Big Jazz Orchestra. Large Jazz Orchestra conducted by P

February 3, 2019 for the first time in its history Big Jazz Orchestra p / trumpeter Petra Vostokova will speak in Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory. Peter Tchaikovsky with the program "From the New World".

So - "From the New World"- the symphony No. 9 was called, which in 1893 was written by the Czech composer based on the material of several years of work in the USA Antonin Dvorak (Antonin Dvorak, 1841-1904). It was Dvořák who was the first of the major figures in the world of musical art to see the artistic potential of African-American music, the music that in the next century permeated the musical art of the whole world with its influences and, in particular, gave rise to the art of jazz.

Dvorak, in particular, wrote:

In the Negro melodies of America I find everything necessary for the creation of a great and noble school of music. They are plaintive, tender, passionate, melancholic, solemn, religious, bold, cheerful, joyful - whatever ... The American musician understands these melodies, and they awaken feelings in him ...

The concert program includes a new musical art of the 20th century from the American continent, born at the junction of "white" and "black" traditions, European classics and African-American rhythms: " Rhapsody in Blue("Rhapsody in Blues") George Gershwin in the rarely performed original 1924 version, Duke Ellington's series of "railroad" miniatures from the 1930s. (" Track 360», « Daybreak Express», « Happy Go Lucky Local»…), « Ebony Concerto"(Ebony Concerto) Igor Stravinsky, which the great Russian composer wrote in 1945 for a jazz orchestra Woody Herman, as well as themes from "West Side Story" Leonard Bernstein (« West side story”, 1957) and jazz versions of Russian classic melodies.

The host of the concert - the editor-in-chief of Jazz.Ru Kirill Moshkov - about the orchestra:

The Big Jazz Orchestra is an association of young musicians of a high level of skill, graduates of the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesins, trained in American and European jazz colleges. Under the direction of the outstanding Russian jazz trumpeter Pyotr Vostokov, the orchestra explores the original sounds of the historical scores of the greatest jazz big bands, restoring the authentic sound of the 1920s - 1960s in all its lively diversity, in full accordance with the era and style, but not like museum pieces , but as a lively, captivating sound fabric that is still relevant today.

Concert in two parts of 50 minutes with intermission.

February 3, Sunday, 19:00: Great Hall of the Conservatory. P.I. Tchaikovsky - Bolshaya Nikitskaya st., 13/6 (metro Library named after Lenin / Okhotny Ryad). Tickets online (300 ₽ - 2800 ₽)

VIDEO: The Big Jazz Orchestra conducted by Pyotr Vostokov performs the original 1924 version of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blues"
Small Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory. P.I. Tchaikovsky October 2, 2018. Piano part: Valery Grokhovsky.

Gold jazz rush, the time of swing and kilometer-long queues to dance halls - such an atmosphere is resurrected at their concerts by the Big Jazz Orchestra. Recreating the authentic sound of the music of that time, using original scores and old instruments, the Orchestra presents its listeners with unique programs of its kind dedicated to the "outstanding giants" of orchestral jazz from completely different eras and directions: from Paul Whiteman's sweet jazz of the 20s to late rock Buddy Rich's 60s, from entertaining dance swing to serious large-scale compositions - the suites of Duke Ellington, from the classic mambo Tito Puente and Perez Prado to jazz interpretations of the music of the Beatles.

The Big Jazz Orchestra includes almost the entire avant-garde of the Moscow jazz scene and like-minded people in music, graduates of the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesins.

The debut of the Orchestra took place in October 2010 on the stage of the Central House of Journalists in Moscow. And already in April 2011, BDO received the Grand Prix at the international competition for young performers "Usadba-Jazz". In the same year he became a laureate of the first international jazz festival of young performers "Gnesin Jazz". From 2012 to the present, the Orchestra has been a resident of the famous Moscow jazz club "Esse" and a regular guest of various Russian and international jazz festivals ("Triumph of Jazz", "Jazz in the Hermitage Garden", "Usadba-Jazz", "Russian Stars of the World Jazz”, “Koktebel Jazz Party”, “What an amazing world”, “JazzMay”, etc.), performs in the most prestigious halls of the capital, including the Moscow Conservatory, the International House of Music, the State Kremlin Palace. In 2017 he recorded his debut album at the famous 1st studio "Tonstudio" at Mosfilm. He actively tours the country.

This evening dance couples from the Moscow Swing Dance Club and Ekaterina Agaponova's female group Moonshine Chorus Line will also take the stage with the orchestra.

Moscow Swing Dance Club- a dance school that has existed for over 15 years and specializes in jazz dances from the Swing Era and the beginning of the 20th century.

The show group of the club consists of experienced dancers and teachers, with a bright dance program, the atmosphere of classic Hollywood films of the 30s and 40s, a real jazz mood and authentic plasticity.

The club regularly participates in state, charitable and commercial projects with master classes, open lessons, lectures and show programs.

Night at the Museum, Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val

Jazz Day, Zaryadye Park

Russia Day, Thaw site, Novy Arbat

Master classes at the Museum of Moscow

Earth Day (in Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo park)

Usadba Jazz 2017 with Petr Vostokov's Big Jazz Orchestra

And many others.

Moonshine Chorus Line- a dance group of chorus girls, reviving the show traditions of the Jazz Age. Such groups were an invariable attribute of a jazz club or a famous orchestra.

It is based on the original choreographies of chorus-line groups of the 20-40s, based on synchronicity, rhythms and rearrangements.

Collaborated and performed with musical groups:

Big Jazz Orchestra conducted by Peter Vostokov

Moscow Jazz Orchestra conducted by Igor Butman

Moscow Ragtime Band

Ensemble of Classical Jazz conducted by Valery Kiselev

The Kikipickles

Full Moon Jazz Band

Duration: up to 2 hours (with intermission).

To be honest, the author of these lines was very sorry that for various reasons he did not get to record the album Big Jazz Orchestra, which took place on April 12 this year in one of the best recording studios in the Russian capital - Tone Studio of the Mosfilm concern. Big band leader, trumpeter Peter Vostokov, specially invited listeners to the vast premises of the Tone Studio, as he wanted to create the effect of a live recording on the album. It would be interesting to see how it all happened, and later - to compare what was heard in the studio with what was included in the album as a result, to determine which recording duplicates were chosen for editing the final version of the disc, whether there was any editing and in general how technologically the recording process was arranged… After all, not every day in Moscow albums of jazz orchestras are recorded. Especially - "the biggest and most jazzy", created more than five years ago by the vocalist Daria Antonova and trumpeter Pyotr Vostokov as a repertoire orchestra performing historically authentic versions of the best examples of big band jazz of past decades.

Why, this is the first BDO album in all the years of its regular performances at jazz festivals in Russia and at Moscow concert and club venues!

But now the album is out. On August 26, the Esse club, where the orchestra is based, hosted its presentation. The album is called "Big Jazz Orchestra conducted by Peter Vostokov". Thirteen tracks, on which 14 pieces from jazz classics are recorded - two of them, vocal numbers from the repertoire of the Duke Ellington orchestra, are performed non-stop and go on one track. And although the album has so far been released without a label, under the copyright of the orchestra itself and in a somewhat amateur design, it is, nevertheless, clearly proposed to be perceived as a finished product.

So I thought it might be worth analyzing the record as a finished product. Go from the sensations of the listener, and not the insider specialist. The listener, too, was not in the studio - and should not think about how many takes of each track were played, whether different takes were subsequently edited, whether any editing was made (which is quite realistic to do with modern computer editing). The listener hears the finished product. So we'll listen to the finished product.

The first impression that strengthens the track from the track and is especially exciting in the penultimate - a monumental canvas on the theme " Blues in the Night by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer: wide dynamic range, that is, a well-perceived difference between quiet and loud sounds. For sound engineers Andrey Levin And Maria Soboleva managed to avoid the temptation to fashionably compress the sound to death in order to achieve an unnaturally even volume level and artificial distinctness in relatively quiet episodes. On this recording, what is played quietly - sounds quiet, but intelligible; but on the other hand, what is played loudly is reproduced loudly and legibly! The disc sounds very close to the samples classic analog stereo late 50s, when sound engineers relied on the natural compression of the volume of a recording studio - and when this volume was generally a decisive factor in the sound of a recording.
NEXT: review continued

For example, we still recognize by ear the breathtakingly expressive, bulging sound of the volume of the CBS studio in the former Armenian church on 30th Street in Manhattan, transmitted by the records of the record company Columbia of that era, and clearly distinguish it from the dense, like inside an old violin, resonance of the wooden walls of Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey-based studio from the label's discs blue notes. In the 1970s, when sound shaping by electronic processing (equalization, compression, artificial reverb) prevailed in recording, record labels, dazzled by new technologies, decided that large studios with natural compression and unique room reverberation were no longer needed. So, among others, the CBS studio on 30th Street was also demolished in 1981 ... and already in the 90s, sound engineers were biting their elbows from the inability to repeat its magical sound in modern recordings.

But Moscow still has Mosfilm Tone Studio- and, by the way, a few more old rooms that sound good in the recording: for example, the famous Fifth Studio of the Recording House on Malaya Nikitskaya. The Mosfilm Tone Hall sounds very expressive. And this sound is carefully conveyed in the recordings - which places the album of the Big Jazz Orchestra in a certain associative array, corresponding to their aesthetics of the historical authenticity of the material with the undoubted modernity of the game. We hear a sound that is reminiscent of the classic orchestral recordings of the golden age of world jazz, but at the same time does not mimic them verbatim. This feeling is worth it.

When selecting material for recording, the temptation to equally present all the numerous thematic programs of the orchestra was clearly overcome - all the more so since this would hardly have been possible: for more than five years, the orchestra has prepared many programs, with a repertoire from the pre-swing 1920s (Paul Whiteman , early Fletcher Henderson, etc.) to the post-swing, post-bop 1960s and even 70s (say, a whole program of big band adaptations of rock hits that were played by the leading orchestras of that time in the 1970s in trying to reach a new youth audience). As a result, the album ended up with a kind of " Greatest Hits» BDO: Numbers associated with the swing era of the 1930s and early 1940s, which they most often play on concert and festival stages. In this row - something from Ellington's repertoire, something - from Jimmy Lunsford, which the orchestra plays quite often, something - from other swing orchestras. These are partly historical printed arrangements, partly transcriptions of historical recordings performed by the orchestra's trombonist. Anton Gimazetdinov. Only Ellington's I Got It Bad” sounds in a modern arrangement, but it was also written by a major specialist in historical jazz styles - David Berger, which in the late 80s - early 90s provided a solid basis for authentic performance in the field of orchestral jazz for the Wynton Marsalis Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

All this material at BDO is well-rolled, in demand by the public and in the form of a CD it will obviously be excellently sold at concerts - and, apparently, this is what the album was printed for. Moreover, the orchestra is in excellent shape on the recording, and its soloists on the album invariably play on the thin, exciting line between modern thinking, today's individual sound of each soloist and the historical authenticity of the sound of the entire orchestra - it is no secret that the playing style, sound production and, moreover, the actual language of instrumental improvisation has radically changed many times over the 50, 70, 90 years that separate us from the heyday of certain areas of orchestral jazz.

I would especially like to focus on vocals. BDO is well aware that "the most popular jazz musicians are vocalists", and the initiator of the creation of the orchestra was its soloist Daria Antonova. But, although she sings a lot and great on this album, we hear other vocalists: here is an impressive low baritone trumpeter Pavel Ivanov V " You let me down”, and the “characteristic” vocals of the saxophonist Andrey Krasilnikov in Lunsford's I'm Nuts About Screwy Music", and the "sweet" vocal trio in " Ain‘t She Sweet”, and even ... choral singing of the entire orchestra in“ blues in the night". Stands somewhat apart Tain't What You Do (It's The Way That Cha Do It)”, which Cy Oliver and Trammie Young wrote in 1939 for the Lunsford Orchestra. In this piece, which completes the album, the leader of the orchestra, Pyotr Vostokov, sings. Although, frankly, he is not a professional vocalist at all, in his performance the simple text of the swing hit sounds sincere and lively - simply because he sings it, as they say, with his heart.

Interestingly, at the presentation of the album on August 26, the orchestra, of course, played some of this material - popular pieces that regular BDO listeners are used to and that newcomers easily perceive; but the whole second half of the concert consisted of completely different material. In this part of the concert, a suite of three pieces by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie sparkled like a diamond, which sounded in the late 40s in his epochal but short-lived big band, boldly combining the orchestral power of the swing era, the improvisational achievements of bebop and the new rhythm of Afro-Latin and, in in particular, of Afro-Cuban origin: to emphasize this rhythm, Dizzy then took the Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo to the orchestra, and Pyotr Vostokov invited the percussionist Artur Gazarov. I especially remember in this suite the playing of the leader of the orchestra. It's not easy to play Gillespie's material after Gillespie, in the manner of Gillespie, but at the same time remain yourself and at the same time, as they say, do not jump above your head: Dizzy's playing is one of the pinnacles of the jazz trumpet art, it makes no sense to imitate it or try to replay it . It is possible to inflate more loud notes into the atmosphere per unit of time, but it is impossible to overplay Dizzy; Vostokov does not aspire to this - we listen to Gillespie's music, but we hear Vostokov.

And this is what seems to me the most important, in relation to the entire work of the Big Jazz Orchestra. This is not a “live tape recorder”, not an attempt note for note to reproduce what the stars of bygone eras played 50, 70, 90 years ago. What the Moscow musicians, united around Pyotr Vostokov, are doing is turning to the textbook classics of jazz, with unconditional respect for the authenticity of historical styles, but not through literal reproduction, but rather through living historical material in the context of today. Now is not 1937, not 1947, not even 1957; and we hear that the orchestra is not trying to pretend that they are playing 60, 70 or 80 years ago. They play in 2017 - but at the same time they do not try to impose a modern sound on historical material, but with sincere penetration into the spirit and letter of the classics, they let the listener feel the flavor and drive of a bygone era. Without leaving today - and this is very important.

And now about the sad. So far, this disc can only be bought at concerts of the Big Jazz Orchestra or in the Esse Moscow Jazz Club. Will it have some wider distribution? For now, this appears to be an open question.
VIDEO: The Big Jazz Orchestra conducted by Petr Vostokov performs "You Let Me Down" (vocal: Pavel Ivanov) at the celebration of its fifth anniversary in the Theater Hall of the Moscow House of Music 01.10.2015.

The Belcanto Foundation organizes concerts in Moscow in which Petr Vostokov's Big Jazz Orchestra takes part. On this page you can see the poster of upcoming concerts in 2020 with the participation of the Big Jazz Orchestra of Peter Vostokov and buy a ticket for a date convenient for you.

Gold jazz rush, the time of swing and kilometer-long queues to dance halls - such an atmosphere is resurrected at their concerts by the Big Jazz Orchestra. Recreating the authentic sound of the music of that time, using original scores and old instruments, the orchestra presents its listeners with unique programs of its kind dedicated to the "outstanding giants" of orchestral jazz from completely different eras and directions: from Paul Whiteman's sweet jazz of the 20s to late rock Buddy Rich's 60s, from entertaining dance swing to serious large-scale compositions - the suites of Duke Ellington, from the classic mambo Tito Puente and Perez Prado to jazz interpretations of the music of the Beatles.

The Big Jazz Orchestra includes young talents - like-minded people in music, students and graduates of leading Russian music universities, soloists of the leading jazz big bands in Moscow, laureates of numerous jazz competitions and festivals. The founders of the orchestra are the jazz singer Daria Antonova and the famous trumpeter Pyotr Vostokov.

The orchestra made its debut in October 2010 on the stage of the Central House of Journalists in Moscow. And already in April 2011 he received the Grand Prix at the international competition for young performers "Usadba-Jazz". In the same year he became a laureate of the first international jazz festival of young performers "Gnesin Jazz". From 2012 to the present, the orchestra has been a resident of the legendary Esse jazz club and a regular guest of various Russian and international jazz festivals (Jazz in the Hermitage Garden, Russian World Jazz Stars, Koktebel Jazz Party, Jazz May", "Jazz Parking Festival"), performs in the most prestigious halls of the capital, including the Moscow Conservatory, the International House of Music, the State Kremlin Palace.

The Big Jazz Orchestra actively tours in Russia and abroad.

Poster of the concerts of the Big Jazz Orchestra of Peter Vostokov

Reviews from concerts

With great pleasure I visited the Cathedral on the eve of Christmas at the Nutcracker gala concert. The magical music of Tchaikovsky in amazingly beautiful arrangements for organ and jazz orchestra completely immersed me in the world of childhood fairy tales. I would especially like to note this wonderful Big Jazz Orchestra of Peter Vostokov - its musicians simply work wonders! The very atmosphere of the sacred space of the Cathedral further enhanced the effect of the magic of the Christmas mood!

Ekaterina Bobrievich

Attended a classical and jazz concert. Organ-orchestra. I enjoyed the music, the festive atmosphere, and the light installation! The music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky sounds extraordinary, both in classical performance and in the performance of an organ and a jazz orchestra. Thanks to the Belcanto Foundation for organizing such unforgettable concerts.