ŠINKARENKO JAZZ 4N
ŠINKARENKO JAZZ 4N
Leonidas Šinkarenka – b
Vytautas Labutis – sax
Jan Maksimowicz – sax
Linas Būda – dr
This is the bass virtuoso Leonid Shinkarenko’s latest group. It made its debut in summer 2015 and gave concerts in Lithuania, Poland and Germany.
Having felt the need for new wind in his music, the quartet leader enhanced the company of his long-time colleagues with Jan Maksimowicz, highly appreciated saxophonist of younger generation.
“To stay with what is already done is boring”, explained Leonid, known for his melodious ballads. For this quartet he composes quite different music. We will soon hear what kind of music that is.
Leonid Shinkarenko, a bassist, composer, festival organiser and leader, is one of the most creative exponents of Lithuanian jazz.
During his professional career spanning over three decades Shinkarenko played in Vladimir Chekasin and Vytautas Labutis’ ensembles, Petras Vyšniauskas’ Quartet, Džiazo nublokšti quintet, Vilnius Jazz Quartet, Vladimir Tarasov’s Lithuanian Art Orchestra and Dainius Pulauskas Group among other collectives.
The bassist made his debut as a leader of Shinkarenko Jazz 4 in 1997; with this group he recorded four albums, performed in Lithuania, Finland and jazz clubs in London. With the participation of Neda Malūnavičiūtė the formation would grow to Shinkarenko Jazz 5.
In 2003, he initiated the revival of Leonid Shinkarenko, Vytautas Labutis and Arvydas Jofė Trio today known as the Lithuanian Jazz Trio. The Trio toured in Europe. The Lithuanian Institute presented the ensemble with an award for international promulgation of Lithuania.
Last year younger generation saxophonist Jan Maksimowicz joined the Trio, which made debut as Shinkarenko Jazz 4 N, performed in Lithuania, Switzerland and Sweden, released albums.
Since 2003, Shinkarenko has organised international jazz festival in Nida. In 2012–2015, the aforementioned festival was also held in Druskininkai. Neringa Municipality declared the jazz master an honorary citizen and decorated him with the medal for contributions in promulgation of Neringa.
The bassist appeared in more than 100 jazz festivals, took part in over 60 recordings. In 2006, he was awarded Grand Prix at the Birštonas Jazz.
Multi-instrumentalist, composer and pedagogue Vytautas Labutis, a recipient of Birštonas Jazz Grand Prix (1996), is one of the key figures on Lithuanian jazz scene.
His name is associated with a number of leading Lithuanian jazz ensembles including Džiazo nublokšti Quintet, Shinkarenko’s Jazz 4, DPG, Vilnius Jazz Quartet and Lithuanian Jazz Trio among others.
The talented musician is at home in both small-scale and monumental jazz forms. Be it composing for large ensembles or playing in duos, he expertly combines diverse music styles and expression means. Labutis’ repertoire is brimming with such an amount of compositions, that you never know which melody or what else he will bolt out of the blue.
The saxophonist has toured in many European countries with his quartet, which has been playing a wide range of music from peculiar ragas to funk and free jazz for over 20 years. The quartet’s album Sounding City, recorded with Neda, was introduced in Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, Budapest, Gdansk and at Warsaw’s celebrated jazz festival Jazz Jamboree.
Vytautas has appeared in various projects including Vladimir Tarasov’s The Lithuanian Art Orchestra and Lithuanian Young Composers Orchestra, as well as international ones such as JazzBaltica Ensemble, Octet Ost, East-West Vapirov Project, New European Saxophone Quartet and Moscow Composers Orchestra. With diverse ensembles he has performed all around Europe, toured in Asia, the USA and Australia, recorded over 50 CDs.
Besides jazz the saxophonist performs contemporary academic music, takes part in artistic performances, writes music for film and theatre, and contributes to upbringing of new jazz generation in Balys Dvarionas Music School. His disciples, technically skilled and intelligent beyond their years, earn awards in national and international competitions.
Saxophonist, composer, group leader and pedagogue Jan Maksimowicz is one of the most exciting Lithuanian jazzmen. He has stepped on jazz scene in 1996 and made his debut as a composer and leader of his quintet in 2002.
Subsequently he has presented intriguing programmes with his trio, quartet, group Riot and other ensembles in all major jazz festivals in Lithuania.
In his projects the saxophonist also employs electronics, likes experimenting with musicians of younger generation, partakes in unorthodox formations and as a soloist collaborates with academic musicians. Recently, he has focused on playing in Leonid Shinkarenko’s quartet Jazz 4 N.
Maksimowicz has collaborated with many a Lithuanian jazz celebrity including Petras Vyšniauskas, Vytautas Labutis, Vladimir Chekasin, Dainius Pulauskas, Olegas Molokojedovas, Liudas Mockūnas, Arkady Gotesman, Vytis Nivinskas and Marijus Aleksa to name but a few.
He took part in a number of international projects including Baltic Asteroids and Anatoly Vapirov’s Mirror of Memory, teamed-up with Swiss trio Vein, Tim Daisy, Byron Wallen, Jaroslaw Bester, Grazyna Auguscik and the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. The musician has toured in Moldova, Finland, Greece, the USA, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Poland.
Maksimowicz serves as a lecturer at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Linas Būda, a seasoned Lithuanian rock and metal drummer, is better known as the master of jazz percussion. Since 1994, he has been a regular member of Pulauskas’ groups with which he has appeared in 120 jazz festivals in different continents including the prestigious jazz forums in Ottawa, London and Tokyo.
The drummer was one of the first Lithuanian jazzmen to appear on Malaysian, Indonesian, South African, Egyptian and Ethiopian scenes. He also regularly works with the LRT group and Antis, the legendary rock group.
