Behold the Power of Jazz

Two young Russian punks dance to the music of Dennis Adu, the African-Ukrainian jazz trumpet player from Kiev, Ukraine, while Dennis performs a jazz ballad at the MuzEnergo, open-air multi-genre festival in Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia (July, 2009)
Photo by Sergei "Incognito" Kolier
Click on the image to view it full-size.

Open-Air Jazz In And Around Moscow

By Cyril Moshkow

Moscow's summer is relatively brief: early June is normally the first really warm time during the year, and the final week of August normally the last; which means that most of the fifteen million people who live in and around the Russian capital try to take full advantage of those three short months. Those who can travel, head to favorite Russian tourist destinations, like Turkey, Cyprus or the shores of the Black Sea; those who own patches of land in the city's nearest vicinities (with Russia's centuries-long peasantry traditions, of whom there are surprisingly many) try to spend as much precious summer time at their dachas as possible. Still, millions stay in the city, and they want fun.

Hermitage Garden Jazz Festival
Moscow, Russia
August 21-23, 2009



The first jazz festival to be held outdoors in Moscow was the Hermitage Garden Jazz Festival, the first edition taking place as early as 1998, when the festival started the day after the Russian government defaulted the country's economy; quite miraculously, the event held on, and is now in its 12th year...
[CONTINUE READING ON ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM]

On American Airwaves

Cyril Moshkow and Larry Appelbaum, at the Pacifica WPFW radio station on Oct.4, 2009

October 4, 2009: Cyril Moshkow, the publisher and editor of Jazz.Ru, Russia's only Jazz magazine, appeared on WPFW in Washington, DC as a guest of Larry Appelbaum's Sunday radio show, Sound of Surprise, for a two-hour dialog about the state of jazz in Russia.
LISTEN:
part 1 (wma, 25.7 Mb, 1:13:47); part 2 (wma, 14.2 Mb, 0:40:47)


(photos by Larry Appelbaum)

Cyril Moshkow in D.C.

This is going to be my 13th visit to the United States, and my 1st to the federal capital. I am there for the 10th anniversary of the Open World Program of which I am one of the nominators in Russia (which means that I nominate young Russian jazz musicians who then go to the United States for an intense coure of training); after that, I will be meeting people in D.C. who work in the jazz infrastructure, and see some live music.
I will also take part in one important public event; if you are in Washington on September 30, come and take part.

On Sept. 30, Open World and the Library of Congress Music Division will cosponsor a lunchtime event to be held in the Library's Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue, SE. The Jazz Summit: Conversations on the American influence in Russian Jazz will be led by two world-renowned jazz experts, Russian Cyril Moshkow and American Larry Appelbaum. Both of these experts have been involved with Open World jazz delegations.

Please join us for this free event Sept. 30. Contact Maura Shelden for details, mshelden@loc.gov.

Additional Information: Jazz Summit Flyer (313.7KB)

Appears Briefly

I am going to be in New York City from June 13 to June 17. On the 16th, I'm taking part in the 13th Jazz Awards ceremony. I will also speak to Howard Mandel's World Music classes at NYU (Monday, June 15, 6:15 to 9:30 pm); there is something else in my schedule (a couple of interviews etc.) -- but still, I'm ready for a contact, if someone needs such contact. I will be staying in midtown Manhattan; I'm easy to contact either through comments here, or via e-mail moshkow@moshkow.net.

Russians Are Coming: the Second Approach in NYC

A great new jazz trio from Moscow, the Second Approach, is going to perform at Brooklyn's Ibeam (168 7th Street Brooklyn) on June 12, 2009. Yes, they are friends of mine, but that is not the point. The point is, they are great musicians; they are not exactly straight-ahead jazz, but [still] thoroughly enjoyable, and their only NYC performance is not to be missed (they also play Rochester Jazz Festival on June 15 and 16.) If you can come and see them, do it: it's worth it. If you can help spread a word about it, please do so: we need to bring in as many people able to understand their values as possible. Yes, Russia does have a new jazz scene, however small; and those musicians do not imitate anybody - they follow their own patterns. It's quite difficult to put the Second Approach on a narrow genre shelf. It's jazz, modern classical, and post-modern ethno/jazz crossover at the same time, rooted in native Russian music rather than in anything else.


The performance will take place at Ibeam (168 7th Street Brooklyn) on June 12. For a few tunes the trio (Andrey Razin, the piano player and composer; Tatiana Komova, the singer; and Igor Ivanushkin, the bass player) will be joined by the great Roswell Rudd, the trombone player. Roswell is featured on the Second Approach's new CD, The Light (SoLyd Records, 2009); this picture of Roswell and Tatiana, the Second Approach singer, is taken by me during their 2007 performance in Moscow.

There is a $10 donation at the door; music journalists can contact the band via Cyril Moshkow of Moscow JJA to be on the list.
Ibeam
Directions (how to get there)
The Second Approach

Jazz.Ru #2-2009

On the cover: renowned Russian composer/pianist Ivan Farmakovsky releases «Next To The Shadow» featuring Ryan Kisor, Igor Butman, Gene Jackson and Uggonna Okegvo
Jazz Travel: Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza, Havana, Cuba
Larry Appelbaum of the Library of the Congress speaks with Radio Russia jazz host Mikhail Mitropolsky about the unearthed archive gems
From "The Offering To Duke": we commemorate Duke Ellington's 110th birthday by printing, for the first time, one chapter ("Sacred Concerts") from the late Russian jazzology pioneer Leonid Pereverzev's yet-unpublished lifetime work
Contact! -- Jazz.Ru's correspondent Zinaida Kartasheva visits the Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark, NJ
Matthew Shipp interviewed in Moscow
1st Moscow Young Jazz Vocalists Competition
The Moscow Jazz & Blues Jam Sessions Guide
Dialogues: horn virtuoso Arkady Shilkloper discusses various aspects of his work with Yekaterinburg jazz radio host Gennady Sakharov
George Avakian turns 90
Young Scene: Roman Sokolov, sax/flute
Russian Real Book in progress: Valery Ponomarev's "I Was Afraid You'd Never Call Me"