LIUDAS MOCKŪNAS – EUGENIJUS KANEVIČIUS – VLADIMIR TARASOV

Liudas Mockūnas – ss, ts, cls

Eugenijus Kanevičius – b, electronics

Vladimir Tarasov – dr, perc, cimbalom and hunting horn

The three jazz luminaries seldom play as a trio – most often they team up in bigger formations. The Trio has several times collaborated with American poet Kerry Shawn Keys reading his own poems, appeared as a sextet with Russian jazz masters, and also in various other line-ups.

The Trio’s each concert is unique, for they play spontaneous music: the three coequal partners never discuss the upcoming performance. They took the same approach in recording of Intuitus, their double vinyl album released by NoBusiness Records.

Birštonas Jazz is the first to present this release.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and group leader Liudas Mockūnas is one of the most creative representatives of the Lithuanian contemporary jazz and improvised music. Upon graduating from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LAMT) and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, he took active stance on the scene of European improvised music. Today he is possibly the most dynamic Lithuanian jazz master, constantly migrating to European festivals and jazz clubs, discovering new creative partners in Scandinavia, Baltic States, Poland, Russia, Portugal and other countries. 

The musician is the leader of Mockūno Nuclear and Traffic Trio, co-leader of various international collectives such as Toxikum, electro-acoustic trio Red Planet and Lithuanian Saga Quartet, a member of Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Markus Pesonen’s Hendecet, Stefan Pasborg’s Free Moby Dick and Odessa 5, international groups Dirty Mountain, Heavy Beauty and Mikko Innanen’s Innkvisitio, contemporary music ensembles Gaida and Konvoj Art. In addition, he is an associate of the Lithuanian Ensemble Network.

The saxophonist plays as a duo with Marc Ducret and Ryoji Hojito, Barry Guy, William Hooker, Petras Geniušas, Artūras Bumšteinas and Vladimir Tarasov, collaborates with Pierre Dørge and his New Jungle Orchestra, Jacob Anderskov, Nils Davidsen, Vladimir Chekasin, Arkady Gotesman, Mats Eilertsen, Mark Solborg, Jonas Westergaard, Jakob Riis, Jaak Sooäär, Hugo Carvalhais and many other intriguing jazz musicians.

He has taken part in programmes of Andrew Hill’s Jazz Par octet, Ibrahim Electric, British TrioVD, Free Tallinn Trio, Mats Gustaffsson, Raymond Strid and Frank Gratkowski among other jazz innovators.

In 2004, Liudas Mockūnas and Stefan Pasborg received the Danish Music Award for Toxicum’s album. The saxophonist is a prize winner of various competitions in Lithuania, Latvia and France; a recipient of Vilnius Jazz and Birštonas Jazz prizes for contribution to Lithuanian jazz, as well as Gold Disc awarded by the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union. In 2011, he was decorated with a Golden Cross of the Stage (award for achievements in the Lithuanian theatre field) for the best music for theatre production.

In addition, he is famed not only as an exponent of improvised music and avant-garde jazz, but also as an expert of contemporary academic music. His repertoire includes works by such composers as Bronius Kutavičius, Anatolijus Šenderovas, Arvydas Malcys, Vyacheslav Ganelin, Dietrich Eichmann, Vykintas Baltakas, Raminta Šerkšnytė and Giedrius Puskunigis.

As a soloist the saxophonist has performed with Kralovy Hradec Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra as well as St. Christopher and Klaipėda chamber orchestras and Chordos String Quartet. In 2013, in tandem with pianist Petras Geniušas he recorded Jūra Miške (The Sea in the Forest), an album of original interpretations of piano preludes by M.K. Čiurlionis. With various formations he has toured in Europe, the USA, China, Japan and Israel.

Mockūnas’ discography amounts to around 60 albums. He has contributed greatly to the producing of experimental jazz recordings – he is a co-founder and co-strategist of an independent record label NoBusiness Records.

Currently, Mockūnas is an associate Professor at the departments of jazz in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy.

Eugenijus Kanevičius, one of the most versatile Lithuanian bassists, made his debut on jazz scene in 1986.

For many years he has been sharing stage with Arkady Gotesman, Skirmantas Sasnauskas, Artūras Anusauskas, Egidijus Buožis, Arvydas Jofė and Gediminas Laurinavičius among other musicians. The bassist was part of Petras Vyšniauskas’, Juozas Milašius’, Liudas Mockūnas’, Vytautas Labutis’, Vladimir Tarasov’s and Tomas Kutavičius’ significant projects, has contributed to the success of Kaunas Big Band and Vilnius Jazz Quartet, and collaborated with Estonian saxophonist Raivo Tafenau Quartet and Dream Big Band.

Currently, Kanevičius is a member of Traffic Trio with Liudas Mockūnas and Dalius Naujokaitis, plays in a trio with Arkady Gotesman and Juozas Kuraitis, takes part in programmes of Vladimir Tarasov’s Lithuanian Art Orchestra.

Kanevičius’ music is featured on albums of Raivo Tafenau Quartet, L.V.K.A. and other groups. He composes music for Alytus Drama Theatre productions.

The bassist has represented Lithuania in Bulgaria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Italy, Great Britain, etc.; regularly appears in jazz festivals in Lithuania.

In 2004, for his contributions the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union presented Kanevičius with Gold Disc.

Percussionist, composer and visual artist Vladimir Tarasov has for many years collaborated with both jazz and academic music representatives. In 1991, he joined the Lithuanian Composers’ Union. Maestro composes for orchestra, writes music for film and theatre, realises jazz ideas in both his solo projects and monumental programmes with The Lithuanian Art Orchestra, which he formed in 1991. The Orchestra reaped the laurels with Tarasov’s Gobelenas I (Tapestry I) and Gobelenas II (Tapestry II) compositions in two recent Vilnius Mama Jazz festivals.

Born in Arkhangelsk, Tarasov settled in Lithuania in 1968. In 1971, he became one of the three members of GTČ Trio. In 1998, he authored an autobiographical book Trio.

Between 1999 and 2002 Tarasov was in charge of the Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania, where he also directed plays. The musician has collaborated with Staatstheater in Stuttgart (1995), Majestic Theatre at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York (1995), Josef Nadj Centre Choreographique National Orleans in Orleans (1998) among other performing art institutions.

Since 1991, Tarasov has participated in personal and collective visual art exhibitions. Without the help of professional cameramen and mastering experts he creates audio-visual installations, finding their themes on his journeys to exotic countries.

The artist has displayed his works in Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Centre Georges Pompidou and Galeries nationales du Grand Palais in Paris, Venetian Biennale, EXPO-2008 in Zaragoza, Bass Museum of Art in Miami, Kulturhuset in Stockholm, Contemporary Art Centre Dom in Moscow, National Contemporary Art Centre in Moscow, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and other art centres. 2008 saw “Baltos lankos” publication of Vladimiras Tarasovas: tarp garso ir vaizdo (Vladimir Tarasov: Between Sound and Image).

Tarasov taught and gave workshops in Bremen Music College, Podevil Art Centre in Berlin, Visual Art Institute in Orleans, University of California, University of the Pacific, and art academies in Düsseldorf and Vilnius, etc.

The artist regularly participates in various theatre, jazz and visual art projects in France, Italy, Germany, Russia and the USA. The musician has initiated a number of projects involving people of letters from Lithuania and abroad.

The percussionist has collaborated with Andrew Cyrille, The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Anthony Braxton, Lauren Newton, Butch Morris, Thomasz Stanko, Didier Petit, Mark Dresser, Gyorgy Szabados, Masahiko Satoh, Kazutoki Umezu and Anatoly Vapirov among other luminaries of jazz and improvised music.

As a composer and improviser Tarasov is best appreciated in his solo percussion projects. His discography amounts to almost twenty solo albums, 34 with GTČ Trio, and more than 60 with other Lithuanian and foreign jazz and classical musicians.

In 2009, the Russian publishing house “NLO” presented Tarasov’s third book Tam-Tam. The same year he was the first representative of Lithuania to be awarded prestigious Russian prize “Triumph”, for achievements in art and literature. He is a recipient of the Birštonas Jazz Grand Prix and Vilnius Jazz Award for contributions to Lithuanian jazz.