Vadim Neselovskyi – Odesa (2022) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Vadim Neselovskyi – Odesa (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:28 minutes | 978 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sunnyside

Music always tells a story. But sometimes this is particularly haunting. For example, on this album. Sometimes the sounds fall like snowflakes, as if it were an impromptu by Robert Schumann, the play is called “Winter in Odessa”. Then again, the number is called “Central Station”, a beat powerfully drives forward, you can hear trains arriving and departing, although everything is just solo piano.

No matter if you love classical music or jazz or chanson or ragtime – all this becomes one here. Some passages remind a little of the pieces of Charlie Chaplin, who also composed, or of George Gershwin, especially of the “American in Paris” – powerful music, very intellectual, but still full of swing. And then comes a solo, such a striking and clear improvisation, which effortlessly reaches the top level of current jazz.

The man who plays the piano so brilliantly is called Vadim Neselovskyi. He has a German and a Ukrainian passport. He is a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the best music school in the world. He plays with the greatest of jazz. Hardly anyone in this country knows the 44-year-old. That should change – now with his album “Odesa”. This refers to Odessa, the megacity on the Black Sea, where rockets are currently hitting. Neselovskyi did not suspect about this when recording, he worked on the album for two years, shortly before the outbreak of war it was ready.Ukrainian pianist Vadim Neselovskyi paints a poignant, deeply personal portrait of his hometown with 2022’s vibrant and moving solo piano recording Odesa. Based in New York City ever since immigrating in the early ’00s, Neselovskyi has garnered acclaim for his harmonically sophisticated and swinging work as a member of vibraphonist Gary Burton’s group. He’s also released a handful of his own solo and small group albums, and contributed to heady projects with John Zorn, French horn player Arkady Shilkloper, and fellow pianist Craig Taborn. While all this work has continued to find him traveling around the globe, his thoughts often brought him back to his early life in Odesa, memories that took on ever more urgency and clarity with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Conceptualized as a kind of walking tour of the city, Neselovskyi draws inspiration from many of the landmarks and places that shaped his youth, as on “Odesa Railway Station,” “Potemkin Stairs,” and “Waltz of Odesa Conservatory,” the latter of which was where he first began his musical journey at age 15. These are intimate, yet sparkling performances that showcase Neselovskyi’s vivid blend of classical and jazz harmonies, a style that brings to mind luminaries like Keith Jarrett and Glenn Gould. Blessed with a dazzling technique, Neselovskyi is a dynamic performer, capable of delivering spirals of notey arpeggios one minute before descending into crashing waves of bass-heavy dissonance the next as he does on the evocative “Odesa 1941,” an homage to a tragic mass murder of jews in the city during World War II. While war and heartache are certainly at the core of much of Odesa, Neselovskyi also conjures moments of deep, pastoral beauty as on the spare and balletic “Winter in Odesa” and the yearning “Acacia Trees.” With Odesa, Neselovskyi has crafted a loving, artfully rendered tribute to the people, places, and history of his hometown, both past and future. – Matt Collar

Tracklist:

01. Vadim Neselovskyi – Intro to Odesa Railway Station (00:50)
02. Vadim Neselovskyi – Odesa Railway Station (05:05)
03. Vadim Neselovskyi – Winter in Odesa (05:11)
04. Vadim Neselovskyi – Potemkin Stairs (05:18)
05. Vadim Neselovskyi – Acacia Trees (06:22)
06. Vadim Neselovskyi – Waltz of Odesa Conservatory (04:07)
07. Vadim Neselovskyi – Odesa 1941 (05:43)
08. Vadim Neselovskyi – Intro to Jewish Dance (01:24)
09. Vadim Neselovskyi – Jewish Dance (04:12)
10. Vadim Neselovskyi – Interlude 1 (00:59)
11. Vadim Neselovskyi – My First Rock Concert (08:00)
12. Vadim Neselovskyi – Interlude 2 (01:07)
13. Vadim Neselovskyi – The Renaissance of Odesa (07:03)

Download:

mqs.link_VadimNesel0vskyi0desa20222496.part1
mqs.link_VadimNesel0vskyi0desa20222496.part2