Germany's Lubber Blues showing why the saxophone is the king of jazz.
Photo: SPP Archive. (Large jpg - 35K)
The second international White Nights Swing jazz festival, this year featuring open-air concert at a floating hotel and a boat jazz tour, will be held under the motto "Saxophone Is the King of Jazz."
"The motto appeared by pure accident; we just noticed that throughout the festival's program the saxophone prevails," said David Goloshchokin, musical director of the Jazz Philharmonic Hall and the organizer of the festival.
The festival is considered the successor of St Petersburg's most important and respected annual jazz festival, Osenniye Ritmy (Autumn Rhythms), which used to be organized by jazz promoter Vladimir Feuertag. According to Goloshchokin, Feuertag decided not to continue because of both financial reasons and the inconvenient season; the end of November was not the best time for visitors.
"Tourist agencies advised us to have the festival in June, which is the right idea, because white nights are the best time in St Petersburg. It is also possible to have open-air events at that time," said Goloshchokin.
This year the festival will host two internationally mixed outfits. The River Valley Saxophones, a five-piece saxophone ensemble comprised mostly of college professors from Massachusetts, will team up with local musicians. The band will bring several arrangements for this joint Russian-American big band project, whose Russian side will consist mostly of musicians from the military Brevis Big Band.
Also, British tenor saxophonist Bill Skeat, who has already played in Russia several times, will join Siberia's Staroye Trio. Goloshchokin stresses that he wants to show Russian audiences that domestic jazz musicians have already reached the necessary level and can play alongside the Western musicians.
"There was an opinion that American and Western European musicians were OK, but Russians were not good enough. This is not the case anymore," Goloshchokin said.
St Petersburg's well-known tenor saxophonist Igor Butman, who used to play on now-classic tapes of Russia's best-known rock band, Aquarium, will be one of the festival's headliners.
The German band Lubber Blues has as its mainstay Peter Lehel, one of Germany's leading saxophone players. Local tenor saxophonist Igor Timofeyev won his slot in the festival program as a prize in last year's Autumn Marathon competition at the Jazz Philharmonic Hall.
For the festival, the Jazz Philharmonic Hall will launch its new Ellington Hall, a 40-seat hall for non-amplified jazz performances and jam sessions.