The
son of a Russian father and mother,
Igor was born in the city of
Moscow. He studied piano from
the age of six and started to pick
up guitar as a teenager. These were
the seeds. And the soil, of course,
is his homeland of Russia. A
composer by training, Igor studied
guitar with the famed teacher
Michael Esacoff in Moscow, and it
was at his insisting to investigate
jazz legacy that Igor's explorations
began in intensely serious form. He
digged deep into the culture of
Be-Bop, the Cool school, and spent
time with various Avant-Garde
systems, all the while working on a
characteristic voice as a guitar
player.
Approximately, at that time Igor
organized two improvised formations
: Roof and Asphalt, representing
free-style experimental music and
rock avant-garde respectively.
Music of this groups documented on
different labels in Russia, Germany,
and Great Britain.
Such
diversities feeding Igor's music are
very much accounted for on Ira
& Igor, his 6th project for
III Records and, by his account, the
23rd album he is recorded over the
quarter of the century since the Esacoff incident. Wildedged
passages, full of Igor's percussive
phrases and extended guitar
techniques, and sensuous melodic
writings coexist naturally.
Impressionistic sections and
improvised parts seamlessly blended
together with intricately detailed
passages, full of evolving
contrapuntal writings performed by
Igor and longtime colleague
Ira
Schulman. Importantly, the borders
between classical music, jazz idiom,
folklore, and countless forms of
creativity are graciously brought
down. Certainly and unmistakably,
this is Igor music. He deeps onto
resources at once earthy and
spherical, bringing those conditions
into spotlight and sorting up
issues, cultural clashes and
prejudices. Most of all, his music
is not so much a feed for purists
complaint or stylistic controversy
as it is a hypersensitive and living
organism, a body of works that keeps
to expand and evolve.
Igor's fruitful association with III
Records began in 90's of the last
century, when he recorded the
acclaimed Splash
Strings on Me, with fellow
Japanese singer Kyoto Wajima.
Subsequent projects brought Igor
into collaborations with Drea
Courtney and Rod Oakes. On the verge
of the centuries, he released OGOGO
Live, with group OGOGO, and a
solo album The
Land Of Cumber: reflections of
the artist from two separate angles.
In the beginning of the XXI century, Ira & Igor documented the
natural evolution of the group OGOGO,
which for this reincarnation
features duets of Ira Schulman on
flutes, tenor sax and clarinet and
Igor on guitars.
Also Igor contributed to all tracks on
Rod Oakes
album Rod Plays Oakes Plays Rod.
Next is a remarkable twist. Igor is recording
album of highly unusual music. Music that is colorfully visual and at the
same time is very emotional, up to threshold of pain. Album's title is
Solo View and
it's recorded in Los Angeles, London and Moscow.
Igor composed OGOGO/Linden
album during the two year period in
2007-2008, his work of musical impressions of far-reaching Avant-Garde
paintings, featuring a collection of fourteen compositions reflecting
the renowned paintings of Ron Linden. Igor set himself the task
of writing compositions incorporating experimental styles with his
already extensive musical palette. The titles of all the
OGOGO/Linden album compositions are
derived from the titles of the original paintings of Linden.
Over the last twenty-five years, the
music of Igor has brought us, with
its unique cultural legacy, an
uncommon depth.
