TOLSTOBOKOV, BORIS
A sad tale to go with this CD I'm afraid. The
magnificent Siberian drummer and percussionist, Sergey
Belichenko, provided Falçata-Galia with this master in hopes that it would
get published. He told us that Tolstobokov had passed away in 1997, and
that this album should be considered as a posthumous tribute.
Listening to the CD was the painful part, in that we have
lost a wonderful pianist who could have accomplished so much more.
Tolstobokov's style is a sort of combination of free jazz
and rigorous classical piano performance. This particular disc offers him
in solo mode, and as part of a group. The dexterity and speed shown
in the first piece is stunning, while he flows beautifully while working with a
small band, including Belichenko.
A treasure of Siberian beauty worth everyone's attention.
BIOGRAPHY
Boris Semenovich Tolstobokov (Boris Tolstobokov Senior)
was born in
02/16/1942 in Perm region (died in 10/27/1997 in Irkutsk). In his youth
(1957) he moves to Siberia.
He starts visiting musical classes and enrolls
in the musical school at bayan (type of accordion) department in Irkutsk.
Soon he is also taking classes of piano. As a result he graduates from the
musical school with two specialties. Although, it's important to note that
after his graduation all his musical interests are focused on piano. After
he finishes musical school Boris enrolls in the Institute of Culture of
Ulan Ude, but soon he leaves it. Very early Boris showed an urge toward
jazz music (more correctly - toward improvisation, which, in those age, was
represented only in the sphere of jazz music).
From the start he became
noticeable in communities of jazz musicians, at first in Siberia, then in
various cities of USSR, which he visited with concerts and where he worked.
In 1982 Boris is moving from Irkutsk, which was so dear to his heart, to
Krasnoyarsk. One of the reasons of this move was the idea to create a
highly professional jazz orchestra at the Krasnoyarsk Institute of Arts and
the opening of the department of variety there. Krasnoyarsk was becoming
the jazz center in Siberia, and Boris Tolstobokov could feel it. In
Krasnoyarsk Boris is gathering a quartet, finding people who share his
original musical ideas. One of the quartet program was recorded ("Siberian
Jazz", issue 2, "Melodiya"). At the same time Tolstobokov is
collaborating
with the jazz orchestra of the Institute of Arts. The most distinguished
program of the orchestra was the one called "Game of Beads" , which
was
also performed in other cities. (By the way, the parallels with the works
of German writer H. Hesse, whom Tolstobokov loved, one can feel in all
Tolstobokov's artistic activities). The search for supporters and admirers
compelled Tolstobokov to pick up a pen. And at the same time he writes two
serious theoretical works: "Dodecaphony in Jazz" and "Dodecaphony
and
Folklore". In these works he formulates main basis of his original system
with his aesthetic credo. They could find a way out from the crisis, and
also find some supporters and admirers. His last and main work, which
aroused interest in the world of music, was "Serial-modal conception of the
organization of sound material during improvisation".
And now a son of Boris Tolstobokov is on stage, Boris
Tolstobokov Jr. He
also shares his fathers musical ideas.
Boris Tolstobokov Sr., even while being at the pique of his creative life,
never ceased the search, constantly perfecting his system of performance.
Many of his ideas were never realized in the form. His new program - "
Pilgrimage to the Country of East" is the type of synthesis of his search
during his last years. In this program we see a tendency towards a
unification of deep permanent foundations of various cultures, that were
understood by Tolstobokov as a different facets of general world culture.
