Projects with V. Čekasin
SEE ALSO ABOUT PROJECT IN ACADEMIC IMPROVIZATORY MUSIC
3 Dec. 2005
CONCERT AT 11TH VOCAL JAZZ FESTIVAL "ДЖАЗОВЫЕ ГОЛОСА" ("JAZZ VOICES"), MOSCOW
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Participating musicians were:
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V. Čekasin (vocals and saxophone)
Liudas Mockūnas (saxophones)
Vytis Nivinskas (double bass)
M. Aleksa (drums) |
With concert in Moscow Jazz-Art club Andrė continues her European concert tour.
Many thanks for the author for the permission to use his text and photo here.
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from " ANDRĖ PABARČIŪTĖ --- THE DISCOVERY OF "JAZZ VOICES" FESTIVAL",
( ОТКРЫТИЕ ФЕСТИВАЛЯ "ДЖАЗОВЫЕ ГОЛОСА" --- АНДРЕ ПАБАРЧУТЕ )
ARTICLE BY KONSTANTIN VOLKOV,
ПОЛНЫЙ ДЖАЗ, #45 (330), 13 December 2005
( INTERNET PUBLICATION )
This time, the new names have been sworn by: the established jazz stars
have been represented only by a couple of performers. Sergey Manoukian
appeared during the first night, and Tatyana Konkova (rarely seen on
the more significant venues these times anyway) --- during the second.
The remaining singers have been almost totally unknown for wider
audience, maybe with the exception of Ekaterina Chernousova who
together with her "Komnaty" band presented a new project successfully
synthesizing jazz and the Jewish music (by the way, not so much of a
Klezmer tradition, but more of contemporary Israeli music with Hebrew
texts).
The tendency worth of notice: all the young ladies (except Maria
Rudenko) are not merely vocalists but pianists too: Natalya Smirnova
performed accompaniment to her singing of standards, and Ekaterina
Chernousova's beautiful playing divulged her academic pianist
education. Lithuanian singer Andrė Pabarčiūtė also demonstrated the
perfect pianism, which has been not of much surprise as she was an
academic pianist by her primary training.
While at 5th
grade of musical college she has been chosen to perform at children
musical in Vilnius by Neda Malūnavičiūtė. Neda, one of the best
Lithuanian jazz voices, also has been a pupil of Vladimir Chekasin. By
the way, the students of Chekasin are leaders in no less than two
generations of Lithuanian jazz performers! --Some years later, Andrė
herself began studies in improvization, more than in singing, under the
guidance of Chekasin. And it has been Chekasin again who brought Andrė,
together with instrumental ensemble, here to Moscow, and came along on
stage himself --- as a "special guest".
The performance by Andrė Pabarčiūtė may safely be asserted as the high
point of the festival. Although she is so young, her voice --- deep and
powerful, rich in timbre,--- not only holds great promises for the
future, but delivers very much here and now, too. Her interplay with
instrumentalists (Liudas Mockūnas -- saxophone, Vytis Nivinskas --
double bass, Marijus Aleksa -- drums) is for now far from telepathic,
but here the intimacy of contact seems not to be overly pursued. Rather
than that, the young ensemble uses fluent hard strokes à la Chekassine and communicates not at the nuance level but in a realm of powerful and dynamic motion and sharp contrasts, against the haut-relief
of convincingly painted soundscapes of tone colour. Mockūnas, playing
his soprano, tenor and barytone saxophones in turn, casts these timbral
sketches directly onto the springy and living fabric woven by the
rhythm section which either is supported by the delicate yet confident
piano playing by Andrė, when she sings at the keyboard, or becomes
interrupted by the dialectical counterpoint of broken chords, when she
comes forward to sing while piano gets seized by Chekasin. Then the
voice of Andrė, freed from necessity of coordination with her playing
and from textual constraints, attains virtually instrumental dynamical
quality, and the entire ensemble, previously nonchallantly larking
about within the confines of comfortably listenable modern European
chamber improvization, dives into the precisely designed fiery surge of
free jazz. And some listeners, lulled by the earlier performers and
expecting the comfortable and nostalgic obligate course of hackneyed
jazz standards, inadvertedly drop their glasses and forks in
confusion...
And lo! Vladimir Chekasin, The Great and The Formidable, takes a saxophone in His hands...
The Chekasin's style of playing did not change significantly in the two
decades since the break up of his acclaimed Trio:
called "Ganelin Trio" in the West, or ГТЧ (GTCh) over the
Russian-speaking areas. <...> Now Chekasin shares his time
between Moscow, Germany, and Vilnius. Here he since 1975 still trains
new generations of jazz performers according the special approach "Real-time composition and structurization" contrived by himself. <...>
This time Chekasin did even sing. This made him a full member in this
specifically vocalist festival. He began with the rhythmic incantations
of shamanistic rite, familiar by his earlier solo projects, at the
background. The Great and The Formidable Himself perceptibly strived to
quench the specific hue of diabolic parody characteristic for these
sorceries of him --- probably not wishing to clash too much with the
lucid and positive energies of Andrė's singing. After some time the
fully fledged duo emerged: the leading voice of Andrė has become framed
by Chekasin's yells, ullulation, and anything but rowdy whistling.
Chekasin skillfully escalated the tension higher and higher, until it
broke apart when he snatched a saxophone. Nonpareille!
Everyone raise up on their feet. Three minutes of exstatic finale at
almost unbearable intensity. Flare at right, flare at left, stroke and
hit!
Most dramatically,
the audience of "Jazz-Art Club", so much wont to mainstream, has been
simply shanghaied. Ovations! Awesome!
Konstantin Volkov
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8 Sep. 2005
ART-JAM: 2005.09.08. IMPROVISATORY ART PROJECT
This multi-media and multi-art project (improvisatory music + dance +
acting + ...) has been realized at Lithuanian Artist Union.
Participating artists:
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N. Malūnavičiūtė (vocals and flute)
Lora Juodkaitė(dance)
V. Čekasin (vocals and saxophone)
Vytis Nivinskas (double bass)
M. Aleksa (drums) |
Photo Impressions:
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