Russian Jazz Farewells, 2017

Ken Franckling posts at JJANews.org his list of Jazz R.I.P.s from 2017. For an international list, it's noticeably incomplete (maybe the American jazz community tries to finally estrange the evil Russians, just like the mainstream media do? Even at the the Cold War, the feeling of jazz camaraderie was always there...) Here’s an approximate list of losses that the Russian jazz community suffered in 2017, including a few artists whose jazz career started in Russia / former U.S.S.R and continued elsewhere, such as Copenhagen-based Nikolai Gromin and Stockholm-based Slava Preobrazhenski. The list is in reverse timeline order, December news first.

• Drummer and percussionist Yuri Genbachev (1941-2017,) of Moscow
• Drummer Vladimir Kirpichev (1963-2017,) of Novosibirsk
• Jazz photographer Aleksandr Smirnov (1945-2017,) of St. Petersburg
• Saxophonist Viacheslav "Slava VP" Preobrazhenski (1951-2017,) of Stockholm, Sweden
• Bandleader and pianist Nikolai Baranov (1947-2017,) of Yekaterinburg
• Pianist Vladimir Vittikh (1940-2017,) of Samara
• Drummer Dmitry Sevastianov (1970-2017,) of Moscow
• Producer, jazz activist, and jazz history researcher Rafael "Raf" Avakov (1944-2017,) of Moscow
• Bassist Vladimir Chernov (1945-2017,) of Moscow
• Jazz literature translator, core member of the 1960s underground U.S.S.R Jazz Research Group, Nadezhda Oksiuta (1930-2017,) of Voronezh
• Guitarist Nikolai Gromin (1938-2017,) of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Trombonist, composer, educator, and bandleader Alexander Suhih (1945-2017,) of Moscow

Yuri Genbachev (right,) pictured during his performance with Jazz Ensemble Allegro in 1978 (photo © Alexander Zabrin)