Igor butman and the Moscow jazz orchestra. Igor butman and the Moscow jazz orchestra People's Artist of the Russian Federation
Director
People's Artist of the Russian Federation
National artist RF Igor Butman was born in 1961 in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). At the age of 11 he began playing the clarinet at a children's music school. At the same time, Igor took up hockey seriously, and even played for the youth team SKA Leningrad. However, he nevertheless made a choice in favor of music, and in 1976 he entered the music school named after A. Mussorgsky in saxophone class. While still a student, Igor began to play in the ensemble of David Goloshchekin. Around the same time, Igor Butman took part in concerts and recordings of "Popular Mechanics" by Sergei Kuryokhin, as well as the groups "Kino" and "Aquarium".
Igor received his first recognition by jazz critics in 1981: in the newspaper "Soviet Youth" he was named "Discovery of the Year".
In 1983 he performed in the orchestra of Oleg Lundstrem - the best big band in the USSR. The next year Igor changed his alto saxophone to tenor and was invited by Nikolai Levinovsky to the Allegro ensemble, in which he played until his departure to America. In the Soviet Union, a country of over 300 million people, Igor Butman was considered the best tenor saxophonist by jazz critics polls.
When Igor came to America at the age of 26, he already had his own fan club, formed of the most famous and respected American jazzmen. So, back in the Soviet Union, Igor was invited to play by touring American musicians: Dave Brubeck, Chick Coria, Pat Matiny, Gary Burton, Louis Bellson and Grover Washington. In September 1987. Igor Butman entered The Berklee College of Music, where he received a diploma in two specialties: concert saxophonist and composer. The composition "French Connection", written by Igor during his studies, was liked by Grover Washington, and he included it in his album "Then & Now" (Colombia, 1987), in which Igor took part. Igor Butman has performed with the Grover Washington Ensemble at many jazz festivals, as well as at the most prestigious Blue Note jazz club in New York.
Igor's career in the United States developed rapidly. He has performed with his band at a leading Boston jazz club, playing with Pat Matini, Joe Lovano, Artie Shepp, Rachel Zee, as well as quartets of Billy Taylor, Walter Davis and the Monty Alexander quintet as a guest soloist. Famous actor and musician Michael Moriarty invited Igor to his quintet. The result of this collaboration was the release of "Live at Fat Tuesday" via DRG Records. Igor Butman took part in American television programs "The Today Show" by CBS, "Good Morning America" ABC.
In 1989, Igor Butman moved to New York, where he began performing with the orchestra of the famous vibrophonist Lionel Hampton. In 1993. the New York-based Impromptu company released Igor Butman's first solo album "Falling Out" featuring pianist Lyle Mays, double bass player Eddie Gomez and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith.
In 1992, Igor for the first time during his emigration performed in Moscow at an international jazz festival.
In May 1995, Igor Butman was honored to address the Presidents of the United States and Russia - Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin - at the Kremlin's Palace of Facets.
In December 1996, in New York, Igor Butman produced and participated in the recording of the Blues for Four album by St. Petersburg pianist Andrei Kondakov with double bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Lenny White. In April of the following year, the quartet toured the cities of Russia, the result of which was the release of the album "Jazz for Four" at the "Soyuz" company in the fall of 1997.
In 1997 and 1998. Igor Butman acted as a producer and organizer of the Independent Jazz Festivals in Moscow with the participation of Russian and foreign musicians. The Kommersant-Daily newspaper wrote: "Igor Butman single-handedly succeeded in something that neither the old creative unions, nor the new associations and jazz clubs were capable of. Namely, to establish a regular creative exchange between Moscow and New York jazz circles." ...
In August 1997 Igor's second solo album "Nostalgia" was recorded at the RPM Studio in New York and released at the "Soyuz" company. immediately became the bestseller among jazz CDs, and the video of the same name took second place in the charts of the Canadian television Bravo! Canada.
In March 1999, Igor Butman organized his own Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra, bringing together the best jazz musicians of Russia. Simultaneously with the orchestra, the Igor Butman Quartet emerged, in which today pianist Anton Baronin, double bass player Vitaly Solomonov and drummer Eduard Zizak play. In June 2000, the saxophonist played for Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Bill Clinton. The latter described his impression of Igor's performance in the book "My Life" as follows: "In the finale, my favorite living jazz tenor saxophonist, Igor Butman, played on a stage plunged into darkness. John Podesta, who loved jazz no less than I admitted that I had never heard a better performance "live." row with legendary musicians Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nina Simone.
An incredible sensation was the joint performances of the Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra conducted by Winton Marsalis on September 18-20, 2003 at the opening of the new jazz season at Lincoln Center in New York. For the first time in the history of Russian jazz, a concert of such a high level and scale took place. The New York Times wrote in its review that Igor Butman's big band showed "excellent competence and fluency." The orchestra's albums "The Eternal Triangle" (2003), which included original compositions written by Igor Butman and arranged by Vitaly Dolgov, as well as "Moscow @ 3am" (2009) and “Sheherazade" s Tales ", created by the Igor Butman Orchestra together with the outstanding composer and arranger Nikolai Levinovsky and a number of foreign stars (the discs feature solos by Winton Marsalis, Peter Bernsteen, Sean Jones and other musicians).
Igor Butman became the first Russian jazz musician to release his album on Universal Music Russia. The presentation of the saxophonist's "Prophecy" album, recorded in America during the Igor Butman quartet's tour and released on Universal Music Russia, took place at the Birdland jazz clubs in New York and Le Club in Moscow in June 2003 of the year.
In 2003-2004 Igor Butman performed with such world stars as Ray Charles, George Benson, Al Jero.
In 2007, the legendary album by Igor Butman "Funny Stories" (in the foreign version - "Magic Land"), recorded with Chick Corea, John Patitucci, Stephon Harris, Randy Brecker and Jack Dejonette, was released on the Sony Classical label. In 2009, the saxophonist received a gold disc from the National Federation of Phonogram Producers for selling over 15,000 copies of the album in Russia. More than 10,000 copies of the recording were sold in Europe and the United States (not to mention the number of downloads of the album from iTunes, AmazonMP3 and other online stores).
Igor Butman is not only a recognized musician, but also a successful producer. Since 2000 Igor has been holding the largest Russian jazz festival Triumph of Jazz, where real jazz legends have performed for the first time in our country: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gary Burton, Larry Corriell, Toots Tielemans, TAKE 6, Joe Lovano, Billy Cobham, Gino Vannelly, Joy DiFrancesco, Ahmad Jamal, Randy Brecker. The musician also produces the annual international festival"AquaJazz", held in the framework of the Cultural Olympiad.
Igor Butman runs his own record label Butman Music, which releases albums for Russian-American jazz projects, and is the art director of two jazz centers in Moscow - Igor Butman's Clubs on Taganka and Mendeleevskaya. Igor Butman's clubs in 2013 and 2014 entered the top150 best jazz clubs in the world according to the Downbeat magazine.
For five years, Igor was a TV presenter of the "Jazophrenia" program on the "Culture" channel.
Igor Butman has performed in various projects, including with violist Yuri Bashmet and his Moscow Soloists orchestra, with symphony orchestras, with opera prima Elena Obraztsova, in the theatrical performances by Mikhail Kozakov, recorded music for many films. Larisa Dolina and Igor Butman's orchestra created two jazz concert programs, with which they toured the cities of Russia and the world, and also released CDs and DVDs.
For his outstanding contribution to the development of music, in June 2004, Igor Butman was awarded the title of Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, and in October 2011, President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev awarded the musician the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation.
Since May 15, 2017 - Director of the State Budgetary Professional educational institution of the city of Moscow "State school (college) of wind art".
In 1999, saxophonist Igor Butman gathered his legendary Igor Butman Orchestra, which has since been actively touring in Russia, Europe and the United States. The Big Band has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the legendary Birdland jazz club and other equally prestigious concert venues around the world. In 2012, the Igor Butman Orchestra was awarded the title of the Moscow State Jazz Orchestra conducted by Igor Butman. A sensation for the entire jazz world was the joint performance in September 2003 of Igor Butman's Big Band and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra conducted by Winton Marsalis at the opening of the jazz season at Lincoln Center in New York. These sold-out concerts performed original compositions by Marsalis and Butman, jazz standards, as well as specially arranged for two orchestras plays "Polyushko-Pole", "Evening on the Raid" and "Water Skiing" from the cartoon "Just You Wait!" The New York Times wrote in its review that Igor Butman's Big Band showed "excellent competence and fluency." The Big Band's first album, Eternal Triangle, featuring renowned American trumpet player Randy Brecker, was recorded in Moscow in August 2003 and mixed by the best American jazz sound engineer James Farber in November 2003 in New York. Eternal Triangle has set an extremely high level of performance and sound quality for all Russian jazz. This is confirmed by the fact that the music from the yet unreleased album has already been heard on many jazz radio stations in America. World famous jazzmen were delighted with joint performances with Igor Butman's Big Band, among them - Dee Dee Bridgewater, vocal quartet "New York Voices", Kevin Mahogany, George Benson, Gino Vanelli, Winton Marsalis, Larry Corriell, Billy Cobham, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Gary Burton, Toots Thielemans. Igor Butman's Big Band together with People's Artist Russia Larisa Dolina created a concert program "Carnival of Jazz", with which they successfully performed in Moscow, as well as in other cities of Russia, Ukraine, Israel and America. In 2003, the double album "Carnival of Jazz" was released, recorded during concerts in the "Russia" hall. The premiere of the new program "Jazz Carnival 2. No comments" took place in July 2008 at the Lincoln Center as part of the JVC Jazz Festival and caused a stir among jazz fans in New York: the Rose Theater barely accommodated everyone who wanted to get to the concerts.
Orchestra leader Igor Butman does not limit himself to the framework of the jazz mainstream and loves to create crossover projects: the Big Band often tours with the American pianist and composer Igor Raikhelson, the Grammy award winner violist Yuri Bashmet and his chamber ensemble Moscow Soloists. In February 2009, the musicians made a large tour of the cities of the United States. Performances took place in the most famous concert countries in the country (Seattle Symphony Hall, BSO Hall, Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center, Orchestra Hall of Chicago Symphony Center and others). The tour can be called a real triumph: the concerts were attended by over 20,000 people!
On the Butman Music label in June 2009 the new Big Band album was released “ [email protected]”, Which presents the music of one of the most gifted jazz composers of our time, Nikolai Levinovsky. It should be noted that perhaps the most famous American jazz musician, an excellent trumpet player Winton Marsalis, took part in the recording of the album. By the way, his trumpet solo sounds in the play “Russian Passion”. In 2010 at the Chereshnevy Les festival in Moscow jazz orchestra Igor Butman performed the “Sheherazade’s tales” cycle with the participation of famous New York jazzmen - trumpeter Sean Jones, guitarist Peter Bernstein, vocalist Katie Jenkins and trombonist James Burton. The cycle includes the famous Russian romances and the symphonic suite "Scheherazade" by N.А. Rimsky-Korsakov in a jazz arrangement by Nikolai Levinovsky. It is not surprising that such a non-trivial fusion of classics and jazz has become a real revelation for the public and the press, indeed, no one has connected such polar worlds so successfully and wittily before! Live album “Sheherazade’s tales”, recorded at the concert, was released in November 2011 via Butman Music. In February 2012, the album “Sheherazade’s tales” was released in limited edition on vinyl.
In July 2013, the Moscow Jazz Orchestra under the baton of Igor Butman toured Europe and will perform at the largest jazz festivals: Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, Jazz a Juan in France, Wigan Jazz Festival in Great Britain. The orchestra is scheduled to tour the United States in September 2013 and January 2014.
In November 2013, Butman Music Records released a new sensational work "Special Opinion" by Nikolai Levinovsky and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra conducted by Igor Butman, recorded at Avatar Studios in New York in January 2013 with superstars of fusion and jazz rock drummer Dave Weckle. guitarists Mike Stern and Mitch Stein, saxophonist Bill Evans, trumpeter Randy Brecker and bassist Tom Kennedy.
In the past five years alone, the Orchestra, called a "constellation of virtuosos" by the famous "JazzTimes" magazine, has given more than 500 concerts in Russia, and has also performed several times in South Korea, India, China, Italy, Canada, France, Great Britain, Latvia, Germany and the USA. ... The orchestra has performed at the best concert venues in the world with such jazz legends as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Natalie Cole, New York Voices, Kevin Mahogany, George Benson, Gino Vanelli, Winton Marsalis, Larry Corriell, Billy Cobham, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano Gary Burton, Toots Thielemans, Patti Austin and many others.
In 2019, the Moscow Jazz Orchestra, a legendary ensemble led by People's Artist of Russia Igor Butman, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. Today some of the best jazz musicians in the country play in the Orchestra. Over the years, the collective has established itself as one of the leading orchestras in the world and the main catalyst for the development of jazz art in Russia.
For 20 years, musicians have regularly represented our country at the most prestigious festivals in Europe, Asia and America. In October 2017, the orchestra was selected as headliner World Festival youth and students. In 2018, the Big Band became the first orchestra in the world to perform at the main jazz event of the planet - the All-Star Global Concert of the International Jazz Day.
Igor Mikhailovich Butman, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, is recognized as one of the most prominent jazz saxophonists of our time. Born in Leningrad in the family of a civil engineer. His grandfather, the violinist of the orchestra, was engaged in music in his family. Mariinsky theater... He lives in the Russian Federation and the USA, having dual citizenship - Russian and American.Childhood and family of Igor Butman
After finishing the classic music school Butman continued his studies at the St. M.P. Mussorgsky. During his studies, he began to engage in jazz, being sure that it was jazz that could give him creative freedom, true aesthetic pleasure, allow him to experiment, improvise, improve arrangements and best express his individuality and himself.He also graduated from the Berkeley College of Music, located in Boston, where he qualified as a composer and saxophonist.
The first teams of Igor Butman
As a student, Igor worked in the St. Petersburg jazz club "Kvadrat", in the collective "Goloshchekin Ensemble", orchestra jazz music Oleg Lundstrem, in the Moscow ensemble "Allegro" created by Nikolai Levinovsky. In the 1980s he collaborated with rock and jazz musician Sergei Kurekhin, Aquarium and Kino.In those years, jazz was not welcomed by the Russian authorities. Once, after a brilliant performance in delight, he was kissed by the American actress Pearl Bailey, Butman was invited "to the carpet" by the KGB, as a man who had dropped his Komsomol honor. But, according to the tacit assessment of music critics, already in 1985, Butman was considered the best musician in Russia in the jazz mainstream.
He performed as a guest soloist in orchestras, organized tours, invited leading American performers to Russia - New York vibrophonist Joe Locke, pianist and successful solo artist Joe Calderazzo, incomparable bassist Eddie Gomez (as a result, the Jazz 4x4 CD with Butman and Andrey Kondakov, Falling Out together with Butman).
In 1993 he started releasing his albums. 1997-1998 organized independent jazz festivals in the capital. Prepared and showed “Duet for voice and saxophone. Joseph Brodsky "with Mikhail Kozakov. In 1998 he created the Four Brothers, which included his brother Oleg and brothers Mikhail and Andrey Ivanov, in 1999 - his own Big Band.
World fame of jazzman - Butman
He performed jazz at the famous Carnegie Hall, the largest cultural Lincoln Center, Birdland club, which Larisa Dolina is called the jazz Mecca of New York. On Taganka he founded Le Club, then Igor Butman's Club. In collaboration with Larisa Dolina, he created the project "Carnival of Jazz". He gave triumphant concerts in Israel, Russia, Ukraine and the USA. For him and the annual forum "Triumph of Jazz" the musician received the title of Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation.Conducted TV programs Good Morning America, Jazophrenia, The Today Show. He repeatedly received the annual professional award of the Association of Journalists of the Capital "Jazz" Ear. In 2000 he played for the leaders of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the United States, Bill Clinton, in 2002 - for the President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin. He wrote and performed with Big Ben a musical composition for the play "Playing the Strindberg Blues."
In 2003, as a recognition of the American public, the Butman collective was invited and performed with a jazz orchestra under the direction of Marsalis, receiving high praise in the press. In 2005 he was awarded the title "Person of the Year - 5765" by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
In 2006, at the invitation of Ilya Averbukh, he took part in the TV project "Stars on Ice" together with Maria Petrova. In 2009 - in the "Ice Age" with the Bulgarian figure skater Albena Denkova. Since 2012 Igor Butman has been the head of the Moscow Jazz Orchestra. He also leads the quartet, which is the rhythm section of the Big Band. The quartet members are pianist, jazzman and composer Nikolai Levinovsky, double bass player and one of the most sought-after accompanists Vitaly Solomonov, a versatile performer on percussion instruments Edaurd Zizak.
Family and personal hobbies of Igor Butman
Igor Mikhailovich is married for the second time. His current wife Oksana is a designer. She remembers the funny thing that happened to her during Igor's speech. She cheered the audience and musicians when, after Butman's solo, she rushed to the stage with a bouquet in delight, not realizing from her excitement that the instrumental composition was not finished yet. Then he arranged for her, together with Irina Otiyeva and Andrei Makarevich's rock group "Time Machine", to travel to a jazz festival in New York. There he came to her hotel with flowers and offered to get married. And, having received consent, he demanded that she immediately call her parents and inform about the future wedding. The couple have a son, Daniel.
Butman's first wife, Eileen, is an American. They also met at one of Igor's concert performances in 1980. The girl at that time was a student and studied Russian in St. Petersburg. From this marriage, Butman has a son, Mark.
Igor loves to play hockey with his friends - this game is in second place among his passions, of course, after jazz. At one time he was a member of the youth team of the hockey club SKA Leningrad. He also enjoys tennis and football. In an interview, he admitted more than once that he considers himself to be true lovers of Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisine. He prefers to spend his vacation in Italy. At home, he mostly does nothing - watches TV, sleeps and eats. And he is not interested in affairs from the category of men and is not carried away. He jokes that he doesn’t hammer in nails - he’s just sure that he’ll have to break them later.
Since 2008, the successful musician has been a member of the United Russia political party. He wants to benefit his home country. In 2012, he was a confidant approved by the Central Election Commission of Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation. In 2014, he signed the Appeal of cultural workers of the Russian Federation in support of Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine and Crimea. He is engaged in charity work, organizes festivals, he is always open for cooperation and new ideas.
Telephone:(+7 495) 792-21-09
The best big band in the country continues the tradition of famous club Mondays!
In 1999 saxophonist Igor Butman and arranger Vitaly Dolgov put together the legendary Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra, which has since been actively touring in Russia, Europe and the USA. The orchestra has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the legendary Birdland jazz club and other equally prestigious concert venues around the world.
A sensation for the entire jazz world was the joint performance in September 2003 of the Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under the baton of Winton Marsalis at the opening of the jazz season at the Lincoln Center in New York. These sold-out concerts performed original compositions by Marsalis and Butman, jazz standards, as well as specially arranged plays for two orchestras “Polyushko-Pole”, “Evening on the Raid” and “Water Skiing” from the cartoon “Just You Wait!”. The New York Times wrote in its review that Igor Butman's orchestra showed "excellent competence and fluency."
World famous jazzmen were delighted with joint performances with the Igor Butman jazz orchestra, among them - Dee Dee Bridgewater, New York Voices vocal quartet, Kevin Mahogany, George Benson, Gino Vanelli, Winton Marsalis, Larry Corriell, Billy Cobham, Billie Evans Brecker, Joe Lovano, Gary Burton, Toots Thielemans.
Orchestra leader Igor Butman does not limit himself to the framework of the jazz mainstream and loves to create crossover projects: Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra often tours with the American pianist and composer Igor Raikhelson, the Grammy award-winning viola player Yuri Bashmet and his chamber ensemble Moscow Soloists. In 2009, their big tour of the cities of the United States took place.
The Big Band's first album, Eternal Triangle, featuring renowned American trumpet player Randy Brecker, was recorded in Moscow in August 2003 and mixed by the best American jazz sound engineer James Farber in November 2003 in New York. Eternal Triangle has set an extremely high level of performance and sound quality for all Russian jazz. This is confirmed by the fact that the music from the yet unreleased album has already been heard on many jazz radio stations in America.
The orchestra's second album “ [email protected]»Appeared in June 2009 via Butman Music. It presents the music of one of the most gifted jazz composers of our time, Nikolai Levinovsky. It should be noted that perhaps the most famous American jazz musician, the excellent trumpet player Winton Marsalis, took part in the recording of the album - by the way, it is his trumpet solo that sounds in the play Russian Passion.
In 2010, at the Chereshnevy Les festival in Moscow, Igor Butman's jazz orchestra performed the Sheherazade’s tales cycle with the participation of famous New York jazzmen - trumpeter Sean Jones, guitarist Peter Bernsteen, vocalist Katy Jenkins and trombonist James Burton. The cycle includes the famous Russian romances and the symphonic suite "Scheherazade" by N.А. Rimsky-Korsakov in a jazz arrangement by Nikolai Levinovsky. It is not surprising that such a non-trivial fusion of classics and jazz has become a real revelation for the public and the press. - Indeed, no one has ever connected such polar worlds so successfully and wittily! Live album “Sheherazade’s tales”, recorded live, was released in November via Butman Music.
In 2012, the Moscow government awarded the Igor Butman Orchestra the title of "Moscow Jazz Orchestra".
In November 2013, the record company “Butman Music” presented a new sensational album “Special Opinion” by Igor Butman, Nikolai Levinovsky and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra! The fourth work in the Orchestra's discography was recorded in New York in January 2013 together with American superstars: drummer Dave Wackle, guitarists Mike Stern and Mitch Stein, saxophonist Bill Evans, trumpeter Randy Brecker and bassist Tom Kennedy.
Kurt Elling and Igor Butman Orchestra at Zaryadye
Over the Barriers - 2 Igor Butman Moscow Orchestra and Ekaterina Astashova