Acme by Ravil Azizov

We dedicate this release to the memory of our friend, colleague, amazing musician and wonderful person Ravil Azizov. It was a great honor for me to play and be friends with Ravil. He performed in the sensational «Orkestrion» group in the 80s, collaborated with Boris Yukhananov, and took part in incredible art projects in the 90s. At the beginning of the 21st century, he continued to be just as creative and open. Ravil helped me with the Leo Records Festival in St. Petersburg. Once he offered to record at the Red Wave Studio as part of our festival. The idea was to organize not just a recording session, but a real concert with the audience, which would be simultaneously recorded on a per-channel console. Since then, this good tradition has been preserved and we, within the framework of each festival, gather in this cozy studio for joint performance and friendly communication.

«Acme» was recorded during one of these sessions. The program is designed in the form of a rondo — trios of brass and pieces for a wider setups alternate with each other, forming a super-dialogue at the compositional level of pieces and ideas’ interactions. The recording captures the soulful atmosphere that prevails in the Red Wave Studio. This was exactly what Ravil was always aiming for: a unity, kind and pure creativity and friendly cooperation. We are sincerely grateful to him! This album is just a small fraction of what he intended to bring to life, but let’s hope that his other ideas, embraced by his wide-ranged talent, will sooner or later find an opportunity to happen.

Alexey Kruglov
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Our common musical stories with Ravil demanded not only a continuation, but an obligatory record not only for ourselves, musicians, but also for those who are interested in visiting other musical worlds, different from those that are mostly known on Russian jazz scene. The line-up of performers participating in this record includes some of the most interesting representatives of the European free-improvisation scene, which is not surprising. It was a great pleasure for me to play with all the wonderful musicians represented here, whom Ravil, even in a sense, prophetically invited to this recording.

It was very interesting for me to listen to the voice of each instrument while making the release and revising the recordings. I tried to guess - which of us three brass players is playing at the moment. It was not so easy, because I had the feeling that we are all telling one very long, but at the same time extremely interesting story. I hope that listeners can recognize or hear their own one. After listening to this wonderful music, it becomes quite obvious that Ravil Azizov left too early. Much will remain untold. If there is somewhere a paradise for free improvisers, then it probably sounds like it does here on this record. In any case, I would very much want it to be like that.

Vlady Bystrov

FANCYMUSIC is a record label focused on contemporary new music recordings. FANCYMUSIC is a broad platform for a wide variety of contemporary new music composed by different russian musicians. FANCYMUSIC is also a platform on which newer names may be encountered.

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