Grand opening of the Odessa JazzFest ’2016 festival. Open-air concert in the City Garden

September 22, 2016 at 18:00

Odessa JazzFest International Jazz Festival will be held in Odessa from September 22 to 25, 2016 and will once again bring the best jazz musicians from around the world for the 16th time. This time, representatives of 11 countries will address the sophisticated public.

For the first time, the jazz forum will be held without its founder and president - pianist and composer Yuri Kuznetsov. Despite the irreparable loss, the festival team, inspired by the example of their spiritual leader, who went on stage until the last days of his life, did not even allow the thought of canceling the jazz festival.

The organizers make every effort to ensure that the festival becomes better and more representative. And also continue to follow the traditions laid down by Kuznetsov.

One of these traditions is the opening concert in open air format in the City Garden. In previous years, its members were groups whose work at the same time follows the jazz canons, is innovative and at the same time remains understandable to the widest audience. And Odessa JazzFest - 2016 will not be an exception.

September 22, the festival will be opened by American saxophonist-innovator Derek Brown, a trio of Italian double bass player Niccolo Farachi and the Georgian band Fusion Corporation. Ukraine will be represented by a trio of the wonderful Odessa pianist Andrei Pogoda, as well as Oleg Subbotin Band, Andrei Bolshedvorsky and Semyon Kalika.

Entrance to the concert is free.

Derek Brown (USA)

A saxophonist-innovator from Chicago, creator of saxophone beatboxing technique, popular YouTube blogger and endorser of leading saxophone brands Derek Brown has been capturing the attention of listeners of leading concert venues around the world from the very first notes of his improvisations. This is all the more surprising since it is a recital of a performer on a wind instrument! From the seemingly natural limitations that playing the saxophone has, Brown was able to get the most out of it, turning them into his unique performing “pieces”.

The musician began to write his own music and experiment with the saxophone back in college and actively continued while studying at Abilene Christian University in Texas. Combining non-standard techniques of the game, as well as coming up with new techniques, the saxophonist learned to extract sounds that weren’t like anything from his instrument. It’s hard to believe, but Brown’s music is born and sounds completely acoustic, without the use of electronics! Not recognizing the boundaries between genres, the saxophonist freely “drifts” from jazz and funk to popular music, while not forgetting the classics. Brown is equally selflessly improvising on topics written by Johann Sebastian Bach and Sting.

Niccolo Faraci Trio (Italy)

Double bass player and bass player Niccolo Farachi is the leader of many jazz-oriented projects. He relates his own work to world music and, as if justifying this genre definition, tries to expand his concert geography as much as possible, regularly performing in countries such as Jordan, Moldova, China, Malaysia and many others.

In Odessa, the Farachi trio, which, in addition to the leader, is played by pianist Luca Del’Anna and drummer Alessandro Rossi, will present the program recorded for the album It Came To Broadcast the Yucatan. In the album, jazzmen managed to combine music in the traditions of European classics and elements of American free jazz. By improvising and meditating right on the stage, Niccolo Farachi by his own example proves that jazz is a universal language that allows you to convey your true feelings to every living creature in the universe.

Fusion Corporation (Georgia)

Fusion Corporation is the musical "reincarnation" of the popular jazz fusion band Confusion, whose self-titled album in 2009 was a bestseller in Georgia. In 2014, the team changed its composition and name, while retaining many loyal fans. Today, the group includes guitarists Zviad Tinikashvili and Zurab Astamadze, bass player Levan Rusia and drummer Giorgi Kapanadze

The Fusion Corporation quartet is still not very famous outside of its native Georgia, where it has already managed to perform at festivals such as the Black Sea Jazz in Batumi and the Tbilisi Jazz Festival. Musicians from the town of Rustavi promise to surprise the audience with a new program that is specially prepared for Odessa JazzFest, as well as solo of the youngest member of the group Giorgi Kapanadze. The 15-year-old musician has already managed to play on the same stage with such stars as Marcus Miller and DJ Logic.

Pokaz Trio (Ukraine)

The trio of Odessa pianist and composer Andrey Pokaz brought together well-known musicians in Ukraine - double bass player Vitaliy Fesenko and drummer Yakov Taruntsov. Jazzmen performing the author’s music of the project leader create figurative canvases on the stage that never leave the audience indifferent.

Graduate of the Special Music School. Stolyarsky and Odessa State Musical Academy. Nezhdanova - Andrei Display has more than once become a laureate of international pianistic competitions. Since 2009, he has been teaching piano at the Odessa Academy of Music. Until recently, Andrei Display was better known as a classical musician. His passion for jazz became a kind of musical experiment for him. And, as time has shown, the experiment is successful. In particular, Odessa music lovers remember the concert of his project Pokaz & Co. at last year’s Odessa JazzFest.

Andrey Bolshedvorsky (Ukraine)

Jazz vocalist Andrei Bolshedvorsky is well known to Odessa lovers of improvisational music due to his frequent performances at popular club venues in the city. The talented singer is a long-time stage partner and pianist Andrei Display, a member of the Big Yard Band.

Semyon Kalika (Ukraine)

The author, performer, close friend and stage partner of Yuri Kuznetsov, Semyon Kalik, cannot be called a jazz musician. Nevertheless, the "singer of Odessa" already took part in the Odessa JazzFest and was warmly received by the public.

Oleg Subbotin Band (Ukraine)

The project of Odessa jazzman Oleg Subbotin, known as the permanent leader of the big band saxophone group under the direction of Nikolai Goloshchapov. Oleg is a participant in international jazz festivals in Ukraine, Russia and Germany, well known to the public of Odessa JazzFest. He is an active pedagogical activist, he acts a lot as a sideman and as a leader of his own projects.