8 Tracks: Of Experimental Russian Jazz with Gost Zvuk

The experimental Russian band ZGA was founded in 1984. The band explored the limits of sound using elements of noise, industrial, avant-rock, traditional and classical music. ZGA was originally formed in Latvia but later they established strong connections with musicians from Smolensk – drummer Michael Judenich and guitarist Vadim Petrenko later relocated to St. Petersburg.

Their debut album “R?ga” was released by the England based Points East imprint, sub label of the ReR Megacorp. Tracks from the album were recorded in 1987 and 1988 in a public apartment, played mostly on home-made scrapyard instruments (metal plates, springs, wood) amplified and recorded directly to a stereo tape deck.

Valentina Ponomareva was born in a family of musicians and fully dedicated her life to the art of singing. She was involved in the jazz scene starting in the late 60’s and later on she became one of the leading female voices of soviet jazz. She participated in the early Sergey Kuryokhin’s “Pop Mekhanik” happenings and recorded with notable avant jazz group “Arkhangelsk” as well as working with the composer Sofia Gubaidulina.

Her album Temptation became one of the most obscure in the history of Russian acappella works. Rarely has the concept of the human voice as a musical instrument been applied as thoroughly as on this album – “slow moans open the ceremony for this haunting opera, ghostly murmurs spread in long sections, then quick successions of vocal chords spread into sudden explosions”. And again, on this album there are traces of the Smolensk improvisational school left by Vladislav Makarov and Michael Judenich.

Old Russian city Arkhangelsk, far way in the North, gave home and name to one of the most influential bands in Russian jazz. It was founded by Vladimir Resitsky – a dedicated patriot of the North and his city, who declined the numerous invitations to participate in the well established jazz collectives and stayed back in his hometown and painstakingly formed his band. The band was a real commune with complete dedication to music. Besides the band, Resitsky also established Arkhangelsk Jazz Fest. Leo Feigin, founder of Leo Records from England, the main imprint that gave a global fame to Russian free jazz scene, was quite right when he said that Resitsky – a tireless and totally selfless driving force behind all this – managed to turn his place near the Arctic into a genuine Russian New Orleans. Arkhangelsk was also amongst those rare soviet jazz bands that performed in Japan.

Orlan was a jazz collective founded in 1986 by saxophonist Igor Kireev. This was their debut record and in our opinion the best one. The musical concept of the album is focussed on the fusion of jazz, fusion and Bashkir folk music using electronic and traditional instruments. The interest of Oleg Kireev and his team in folk music is not accidental. Born in Bashkiria, musicians were captivated by the sound of national instruments from their childhood, exploring the sounds of kubyz, quray and the ancient art of throat singing. Ethnic music, narrating about the illimitable space and appealing to the depths of a human being, easily finds interaction with the improvisation of jazz.

Vyacheslav Artyomov occupies a special place in the pantheon of Russian composers. Although his main work is considered to be “Requiem”, which in the opinion of many composers “raised Russian music to a new height”, we singled out the composition “Morning Reflection” from his magnificent “Invocations” written in 1981. The central musical element here is in the orchestra of percussion instruments conducted by Mark Pekarsky.

In the realm of Russian electronic music, Mikhail Chekalin is not only a major character who has affected the scene’s establishment and development, but he’s also a kind of symbolic figure. His music has been praised by many in the West — from journalists and critics of all kinds to Frank Zappa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In Moscow Chekalin’s name was excluded from the official cultural agenda for a long time: he was accused of propaganda of foreign «pro-Western» aesthetics and up until the end of the ‘80s wasn’t allowed to release his works or travel abroad.

In 2018 we released an archival collection of his works recorded between the period from 1978 to 1987. These showcased Chekalin’s multigenre experiments – ranging from «spatial music» (in essence, ambient’s precursor) to more contemporary synthesizer and post-symphonic compositions.

Another one man orchestra from the Soviet era is Yuri Morozov – multi-instrumentalist, composer, yogi, writer and sound engineer of the “Melodiya” studio. His musical works cover a range of genres such as rock, folk, instrumental jazz and electronic music. He’s not only a very distinctive composer, but also very prolific – during his short life (he died at the age of 57 y.o.) he managed to record a lot of music, his official discography counts more than 40 albums. One of his notable recent reissues is an album called “Strange Angels”. It’s a blend of “Goblin-esque prog, Sun Ra’s Nubian psychedelia, Alain Goraguer’s heavy soundtracks, industrial folk, stoner metal, primitive cyber glam – the most mind-blowing, engaging album you’ve never heard by a legend from the other side of the world” according to The Big Takeover magazine.

“Arsenal” was founded by Alexey Kozlov and are considered to be the pioneers of jazz-rock in the Soviet Union. Alexey was a professional architect and self-taught saxophonist and composer. He played jazz since the 50s, had deep knowledge of its different styles, was a member of numerous bands, participated in many local and foreign jazz festivals and up to the 70s he had a good reputation in jazz circles. According to Alexey Kozlov, he wanted to create a band of virtuosi, who can swing, improvise, have the “feel of the blues” and appreciate different musical styles. This particular composition “Bolero” was recorded in Kiev in 1979 during their “instrumental” period and has never been released on vinyl.