each score. The original instrumental plays by L. Diederichs are also known - “Puma” and “Under the Roofs of Paris”. The band's tour throughout the Soviet Union, which lasted ten months, brought great success to the group. In 1935, the contract with Leningrad Radio, whose staff orchestra was the Jazz Capella, expired. The musicians scattered again to other orchestras. In 1938, G. Landsberg was arrested, accused of espionage and executed (rehabilitated in 1956). The choir ceased to exist, but remained in the history of music as one of the first professional groups that contributed to the development of Soviet jazz, performing works by Russian authors. Georgy Landsberg was a wonderful teacher who trained wonderful musicians who later worked in pop and jazz orchestras.
Jazz, as we know, is improvisational music. In Russia in the 20-30s. XX century there were few musicians skilled in spontaneous solo improvisation. The recordings of those years are represented mainly by large orchestras, whose musicians played their parts from notes, including solo “improvisations”. Instrumental pieces were rare; accompaniment to vocalists predominated. For example, Tea Jazz, organized in 1929. Leonid Utesov(1895-1982) and trumpet soloist of the Maly Opera Theater orchestra Yakov Skomorovsky(1889-1955), was a shining example such an orchestra. And in its name it contained a decoding: theatrical jazz. Suffice it to recall Grigory Alexandrov’s comedy “Jolly Fellows,” where the main roles were played by Lyubov Orlova, Leonid Utesov and his famous orchestra. After 1934, when the “jazz comedy” (as the director first defined the genre of his film) was watched by the whole country, the popularity of film actor Leonid Utesov became incredible. Leonid Osipovich has acted in films before, but in “Jolly Fellows” he is rustic main character- shepherd Kostya Potekhin - was understandable to the general public: he sang beautiful songs, inspiredly written by composer I. O. Dunaevsky, joked rudely, and performed typical Hollywood stunts. All this delighted the public, although few people knew that this style of film had long been invented in Hollywood. Director Grigory Alexandrov just needs to transfer it to Soviet soil.
In the 1930s The name "Thea-jazz" became extremely popular. Enterprising artists often assigned this name to their orchestras for purely commercial purposes, but they were far from the truly theatrical performances of the orchestra of Leonid Utesov, who sought to create musical revues held together by a single stage action. Such theatricalization favorably distinguished Utesov’s entertaining orchestra from the instrumental nature of the orchestras of L. Teplitsky and G. Landsberg, and was more understandable to the Soviet public. Moreover, for joint creativity Leonid Utesov attracted famous and talented Soviet songwriters, such as Isaac Dunaevsky, brothers Dmitry And Daniil Pokrassy, Konstantin Listov, Matvey Blanter, Evgeniy Zharkovsky. The songs sounded in the orchestra's programs, beautifully arranged, became extremely popular and popularly loved.
Leonid Utesov's orchestra had excellent musicians who had to master a new musical genre. Subsequently, the artists of “Thea-jazz” created domestic pop music and jazz. Among them was Nikolay Minkh(1912-1982). He was a wonderful pianist who went through “his own unforgettable universities,” as the musician himself recalled, side by side with Isaac Dunaevsky. This experience then helped Minkha lead the orchestra at the Moscow Variety Theater, and in the 1960s. engage in composing activities, create musical comedies and operettas.
A feature of Soviet jazz of the 1930-1940s. It can be considered that jazz at that time was “song jazz” and was associated, rather, with a type of orchestra in which saxophones and drums were indispensable participants, in addition to the main instruments. They used to say about the musicians of such orchestras that “they play jazz,” not jazz. The song form, which was given great importance, was perhaps the form, the path that opened jazz music to millions of listeners. But still, this music - song, dance, heterogeneous and hybrid - was far from real American jazz. And it couldn’t take root in Russia in its “pure form.” Even Leonid Osipovich Utesov himself argued that genuine early American jazz was alien and incomprehensible music for the majority of the Soviet public. Leonid Utesov - a man of theater, vaudeville, a fan of synthetic action - combined theater with jazz, and jazz with theater. This is how “Jazz on the Turn” and “Music Store” appeared - cheerful programs that surprisingly combined music and humor. Composer I. O. Dunaevsky sometimes wittily arranged not only folk and popular songs: thus, the orchestra’s program included “jazzed” “Song of the Indian Guest” from the opera “Sadko”, “Song of the Duke” from “Rigoletto”, jazz fantasy “Eugene” Onegin."
The famous jazz historian A. N. Batashev in his book “Soviet Jazz” writes: “By the mid-30s, in the concert practice of L. Utesov, the foundations of a genre were laid, built on domestic musical and poetic material, synthesizing individual elements of foreign theatrical performances, pop and jazz. This genre, first called “theatrical jazz,” and later, after the war, simply “pop music,” developed more and more over the years and lived according to its own laws.”
A special page in the life of the orchestra under the direction of Utesov was the years of the Great Patriotic War. In the shortest possible time, the program “Beat the Enemy!” was prepared, with which the musicians performed in the Hermitage garden, at train stations for soldiers leaving for the front, in the outback - in the Urals and Siberia, then the artists’ performances took place in the active army, in the front-line zone . During the war, artists were both musicians and fighters. Many groups went to the front as part of large concert teams. The popular jazz orchestras of Alexander Tsfasman, Boris Karamyshev, Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Boris Rensky, Alexander Varlamov, Dmitry Pokrass, and Isaac Dunaevsky visited many fronts. Often, musicians at the front had to work on the construction of military fortifications, directly participate in military operations and... die.
The famous Soviet composer Vano Muradeli, who returned from a trip to the front, testified: “The interest of our soldiers and commanders in culture, art, and music in particular is very great. Performing groups, ensembles, and jazz working for the front enjoy great love from them.” Now none of the critics who had previously expressed doubt about the significance of jazz music asked the question “Do we need jazz?” The artists not only supported morale with their art, but also raised funds for the construction of aircraft and tanks. The Utesovsky plane “Jolly Fellows” was famous at the front. Leonid Utesov was an outstanding master of the Soviet stage, a favorite of many generations of Soviet listeners, who knew how to “fuse” himself with a song. That’s what he called his autobiographical book, “With a Song Through Life,” published in 1961. And in 1982, Yu. A. Dmitriev wrote the book “Leonid Utesov,” which tells about the famous band leader, singer and actor.
One can, of course, argue that the orchestras of that time cannot be fully considered jazz, since while playing from notes, the musicians were deprived of the opportunity to improvise, which is a violation of the most important principle of jazz music. But jazz music cannot always be improvisational, because every orchestra musician cannot improvise, neglecting his part. The Duke Ellington Orchestra, for example, often performed pieces in which the solo parts were written from beginning to end by the author. But no one would ever think that it wasn’t jazz! And many such examples can be given, because belonging to jazz is also determined by the unique nature of the musical performing language, its intonation and rhythmic features.
1930s in the USSR there were years of unprecedented growth in all areas of life of the Soviet people. During the years of the first five-year plans, the enthusiasm of the people was great: new cities, plants, factories were built, railways were laid. This socialist optimism, unknown to the whole world, required its own musical “design”, new moods, new songs. Artistic life in the USSR has always been under the close attention of the country's party leadership. In 1932, it was decided to liquidate RAPM and form a single Union of Soviet Composers. The resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations” made it possible to take a number of organizational measures relating to mass genres, including jazz music. 1930s in the USSR played an important role in the development of Soviet jazz. Musicians attempted to create their own and original repertoire, but the main task for them at that time was to master the skill of jazz performance: the ability to construct elementary jazz phrases that allow improvisation, maintaining rhythmic continuity in group and solo playing - everything that constitutes real jazz, even if it is written down on notes.
In 1934, Moscow posters invited spectators to a concert by Alexander Varlamov’s jazz orchestra.
Alexander Vladimirovich Varlamov born in 1904 in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). The Varlamov family was famous. Alexander Vladimirovich’s great-grandfather was a composer, a classic of Russian romance (“The Red Sundress,” “A Blizzard is Blowing Along the Street,” “Don’t Wake Her at Dawn,” “The Lonely Sail Is White”). The mother of the future orchestra leader was a famous opera singer, his father was a lawyer. Parents took care of musical education son, especially since the young man was very capable, and the desire to become a professional musician did not leave the young talent throughout his years of study: first at a music school, then at GITIS and at the famous Gnesinka. Already in student years Varlamov watched the revue “The Chocolate Boys” by Sam Wooding, which made an indelible impression on the student. Varlamov, having received a wonderful music education, decided to organize an ensemble similar to the “Hot Seven” ensemble familiar from records and radio broadcasts. Louis Armstrong. The orchestra was also a “guiding star” for Varlamov Duke Ellington which delighted the Russian musician. The young composer-conductor carefully selected musicians and repertoire for his orchestra. Five years have passed since Varlamov graduated from Gnesinka, and a jazz orchestra at the Central House of the Red Army was created. It was instrumental orchestra, which, like many orchestras of that time, did not gravitate toward theatrical jazz. The expressiveness of the music was achieved through beautiful melodies and arrangements. This is how the plays were born: “At the Carnival”, “Dixie Lee”, “Evening Goes”, “Life is Full of Happiness”, “Blue Moon”, “Sweet Su”. Varlamov translated some American jazz standards into Russian and sang himself. The musician did not have outstanding vocal abilities, but sometimes he allowed himself to be recorded on records, performing songs melodically precise and convincing in content.
In 1937-1939 Varlamov’s career was quite successful: the musician first led the septet (“Seven”), then was the chief conductor of the jazz orchestra of the All-Union Radio Committee, in 1940-1941 gg. - chief conductor State Jazz Orchestra of the USSR. However, when the war began, many of the orchestra's musicians were drafted to the front. Varlamov did not give up. He organized from among the musicians released from military service, and former wounded, unusual (one might say strange) "Melody Orchestra": three violins, viola, cello, saxophone and two pianos. The musicians performed with great success in the Hermitage, Metropol, in military units and hospitals. Varlamov was a patriot. The musician donated his own money savings for the construction of the Soviet Composer tank.
Difficult times in the history of our country have affected the destinies of millions of talented, successful and famous people. Composer-conductor Alexander Varlamov did not escape a cruel fate either. 1943 When the musicians were rehearsing the famous “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, the leader of the Melody Orchestra was arrested. The reason was the denunciation of the cellist, who reported that Varlamov often listens to foreign radio broadcasts, allegedly waiting for the Germans to arrive, etc. The authorities believed this scoundrel, and Varlamov was first sent to logging, in the Northern Urals, where he worked for the eight years he was sentenced to. A great outlet for the prisoners was the orchestra, assembled from musicians and singers of the camp, who were just as slandered as the leader of this group. This extraordinary orchestra brought great joy to all nine camp sites. After serving his sentence, Alexander Vladimirovich hoped to return to Moscow. But there was still an exile to Kazakhstan, where the musician worked in small towns: he taught children and youth music, and composed works for the Russian drama theater. Only in 1956 g., after rehabilitation, Varlamov was able to return to Moscow, and immediately became involved in an active creative life, composing music for films (animated: “Wonderwoman”, “Puck! Puck!”, “The Fox and the Beaver”, etc.), dramatic theaters, pop orchestras, television productions, 1990 , shortly before the death of Varlamov, the last disc was released with recordings of jazz and symphonic jazz music by the wonderful composer and conductor.
But let's go back to the pre-war years, when several jazz orchestras arose in the Soviet republics, 1939 was organized State Jazz of the USSR. It was a prototype of future pop-symphony orchestras, the repertoire of which consisted of transcriptions classical works for big symphonic jazz. The “serious” repertoire was created by the orchestra director Victor Knushevitsky (1906-1974). For State jazz of the USSR, who performed mainly on the radio, composers wrote I. O. Dunaevsky, Y. Milyutin, M. Blanter, A. Tsfasman and others. On Leningrad radio in 1939 Mr. Nikolai Minkh organized a jazz orchestra.
Other union republics did not lag behind. In Baku, Tofik Guliyev created State Jazz Orchestra of the Azerbaijan SSR. A similar orchestra appeared in Armenia under the direction of Artemy Ayvazyan. Their own republican orchestras appeared in the Moldavian SSR and Ukraine. One of the famous allied jazz orchestras was a group from Western Belarus led by first-class trumpeter, violinist, and composer Eddie Rosner.
Eddie (Adolph) Ignatievich Rosner(1910-1976) was born in Germany, into a Polish family, and studied violin at the Berlin Conservatory. I mastered the pipe on my own. His idols were the famous Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Bunny Berigan. Having received an excellent musical education, Eddie played for some time in one of the European orchestras, then organized his own band in Poland. When World War II began, the orchestra had to save itself from fascist reprisals, since most of the musicians were Jews, and jazz was banned in Nazi Germany as a “non-Aryan art.” So the musicians found refuge in Soviet Belarus. For the next two years, the band successfully toured in Moscow, Leningrad, and during the war - at the fronts and in the rear. Eddie Rosner, who was called "white Armstrong" in his youth, was talented artist, who knows how to win over the audience with his skill, charm, smile, and cheerfulness. Rosner is a musician, according to the master of Russian pop music Yuri Saulsky,“had a true jazz base and taste.” The hits of the program enjoyed great success among listeners: “Caravan” by Tizol - Ellington, “St. Louis Blues” by William Handy, “Serenade” by Toselli, “Tales of the Vienna Woods” by Johann Strauss, Rosner’s song “Still Water”, “Cowboy Song”, "Mandolin, Guitar and Bass" by Albert Harris. During the war years, the repertoire of orchestras began to use plays by the allies more often: American and English authors. Many gramophone records appeared with recordings of domestic and foreign instrumental pieces. Many orchestras performed music from the American film Sun Valley Serenade, which starred the famous big band of Glenn Miller.
In 1946, when persecution began against jazz, when jazzmen were accused of cosmopolitanism and the band was dissolved, Eddie Rosner decided to return to Poland. But he was charged with treason and sent to Magadan. From 1946 to 1953, trumpet virtuoso Eddie Rosner was in the Gulag. The local authorities instructed the musician to form an orchestra of prisoners. So eight long years passed. After his release and rehabilitation, Rosner again led a big band in Moscow, but he played the trumpet less and less: the scurvy suffered during the camp years was taking its toll. But the popularity of the orchestra was great: Rosner’s songs enjoyed constant success, the musicians starred in the popular film “Carnival Night” in 1957. In the 1960s the orchestra featured musicians who would later become the color and glory of Russian jazz: multi-instrumentalist David Goloshchekin, trumpeter Konstantin Nosov, saxophonist Gennady Golshtein. Excellent arrangements for the band were written Vitaly Dolgov And Alexey Mazhukov,
which, according to Rosner, arranged as well as the Americans. The maestro himself was aware of what was happening in world jazz and strove to include the best examples of real jazz in his programs, for which Rosner was repeatedly reproached in the press for his disdain for the Soviet repertoire. In 1973, Eddie Rosner returned to his homeland, West Berlin. But the career of a musician in Germany did not work out: the artist was no longer young, was not known to anyone, and could not find a job in his specialty. For some time he worked as an entertainer in a theater and as a head waiter in a hotel. In 1976, the musician passed away. In memory of the wonderful trumpeter, band leader, composer and talented director of his programs, in 1993 in Moscow, in the Rossiya concert hall, a wonderful show “In the Company of Eddie Rosner” was held. In the same year, 1993, Yu. Tseitlin’s book “The Rise and Fall of the Great Trumpeter Eddie Rosner” was published. He talks about a jazz virtuoso, a real showman, a man with a complex adventurous character and difficult fate. documentary novel Dmitry Dragilev, released in 2011, - “Eddie Rosner: Let’s fuck up jazz, cholera is clear!”
It is difficult to create a good jazz orchestra, but it is even more difficult to maintain it for decades. The longevity of such an orchestra depends, first of all, on the originality of the leader - a person and musician in love with music. A legendary jazzman can be called the composer, band leader, leader of the world's oldest jazz orchestra, listed in the Guinness Book of Records, Oleg Lundstrem.
Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem(1916-2005) was born in Chita, in the family of physics teacher Leonid Frantsevich Lundstrem, a Russified Swede. The parents of the future musician worked on the CER (Chinese-Eastern Railway, connecting Chita and Vladivostok through Chinese territory). For some time, the family lived in Harbin, where a large and diverse Russian diaspora gathered. Both Soviet citizens and Russian emigrants lived here. The Lundström family always loved music: his father played the piano and his mother sang. The children were also introduced to music, but they decided to give the children a “strong” education: both sons studied at the Commercial School. Oleg Lundstrem's first acquaintance with jazz occurred in 1932, when the teenager bought a record of the Duke Ellington orchestra's recording of "Dear Old South" (Dear Old Southland). Oleg Leonidovich later recalled: “This record played the role of a detonator. She literally changed my whole life. I discovered a previously unfamiliar musical universe.”
At the Harbin Polytechnic Institute, where the future patriarch of Soviet jazz received his higher education, there were many like-minded friends who wanted to play their favorite music. Thus, a combo of nine Russian students was created, who played at evenings, on dance floors, festive balls, and sometimes the group performed on local radio. The musicians learned to “take” popular jazz pieces from records and made arrangements Soviet songs, primarily I. Dunaevsky, although Oleg Lundstrem later recalled that it was always unclear to him why the melodies of George Gershwin were ideal for jazz, but the songs of Soviet composers were not. Most of the members of Lundström's first orchestra were not professional musicians, they received a technical education, but were so passionate about jazz that they firmly decided to study only this music. Gradually the group became famous: they worked in dance halls in Shanghai, toured in Hong Kong, Indochina, and Ceylon. The leader of the orchestra, Oleg Lundstrem, began to be called the “King of Jazz of the Far East.”
When the Great Patriotic War began, young people - Soviet citizens - applied to the Red Army, but the consul announced that for now musicians were more needed in China. It was a difficult time for orchestra members: there was little work, the public did not want to have fun and dance, and inflation overtook the economy. Only in 1947 did the musicians receive permission to return to the USSR, but not to Moscow, as they wanted, but to Kazan (the Moscow authorities were afraid that the “Shanghaians” might be recruited spies). At first there was a decision to create a jazz orchestra of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, but the next year, 1948, the Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the opera “The Great Friendship” by Muradeli” was issued, condemning formalism in music. The Resolution called the opera, which Stalin did not like, “a vicious anti-artistic work”, “fed by the influence of decadent Western European and American music.” And the musicians of Lundstrem’s orchestra were asked to “wait with jazz.”
But it’s never too late to learn! And Oleg Lundstrem entered the Kazan Conservatory in the class of composition and conducting. During their studies, the musicians managed to perform in Kazan, record on the radio, gaining a reputation as the best swing orchestra. Twelve Tatar folk songs, which Lundström brilliantly arranged “for jazz.” They learned about Lundstrem and his “secret big band” in Moscow. In 1956, the jazzmen arrived in Moscow with the same “Chinese” lineup and became the Rosconcert orchestra. For for many years existence, the composition of the orchestra changed. In the 1950s “shone”: tenor saxophonist Igor Lundstrem, trumpeters Alexey Kotikov And Innokenty Gorbuntsov, double bassist Alexander Gravis, drummer Zinovy Khazankin. Soloists in the 1960s. there were young improvising musicians: saxophonists Georgy Garanyan And Alexey Zubov, trombonist Konstantin Bakholdin, pianist Nikolay Kapustin. Later, in the 1970s, the orchestra was replenished with saxophonists Gennady Golshtein, Roman Kunsman, Stanislav Grigoriev.
Oleg Lundstrem's orchestra led an active touring and concert life, forced to take into account the tastes of a wide audience who perceived jazz as an entertaining, song and dance art. Therefore, in the 1960-1970s. The team included not only jazz musicians and singers, but also pop artists. Oleg Lundstrem's orchestra always prepared two programs: a popular song and entertainment program (for residents of the outback) and an instrumental jazz program, which had enormous success in Moscow, Leningrad and large cities of the Union, where the public was already familiar with the art of jazz.
The orchestra's instrumental program consisted of classic jazz pieces (from the repertoire of the big bands of Count Basie and Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington), as well as works written by members of the group and maestro Lundström himself. These were “Fantasy about Moscow”, “Fantasy on the themes of Tsfasman’s songs”, “ Spring is coming" - a jazz miniature based on a song by Isaac Dunaevsky. IN musical suites and fantasies - works of large form - soloist musicians could show their skills. It was real instrumental jazz. And the young jazzmen, who will then form the flower of Russian jazz, - Igor Yakushenko, Anatoly Kroll, Georgy Garanyan- composed their works inventively and with great taste. Oleg Lundstrem also “discovered” talented vocalists who performed pop songs. In the orchestra in different times sang Maya Kristalinskaya, Gyuli Chokheli, Valery Obodzinsky, Irina Otieva. And although the song material was impeccable, the focus was always on the big band and its instrumental soloists.
Over the several decades of the orchestra’s existence, many Russian musicians have passed through Oleg Lundstrem’s musical “university,” the list of which would take more than one page, but the band would not sound so professional if not for the work of one of the best arrangers - Vitaly Dolgova(1937-2007). Critic G. Dolotkazin wrote about the master’s work: “V. Dolgov’s style does not repeat the traditional interpretation big orchestra, divided into sections (trumpets, trombones, saxophones), between which dialogues and roll calls are constantly taking place. V. Dolgov is characterized by the principle of end-to-end development of material. In each individual episode of the play, he finds a characteristic orchestral texture and original timbre combinations. V. Dolgov often uses polyphonic techniques, superimposing layers of orchestral sonorities. All this gives his arrangements harmony and integrity.”
By the end of the 1970s, when a stable jazz audience was developing in Russia, festivals began to be held, Oleg Lundstrem refused variety numbers and devotes himself entirely to jazz. The maestro himself composed music for the orchestra: “Mirage”, “Interlude”, “Humoresque”, “March Foxtrot”, “Impromptu”, “Lilac Blooms”, “Bukhara Ornament”, “In the Mountains of Georgia”. It should be noted that to this day the Oleg Lundstrem Memorial Orchestra performs works composed by the master of Russian jazz with great success. In the 1970s Composers who gravitated toward jazz appeared in the USSR: Arno Babajanyan, Kara Karaev, Andrey Eshpai, Murad Kazhlaev, Igor Yakushenko. Their works were also performed by the Lundström Orchestra. The musicians often toured abroad and performed at domestic and foreign jazz festivals: “Tallinn-67”, “Jazz Jamboree-72” in Warsaw, “Prague-78” and “Prague-86”, “Sofia-86”, “Jazz in Duketown-88” in the Netherlands, “Grenoble-90” in France, at the Duke Ellington Memorial Festival in Washington in 1991. Over the forty years of its existence, Oleg Lundstrem's orchestra has visited more than three hundred cities in our country and dozens of foreign countries. It is gratifying to note that the famous group often recorded on records: “Oleg Lundstrem’s Orchestra”, two albums united under the same title “In Memory of Musicians” (dedicated to Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington), “In Our Time”, “In Rich Colors”, etc.
Batashev A. N. Soviet jazz. Historical sketch. P. 43.
Jazz is music filled with passion and inventiveness, music that knows no boundaries or limits. Making a list like this is incredibly difficult. This list has been written, rewritten, and then rewritten some more. Ten is too limiting a number for a musical genre like jazz. However, regardless of the quantity, this music can breathe life and energy, awaken you from hibernation. What could be better than bold, tireless, warming jazz!
1. Louis Armstrong
1901 - 1971
Trumpeter Louis Armstrong is revered for his lively style, inventiveness, virtuosity, musical expressiveness and dynamic showmanship. Known for his raspy voice and a career spanning over five decades. Armstrong's influence on music is invaluable. Louis Armstrong is generally considered the greatest jazz musician of all time.
Louis Armstrong with Velma Middleton & His All Stars - Saint Louis Blues
2. Duke Ellington
1899 - 1974
Duke Ellington is a pianist and composer who has led a jazz orchestra for almost 50 years. Ellington used his band as a musical laboratory for his experiments, in which he showcased the talents of the band members, many of whom remained with him for a long time. Ellington is an incredibly gifted and prolific musician. During his five-decade career, he wrote thousands of compositions, including scores for films and musicals, as well as many famous standards such as "Cotton Tail" and "It Don't Mean a Thing."
Duke Ellington and John Coltrane - In a sentimental mood
3. Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
Miles Davis is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Together with your musical groups, Davis has been a central figure in jazz music since the mid-40s, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz and jazz fusion. Davis has tirelessly pushed the boundaries of artistic expression, resulting in him often being identified as one of the most innovative and respected artists in music history.
Miles Davis Quintet - It Never Entered My Mind
4. Charlie Parker
1920 - 1955
Virtuoso saxophonist Charlie Parker was an influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique and improvisation. In his complex melodic lines, Parker combines jazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin and classical music. Parker was an iconic figure for the beatnik subculture, but he transcended his generation and became the epitome of the uncompromising, intelligent musician.
Charlie Parker - Blues for Alice
5. Nat King Cole
1919 - 1965
Known for his silky baritone, Nat King Cole brought the emotion of jazz to American popular music. Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television program that was visited by such jazz artists as Ella Fitzgerald and Eartha Kitt. Phenomenal pianist and an accomplished improviser, Cole was one of the first jazz performers to become a pop icon.
Nat King Cole - Autumn Leaves
6. John Coltrane
1926 - 1967
Despite a relatively short career (he first accompanied at the age of 29 in 1955, he officially began solo career at 33 in 1960, and died at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane is the most important and controversial figure in jazz. Despite his short career, Coltrane's fame allowed him to record in abundance, and many of his recordings were released posthumously. Coltrane changed his style radically over the course of his career, yet he still has a strong following for both his early, traditional sound and his more experimental ones. And no one, with almost religious devotion, doubts his significance in the history of music.
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
7. Thelonious Monk
1917 - 1982
Thelonious Monk is a musician with a unique improvisational style, the second most recognizable jazz artist, after Duke Ellington. His style was characterized by energetic, percussive lines mixed with sharp, dramatic silences. During his performances, while the rest of the musicians were playing, Thelonious would get up from his keyboard and dance for several minutes. By creating classic jazz compositions“Round Midnight,” “Straight, No Chaser,” Monk ended his days in relative obscurity, but his influence on modern jazz is still noticeable today.
Thelonious Monk - "round Midnight
8. Oscar Peterson
1925 - 2007
Oscar Peterson is an innovative musician who has performed everything from a classical ode to Bach to one of the first jazz ballets. Peterson opened one of the first jazz schools in Canada. His "Hymn to Freedom" became the anthem of the civil rights movement. Oscar Peterson was one of the most talented and important jazz pianists of his generation.
Oscar Peterson - C Jam Blues
9. Billie Holiday
1915 - 1959
Billie Holiday is one of the most important figures in jazz, although she never wrote her own music. Holiday turned "Embraceable You", "I'll Be Seeing You" and "I Cover the Waterfront" into famous jazz standards, and her performance of "Strange Fruit" is considered one of the best in American musical history. Although her life was full of tragedy, Holiday's improvisational genius, combined with her fragile, somewhat raspy voice, demonstrated an unprecedented depth of emotion unmatched by other jazz singers.
Billie Holiday - Strange fruit
10. Dizzy Gillespie
1917 - 1993
Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie is a bebop innovator and master of improvisation, as well as a pioneer of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz. Gillespie has collaborated with various musicians from South America and the Caribbean. He had a deep passion for traditional African music. All this allowed him to bring unprecedented innovations to modern jazz interpretations. Throughout his long career, Gillespie toured tirelessly and captivated audiences with his beret, horn-rimmed glasses, puffy cheeks, carefree attitude and his incredible music.
Dizzy Gillespie feat. Charlie Parker - A Night In Tunisia
11. Dave Brubeck
1920 – 2012
Dave Brubeck is a composer and pianist, jazz promoter, civil rights activist and music scholar. An iconoclastic performer recognizable from a single chord, a restless composer pushing the boundaries of genre, and building a bridge between the past and future of music. Brubeck collaborated with Louis Armstrong and many other famous jazz musicians, and also influenced avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor and saxophonist Anthony Braxton.
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
12. Benny Goodman
1909 – 1986
Benny Goodman is a jazz musician better known as the "King of Swing". He became a popularizer of jazz among white youth. His appearance marked the beginning of an era. Goodman was a controversial figure. He relentlessly strived for excellence and this was reflected in his approach to music. Goodman was more than just a virtuoso performer—he was a creative clarinetist and innovator of the jazz era that preceded the bebop era.
Benny Goodman - Sing Sing Sing
13. Charles Mingus
1922 – 1979
Charles Mingus is an influential jazz double bassist, composer, and jazz bandleader. Mingus's music is a mixture of hot and soulful hard bop, gospel, classical music and free jazz. Mingus's ambitious music and menacing temperament earned him the nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz." If he were just a string player, few people would know his name today. He was most likely the greatest double bassist ever, one who always had his fingers on the pulse of the ferocious expressive power of jazz.
Charles Mingus - Moanin"
14. Herbie Hancock
1940 –
Herbie Hancock will always be one of the most revered and controversial musicians in jazz - as will his employer/mentor Miles Davis. Unlike Davis, who steadily moved forward and never looked back, Hancock zigzags between almost electronic and acoustic jazz and even r"n"b. Despite his electronic experiments, Hancock's love for the piano continues unabated and his piano playing style continues to evolve into ever more challenging and complex forms.
Herbie Hancock - Cantelope Island
15. Wynton Marsalis
1961 –
The most famous jazz musician since 1980. In the early 80s, Wynton Marsalis became a revelation, as a young and very talented musician decided to make a living playing acoustic jazz, rather than funk or R"n"B. There had been a huge shortage of new trumpet players in jazz since the 1970s, but Marsalis' unexpected fame inspired new interest in jazz music.
Wynton Marsalis - Rustiques (E. Bozza)
