Russians Jazzily Bong the Liberty Bell

My first contact with Russian jazz, in 1977, was a cultural disaster.
 
A self-assigned sabbatical for the achievement of reaching 50 had led me to the Black Star ferry for a ride between Alexandria and Larnaca, Cyprus. During the trip, a Russian quartet beguiled passengers with jazz so arthritic I decided it must have been a KGB-inspired plot to undermine America’s unique contribution to modern music in one overnight ferry trip.
 
Imagine my surprise, when, on a trip to Russia in 1981, I discovered truly swinging sounds at the Intourist Hotel in Samarkand, Central Asia.
 
Under a harvest moon, surrounded by trellised vines that conjured up a veritable Garden of Eden, we discovered a world-class quartet dominated by a Joe Venuti-style jazz violinist who was a dead ringer—down to the handlebar mustache—for Joseph Stalin!
 
We clapped so loudly at the end of the first set that the pianist jumped off the stand and brought us a cold bottle of vodka with a wordless flourish.
 
A few years later, in a Petropavlosk hotel room, my languorous mood evaporated as I zeroed in on some jazzy sounds coming out of a storage room!
 
Yet another fine jazz quartet, practicing for an upcoming Saturday night gig.
 
My Russian was on the “da, nyet” level; their English was limited to “Duke,” “Miles,” “Stan,” (as in Getz), and “Zoot,” (as in Sims). No matter, we communicated, our ears and tapping toes the signs of fraternity.
 
These days, a trip to Russia is no longer a prerequisite for hearing Russian jazz. The Ganelin trio, the first jazz combo to tour the U.S. from the U.S.S.R., recently made a stop at Philadelphia’s Painted Bride, playing a brand of music that is definitely swinging, not subversive.
 
Pianist / composer Vyacheslav Ganelin describes his group as “polystylistic.” Joining Ganelin are Vladimir Chekasin on saxophone and Vladimir Tarasov on drums.
 
It’s jazz like you’ve never heard it before, as the full house at the Painted Bride’s July 9 concert discovered.
 
The first set was 45 minutes of intense contrapuntal innovation, followed by a 20-minute rest that both audience and band needed.
 
The Russian musicians bring an element of theatricality to their performances. Example: when Mayor Wilson Goode’s representative Oliver Franklin presented the trio with a replica of the Liberty Bell, drummer Tarasov added the “instrument” to his bizarre collection of dingable items. The trio’s tuning up became an effort to integrate this new sound into their scheme of things harmonic.
 
And while we are used to a few American jazz soloists blowing two reed at the same time, saxophonist Chekasin upped the polyphonic ante by scraping on a violin while wailing away on several different reed instruments.
 
To sample the cerebral music of this and other Russian jazz combos, contact East Wind, 3325 17th Street NW, Washington D.C. 20010. Among the offerings is the Ganelin trio’s award-winning “Poi Segue.”
 
East Wind founder Stephen Boulay, 25, made this way into the musical détente business during a trip to Russia following his graduation from Colgate University.
 
He and his companion taped several Soviet jazz concerts, which he later had mixed and refined—at an expense of $25,000 of his own money—into five LP’s which are also available through East Wind.
 
The Ganelin trip tour resulted from the persistent efforts of Wilson, Wyoming resident John Ballard and his Space Agency Inc., which usually books acts in the West and Pacific Northwest.
 
Four trips to Moscow convinced the skeptical Russian concert bureau, Gaskontsert, that Ballard, Wilson, Wyoming and the Space Agency were for real. “They move slowly but surely,” Ballard recently recalled.
 
Ballard has been accompanying the Ganelin trio on their 14-stop tour. Los Angeles was the only bad site so far, and even that was followed the next two nights with sold-out concerts in San Francisco.
 
For the Philly stop, local organizer Lenny Seidman added a nice touch with a stage backdrop of a Buckminster Fuller Mercator’s projection, as seen by a polar bear, of the U.S.S.R. stage left, and the U.S.A. stage right. Beat ICBMs, we all agreed.