PPROJECT ,,OLEGAS AND FRIENDS”

Olegas Molokojedovas – keyb

Petras Vyšniauskas – sax

Leonid Shinkarenko – b

Gediminas Laurinavičius – dr

This project was actively performing for couple of months in Kablys jazz club in Vilnius – Olegas Molokojedovas and Petras Vyšniauskas, its fixed members, collaborated with other musicians.

Reunited after a long interruption, the long-time stage partners outlived Kablys jazz club thus the project is being revived in Birštonas.

These musicians share a decades-long experience. Olegas Molokojedovas and Petras Vyšniauskas started playing together in 1980s. The saxophonist was a member of Olegas Molokojedovas Quartet, toured in the former Soviet Union.

The keyboardist collaborated with Leonid Shinkarenko and Gediminas Laurinavičius in Vladimir Chekasin Quartet and Vilnius Jazz Quartet; all four members of this project teamed up in Chekasin’s Big Band and also its various smaller formations.

“It was a creative high point of Vilnius jazz school. It was then that we formed our idiosyncratic communication style. When we get on stage today experience of the past and the olden tricks come back, acquire new pulse. Everything is rehearsed long time ago we only have to decide on ideas. It is very exciting to play in a company of such versatile musicians at ease in any jazz vocabulary” maintained Olegas.

Even though Molokojedovas says that the project’s spinal cord is traditional jazz, the audience could expect anything.

Inspired by keyboardist Viacheslav Ganelin, the founder of Vilnius jazz school, the keyboardist, composer and pedagogue Olegas Molokojedovas started playing jazz in the 60s.

He made his debut in Tallinn Jazz Festival in 1966 with his own Quintet. Later he formed Quartet, became Vladimir Chekasin’s stage partner – played in the saxophonist’s different ensembles, Big Band, toured Europe with his Quartet.

In 1989, Molokojedovas joined Vytautas Labutis Trio and as a member of Vilnius Jazz Quartet fostered Viacheslav Ganelin’s traditions. The collective appeared in many international festivals, became an ambassador of Lithuanian jazz in the world. Jazz pundits still remember the keyboardist’s theatrical and playful appearances in the Quartet’s concerts.

Working in Balys Dvarionas Music School Molokojedovas together with Chekasin devised an individual jazz improvisation teaching method. He built and presented in festivals many a project with young jazz performers.

In addition to the aforementioned jazz masters, Molokojedovas collaborated with saxophonists Jan Maksimovic, Danielius Praspaliauskis and Anatoly Vapirov among many other musicians. His discography amounts to 30 albums.

Molokojedovas has composed striking jazz themes that will also be featured in this project. He also is known as a publicist.

Saxophonist, the Professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Petras Vyšniauskas is one of the founders of the professional saxophone school in Lithuania. His victorious music career has lasted for more than three decades.

He formed his first group of repute, Petras Vyšniauskas Quartet, in Neringa café in Vilnius in 1982. Two times in a row (1982 and 1984) he garnered Birštonas Jazz Grand Prix. In 1983, the Quartet was a winner of Soviet Union competition; Vyšniauskas himself was many times voted the best saxophonist of the Soviet Union and the Best Musician of the Year.

Today the musician’s trophies include the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania Art Prize, the 5th Class Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, the Word Intellectual Property Organisation Gold Medal, the Baltic Assembly Art Prize and many other awards.

Vyšniauskas is a musician of exceptional versatility. He is at home not only in various styles of jazz, but also academic music – from baroque compositions to contemporary opuses dedicated to him; he also has composed music for many theatre spectacles and feature films. His discography includes over 60 albums.

The saxophonist has collaborated with a great number of celebrated jazz, classical and folk musicians including Prague Philharmonic and New York St Luke Symphony orchestras, Paris Radio and New York Metropolitan Opera choirs, folk singer Veronika Povilionienė and birbynė player Antanas Smolskus, jazz guitarist Fred Frith, pianists Bob Stenson and Karl Berger, saxophonists Steve Lacy and Charlie Mariano, double bassists Kent Carter and Vladimir Volkov, trumpeters Tomasz Stańko and Herb Robertson, drummers Han Bennink and Klaus Kugel.

For 25 years Vyšniauskas has collaborated with percussionist Arkady Gotesman as PetrArka duo; he is also a member of Ganelin Trio Priorities and other international formations.

With various collectives Vyšniauskas appeared in international festivals in the USA, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, Poland, Russia and other countries. He took part in music programs of five Expos: Hanover (Germany), Aichi (Japan), Zaragoza (Spain), Shanghai (China) and Yeosu (South Korea).

Vyšniauskas’ disciples – Jan Maksimovic, Liutauras Janušaitis, Kęstutis Vaiginis, Remigijus Rančys, Dovydas Stalmokas, Simonas Šipavičius and others – represent today’s elite of younger jazz generation.

Last year his native town Plungė launched Petras Vyšniauskas’ National Saxophone Festival.  

One of the most creative Lithuanian jazz exponents Leonid Shinkarenko is a bassist, composer, festival organiser, leader and generator of various projects.

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 Jazz 4 in 1997, with this group he recorded four albums, performed in Lithuania, Finland and jazz clubs in London.

In 2003, he initiated the revival of Shinkarenko, Labutis and Arvydas Jofė Trio today known as 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 Maksimovic joined the Trio, which made debut as Shinkarenko Jazz 4 N, performed in Lithuania, Switzerland and Sweden.

Since 2003, Shinkarenko has organised international jazz festival in Nida and since 2012 – in Druskininkai. Last year Neringa Municipality 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.

Percussionist and jazz pedagogue Gediminas Laurinavičius has been a regular participant of Birštonas Jazz since 1980. On its stage he appeared with Petras Vyšniauskas Quartet, various projects of Vladimir Chekasin, Vladimir Tarasov, Vilnius Jazz Quartet, Džiazo nublokšti Quintet and other collectives.

In 1991, the percussionist formed his own ensemble Gedo Sindikatas, which was active for five years.

A resourceful percussionist’s improvisations can be heard in contemporary art exhibitions; he has written music for theatre and film. According to Gediminas, anything can be used as an instrument for making music. He has played even on knitting machine, tried to turn skateboarding sounds into music.

Highlights of Laurinavičius’ creative output include music for Euro-Theatre production of The Misunderstanding after Albert Camus’ play in Dusseldorf, solo programme In Search of Lost Time and musical installation Dissolving Dimension presented in Vilnius. 

The performer regularly takes part in jazz festivals in Lithuania, with different formations appeared in Jazz Jamboree (Poland), Montreux (Switzerland), Montmartre (France), Rome (Italy) and Varna (Bulgaria) jazz festivals, as well as Expo 2000 in Hanover and Millennium Dome in London.

Recently, the percussionist has been mostly playing as a duo with Vytautas Labutis and as a trio with violinist Vytautas Mikeliūnas and Eugenijus Kanevičius. For a number of years he has pursued Drum Party project, in which Gediminas reveals his pedagogical talent – he infects the audience from children to the highest-ranking state officials with passion for music. No wonder – he has spent almost three decades teaching future percussionists in Balys Dvarionas Music School.