Algebra by notes

The first Moscow ethno-free jazz festival was held at the Central House of Artists - Art Depot

Summer will soon come, and then the outbursts of intellectual madness will stop, and concert (including jazz) life will switch to entertainment mode: summer festivals, open-air and other pleasures corresponding to warm weather await the viewer. At the end of the cold spring, a festival of improvisational music took place, listening to which you have to strain your brains and ears. However, our audience is unpredictable in a good way, and out of a hundred lovers of garden and park big bands, there is one who loves dissonant intervals and noise effects. For such people, all sorts of conceptual music forums are invented, among which the Polish Art Depot occupies a worthy place. In Gdansk, where this festival comes from, the event takes place over several days and includes both concerts themselves and performances, video art, and master classes. This year we decided to limit ourselves to a concert in two parts, which is understandable: any non-commercial musical styles for the Russian capital always mean a certain risk. Nevertheless, a lot of people came to the concert, some of whom were immediately numb from the shamanic howls mixed with the sound of a bass clarinet passed through a processor. But the overwhelming majority of the public who reached the Central House of Artists were delighted with these combinations. The delight is justified.

The first part featured an international sextet: Jerzy Mazzoll, John Dobie, Shoji Hano, Gennady Chamzyryn, Elena Belyaeva and Peter Rahan. Before the festival, the musicians said that they knew each other well, both from concerts at the Polish Art Depot, and from joint recordings and performances. One could assume that they grasp each other's ideas in a half-beat. However, even with one hundred percent mutual understanding, it is better, in my opinion, to start a performance with a prepared and rehearsed play. At jam concerts like these, it’s a well-established beginning that can lead to an unpredictable, spectacular ending. And on the contrary, the original promise of absolute freedom quickly gets stuck in some hopelessly correct and lonely rut.

But at our concert, the irrepressible energy of six crazy people ensured that the audience was in for a surprise in every measure. For most of the program, the unity of these different musicians from different countries gave simply amazing results - both energetically and aesthetically. The center of the program is vocalist Elena Belyaeva (who is not a relative or even a namesake to the author of this note) and her idea to voice some unimaginable “five seasons”. Pianist Petr Rahan, unfortunately, played few solo pieces, although he could well have been the star of the show: he not only plays beautifully, but also acts funny. Suffice it to say that this guy played for half the concert standing up (!), and his face took on a variety of expressions (in this he reminded Keith Jarrett). Guitarist John Dobie didn't have his full say in my opinion; he mostly created an ambient sound. Drummer Shoji Hano was seen and heard best of all.

Yes, everyone tried to show themselves as much as possible without disturbing their colleagues. In fact, the stage of the Central House of Artists is not very conducive to such unity: it is small for six people, and it is literally difficult to turn around on it. Mazzolla was seated with his back to the audience, and at the end of the performance, Jerzy completely went behind the drums and sat in the wings, from where he could not be seen.

In the second part, a group called OTK Jam Band appeared - musicians of the group “Polite Refusal” (without vocalist Roman Suslov). Although trumpeter Andrei Solovyov says that all the group’s compositions are in one way or another “dictated by the algebra with which we try to believe the music,” in fact, the program of this jam band, on the contrary, is very dynamic, bright and lively. It’s nice to listen to Dmitry Shumilov’s fretless bass, Andrei Solovyov’s open-sounding trumpet, and indeed the entire lineup. In one of the announcements I read that the band plays atonal funk jazz. They don’t have any atonality, but funk and seventies jazz-rock are present in the best possible way. And this is always nice.

Alexander BELYAEV