Two very different but compelling albums from saxophonist Alexey Kruglov bringing to life the music of Gershwin and Edvard Grieg in fresh and exciting new ways.
Alexey Kruglov, Karina Kozhevnikova with Krugly Band Orchestra
Leo Records CD LR 947/948
Karina Kozhevnikova – voice, acting; Sergey Ponomarev – trumpet, voice; Rost Kochetov – trumpet, flugelhorn, voice; Alexey Kruglov – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, alto clarinet, clarinet, voice; Anton Zaletaev – tenor & soprano saxophones, flute, sopranino recorder, voice; Vladislav Ponomarenko – alto, soprano & baritone saxophones, flute, voice; Maxim Piganov – trombone, voice; Stas Cheremushkin – B-flat tuba, voice; Denis Shushkov – bass, voice; Artem Tretiakov – piano, voice; Piotr Talalay, drums, percussion, voice; Oleg Timofeyev – voice (track 7)
Recorded at CineLab SoundMix, Moscow, May 2024
Alexey Kruglov & Igor Goldenberg – Peer Gynt
Art Beat Music AB-CD-07-2026-225
Alexey Kruglov (alto & toy saxophones); Igor Goldenberg (organ)
Recorded by Father Robert Balekat the St. James Catholic Church, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, March 2022
Two contrasting albums headed up by saxophonist Alexey Kruglov that draw their influences from differing musical genres and disciplines that take great delight in rubbing shoulders often with startling results.
Both recordings take music that is well-known outside of their original genres, as both Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess and Grieg’s Peer Gynt are familiar to audiences that follow neither jazz nor classical music and give both a unique and individual touch.
The music and lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin, and Porgy & Bess in particular, have fascinated jazz musicians around the globe for many years, and that is certainly the case for the Moscow-born saxophonist Alexey Kruglov. Like many before him, Kruglov has found meaning and hidden depths in this wonderful music that the composer would not have believed possible and presented a double album that is brimful of invention.
Arranging the music for vocalist Karina Kozhevnikova and his Krugly Band Orchestra the saxophonist does not pull any punches. The ensembles are often joyously raucous yet never lose sight of the source material with Kozhevniko’s voice soaring over brass and woodwind. She brings an actor’s sensibility to her spoken word ‘A Woman is a Sometime Thing’ and shows her command and prowess of both her voice and the score with some wonderful scatting on ‘Summertime’ and ‘I Ain’t Got No Shame’ (which incidentally swings hard).
The opening ensemble passage to ‘My Man’s Gone Now’ is a wild as one could imagine but retains a view of coherence clearly in Kruglov’s mind as the music settles into more familiar territory. There is some excellent arranging for clarinets on the introduction to ‘I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’’ that is complete with swinging big band passages and scatting from Kozhevnikova, with some of the boldest writing being heard on the stunning ‘Buzzard, Keep on Flyin’’ with wordless vocalising in a dialogue with saxophone and drums.
This double album concludes with a rousing arrangement that is full of exuberance and fire with ‘The Third Act’ that references both ‘Summertime’ and There’s A Boat That’s Leaving for New York’. As far away from Miles and Gil Evans or Louis and Ella as it possible to get it maybe but nonetheless this is powerful and absorbing music.
And absorbing music is also the order of the day for Kruglov’s take on Peer Gynt in the company of organist Igor Goldenberg, with the music catching the attention from the opening strains of ‘Morning Mood’ and the joyous feeling of ‘Antira’s Dance’ and the clam of ‘Solveig’s Song’ that features some expressive playing from both Kruglov and Goldenberg.
The music is not all delicate and lyrical as the ominous undertones from the organ permeate ‘The Death of Åse’ and the dramatic score of ‘Peer Gynt’s Homecoming (Stormy Evening on the Sea)’ and the passionate saxophone on ‘The Anduction of the Bride. Ingrid’s Lament’.
While very familiar with Porgy & Bess, I had not heard this music by Grieg for many years but have been happy to be reacquainted through this fine recording and have thoroughly enjoyed two very different but compelling albums from saxophonist Alexey Kruglov bringing to life the music of Gershwin and Edvard Grieg in fresh and exciting new ways.
