December 19, 1983
Письмо описывает концерт в Клубе-81 от 10 декабря 1983
part 1:
Sergej Kurjochin (p, ts, fl) and his Crazy Music Orchestra
18-piece band comprised musicians of different ensembles:
Boris Grebenschtikow, el.g., voice;
Vsevolod Gackel, cello;
Wiktor Sologub, el.b;
Grigorij Sologub, el.g;
Alexey Rachow [Rakhov], ts,
Alexander Kondraschkin, dr of ‘The Strange Games’;
Alexander Aksenow, as, pick, tb, of ‘The Atonal Syndrome’
Sergej Ljetow [Sergey Letov], ss, bd
Sergej ‘Africa’ Bugaev, perc, el.g.;
Vladimir Bolutschewsky,
Alexey Zalinaew, vln;
Timur Novikov and Ivan Sotnikov; home-made electronics et al.
part 2:
Elton Dean (as, ss) — Kurjochin, p, — Anatolij Vapirov ts
Kondraschkin – Ljetow – Makarow (cello) trio
Полный текст письма
Dear Hans
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Great thanks for ‘Non troppo’. Good music, perfect sound and fine sleeve design.
Here are some news from Leningrad:
On December 10 Sergej Kurjochin (p, ts, fl) and his Crazy Music Orchestra performed at the concert produced by Club-81/CMC. 18-piece band comprised musicians of different ensembles: Boris Grebenschtikow [Grebenshchikov, Grebenshikov], el.g., voice; Vsevolod Gackel, cello, voice of ‘Aquarium’; Wiktor Sologub, el.b; Grigorij Sologub, el.g; Alexey Rachow [Rakhov], ts, Alexander Kondraschkin, dr of ‘The Strange Games’; Alexander Aksenow, as, pick, tb, Sergej Ljetow [Sergey Letov], ss, bd of ‘The Atonal Syndrome’ and also Sergej ‘Africa’ Bugaev, perc, el.g.; Vladimir Bolutschewsky, as; Alexey Zalinaew, vln; Timur Novikov and Ivan Sotnikov; home-made electronics et al. The CMO played Kurjochin’s 10-part suite entitles ’10 Flights of Faun Over the Pheasant’s Rest – In the Night – To and Fro’. All the participants of the ensemble contributed their own approach and also idiosyncratic gestures, motions, dances, and so on. The Kurjochin’s collage concluded with his hit ‘The Tibetean Tango’ (from the last ‘do-it-yourself’ tape album of the Aquarium ‘Radio Africa’). The tango-rock rhythmic basement was lotted with ecstatic free improvisations of reeds.
In the second part of the concert took part British avant garde saxophonist Elton Dean (as, ss) who played spontaneous duos with Kurjochin, p, and Anatolij Vapirov ts; and after that performed the Kondraschkin – Ljetow – Makarow (cello) trio. The set was ended up with collective improvisations of all the musicians.
By the way the name of group ‘Strannije Igry’ [Strannye Igry] in Russian means odd, amusing and so on, but not foreign, someone’s else, so better to translate the name with word ‘seltsam’ but not ‘fremd’.
There were some rumours in Leningrad that these cassette was released in BRD. Is this true?
Here are results of the CMC Critics’ Poll – Soviet New Jazz 1983. (took part 12 leading jazz critics of 5 cities); (Barban, Bataschev, Feyertag, Kurmayev, Kan and others)
Musicians of the year: 1. Wjatscheslaw Ganelin, 2. Wladimir Tschekassin.
Ensemble: 1. Ganelin, 2. Kurjochin
Album: 1. The Ganelin Trio / New Wine… (LR112)
ts: 1. Tschekassin, 2. Vapirow
as. 1. Tschekassin
ss: 1. Pjatras Vischnjauskas [Petras Vyšniauskas], 2. Vapirow
cl: 1. Tschekassin
tp, flgh: 1. Wjateschlaw Gajworonsky 2. German Lukjanow
tb: 1. Tschekassin
p: 1. Ganelin, 2. Kurjochin
b: 1. Wladimir Volkow
dr: Wladimir Tarasow
voc: Walentina Ponomarjowa
misc. instr. 1. Wischnjauskas [Petras Vyšniauskas].
Best wishes to you and all your friends
Yours truly
Sergej
P.S.
I’ve sent you two samples of the Estonian contemporary music on records, works of young composer Lepo Sumera and last album of the Tallin jazz-quartett led by Lembit Saarsalu, ts.
S.
