Monday, July 29, 2013

Vadim grew up in Odessa, Ukraine

"More than just a strong pianist, he's a composer who blends form and freedom in new ways." - John Kellman, All About Jazz
  
"...extraordinary playing..." - Los Angeles Times

Critics have praised NY-based pianist/composer Vadim Neselovskyi for "extraordinary playing" (Los Angeles Times), "exceptional composition skills" (musicweb-international.com) and "feathery touch" (New York Times). While mostly known as one of the key members of multiple GRAMMY® winner Gary Burton's Quintet, and as a featured pianist and composer on Burton's Concord Records release "Next Generation," Vadim is rapidly gaining reputation as a band leader, creating a "thrilling blend of classical and jazz" (jazzreview.com)

Vadim grew up in Odessa, Ukraine, where he was the youngest student to be accepted into the famous Odessa Conservatory, and then moved to Dortmund, Germany when he was 17 years old. Shortly after arriving in Germany, he established himself on the local jazz scene, taking part in the Dusseldorf Jazz Rally and Leipzig Jazz Days. After a few years he moved to the USA to further his studies at Berklee College of Music, where he was discovered by Gary Burton.

Before graduating from Berklee Vadim was asked to play and compose for a Berklee's promotional recording produced by Pat Metheny. Four weeks after graduation he was playing with Gary Burton at the Blue Note in New York. Since June 2004 Vadim has been consistently touring the US, Europe and Japan in Gary Burton's quintet.

Vadim is developing a name for himself as a solo artist. His new CD, Music for September, produced by Fred Hersch received the following praise from Jazzpodium,"Although this reviewer is decidedly opposed to promotional labels like: 'The Chopin of the jazz piano' (as the Neue Musik Zeitung entitled him), this comparison however is not too far-fetched indeed.

Growing from a stalwart classical foundation, Neselovskyi's immense technique, powerful but crystal-clear touch and sparkling improvisations betray influences from Bach to John Lewis and Lenny Tristano. In short, Vadim serves as a living counter-example for musical pigeonholing. Neselovskyi deliberately places himself within the tradition of great solo piano, reimagining and enriching it with accomplishments of jazz and pop...His music is everything: composition, adaptation, interpretation.

And sometimes it's almost hard to distinguish where a standard is being played, where he's making an allusion and where it's actually a composition by Neselovskyi himself, who considers himself more a composer than a pianist."

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