Golden Years of the Soviet New Jazz, Vol. 4

This edition of GOLDEN YEARS OF THE SOVIET NEW JAZZ VOL. 4 is limited to 750 copies.
Personnel: Vladimir Chekasin (whistling, violin, flute, clarinet, saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, synthesizer, drums, hi-hat, maracas, percussion); Vyacheslav Ganelin (guitar, electric guitar, trumpet, basset-horn, piano, organ, castanets, tom tom, percussion); Vladimir Tarasov (flute, trumpet, drums, talking drum, percussion, bells, flexatone); Vitas Labutis (saxophone, synthesizer); Petras Vysniauskas (saxophone); Joffe Arvidas (drums, percussion).
Audio Remasterers: Alan Mosley; Mike Price.
Liner Note Authors: Efim Barban; Frank Schraven; Norman Weinstein; Alexander Kan.
Recording information: 10th International Jazz Festival, Halle Munsterland, Mu; Leningrad; L'Epau Abbey, Le Mans, France; Moscow, Russia; Riga, Latvia.
Photographers: Alexander Zarbin; Francesco Maino; Larissa Denissenko; Hans Kumpf; Cosmo Laera; Henryk Walkowski; Nick White.
Translator: Donald Armour.
The final installment in Leo Feigin's four-part, 16-CD series Golden Years of the Soviet New Jazz presents two main differences with previous volumes. First, it is devoted to a single group, the Ganelin Trio and its members Vyacheslav Ganelin, Vladimir Chekasin, and Vladimir Tarasov. Second, of the near five hours of music, only 40 minutes were previously unreleased. That said, does the Ganelin Trio deserve a four-CD set? Yes. Do their out of print LPs from the '80s deserve to be reissued? Yes. So does this fourth volume constitutes a disappointment on the count of the two aforementioned differences? Heck no. Disc one contains Ganelin's 35-minute piano solo from the LP Con Anima, followed by "Home Music Making," the Ganelin/Chekasin duet that filled up one platter of the two-LP set Threeminusoneequalsthree. Disc two continues to explore the various breakdowns of the trio with a Tarasov/Chekasin duet -- the complete 1989 LP Oneplusoneequalsthree: Live in Le Mans -- and a Ganelin/Tarasov duet from spring 1985, one of two previously unreleased recordings. Disc three is given to Chekasin's outrageous quartet with a reissue of its 1988 LP Anti-Show: Sketches of Everyday Life, completed by a funny number with Petras Vysniauskas, "We Love Jazz Standards" (if you have encountered Chekasin's sense of humor before, you know how promising a title like that can be). Disc four presents the Ganelin Trio in all its glory with two LPs recorded in 1981, Vide and Baltic Triangle (the latter abridged). If anything, this box set provides a deeper understanding of the creative forces at work within the trio. Nothing here should be deemed as essential, especially considering the generous amount of music by the trio available on Leo Records, but fans willing to pay the price of admission will be happy they did. ~ François Couture