Igor Butman. People's Artist of the Russian Federation

Igor Mikhailovich Butman, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, is recognized as one of the most outstanding jazz saxophonists of our time. Born in Leningrad in the family of a civil engineer. Music in his family was played by his grandfather, a violinist in the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra. Lives in the Russian Federation and the USA, having dual citizenship - Russian and American.

Childhood and family of Igor Butman

After graduating from classical music school, Butman continued his studies at the St. Petersburg Music College. M. P. Mussorgsky. During his studies, he began to study jazz, being confident that it was jazz that could give him creative freedom, true aesthetic pleasure, allow him to experiment, improvise, improve arrangements and best express his individuality and himself.

He also graduated from Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, qualifying as a composer and saxophonist.

The first groups of Igor Butman

As a student, Igor worked in the St. Petersburg jazz club “Kvadrat”, in the Goloshchekin Ensemble, Oleg Lundstrem’s jazz orchestra, and in the Moscow ensemble Allegro created by Nikolai Levinovsky. In the 1980s he collaborated with rock and jazz musician Sergei Kuryokhin, Aquarium and Kino.

In those years, jazz was not welcomed by Russian officials. Once, after a brilliant performance, the American actress Pearl Bailey kissed him in delight, Butman was invited “on the carpet” to the KGB, as a person who had lost his Komsomol honor. But, according to the unspoken assessment of music critics, already in 1985 Butman was considered the best musician in Russia in the jazz mainstream.

He performed as a guest soloist in orchestras, organized tours, invited leading American performers to Russia - New York vibraphonist Joe Locke, pianist and successful solo artist Joe Calderazzo, incomparable bassist Eddie Gomez (the result was the Jazz 4x4 CD with Butman and Andrey Kondakov, Falling Out together with Butman).

In 1993 he began releasing his albums. In 1997-1998 organized independent jazz festivals in the capital. Prepared and performed “Duet for voice and saxophone. Joseph Brodsky" with Mikhail Kozakov. In 1998 he created the Four Brothers group, which included his brother Oleg and brothers Mikhail and Andrey Ivanov, and in 1999 - his own Big Band.

World fame of jazzman - Butman

He performed jazz in the famous concert hall “Carnegie Hall”, the largest cultural “Lincoln Center”, the Birdland club, which Larisa Dolina calls the jazz Mecca of New York. On Taganka he founded Le Club, then the Igor Butman Club. In collaboration with Larisa Dolina, he created the project “Jazz Carnival”. He gave triumphant concerts with him in Israel, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the USA. For him and the annual forum “Triumph of Jazz” the musician received the title of Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

Hosted television programs Good Morning America, Jazzophrenia, The Today Show. Repeatedly received the annual professional award of the association of journalists of the capital "Jazz" Ear. In 2000 he played for the leaders of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the USA Bill Clinton, in 2002 - for the Chairman of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin. He wrote and performed a musical composition for the play with Big Ben "We play Strindberg blues."

In 2003, as recognition from the American public, Butman's band was invited and performed with a jazz orchestra led by Marsalis, receiving high praise in the press. In 2005, he was awarded the title “Person of the Year – 5765” by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

In 2006, at the invitation of Ilya Averbukh, he participated in the television project “Stars on Ice” together with Maria Petrova. In 2009 - in “Ice Age” with the Bulgarian figure skater Albena Denkova. Since 2012, Igor Butman has headed the Moscow Jazz Orchestra. He also leads the quartet, which is the rhythm section of the Big Band. The members of the quartet are pianist, jazzman and composer Nikolai Levinovsky, double bassist and one of the most sought-after accompanists Vitaly Solomonov, and versatile percussionist Edaurd Zizak.

Family and personal hobbies of Igor Butman

Igor Mikhailovich is married for the second time. His current wife Oksana is a designer. She recalls a funny thing that happened to her during Igor’s performance. She amused the audience and the musicians when, after Butman’s solo, she delightedly rushed onto the stage with a bouquet, not realizing in her excitement that the instrumental composition was not yet finished. Then he arranged for her, together with Irina Otieva and Andrei Makarevich’s rock band “Time Machine,” to travel to the jazz festival in New York. There he came to her hotel with flowers and proposed marriage. And, having received consent, he demanded that she immediately call her parents and inform them about the future wedding. The couple has a son, Daniel.

Butman's first wife, Eileen, is American. They also met at one of Igor’s concert performances in 1980. The girl at that time was a student and studied Russian in St. Petersburg. From this marriage Butman has a son, Mark.

Igor loves to play hockey with friends - this game comes second in his list of passions, of course, after jazz. At one time he was a member of the youth team of the SKA Leningrad hockey club. He also likes tennis and football. In interviews he has repeatedly admitted that he considers himself to be a true lover of Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisine. He prefers to spend his holidays in Italy. At home he mostly does nothing - watches TV, sleeps and eats. And he is not interested in and is not keen on matters from the men’s category. He jokes that he doesn’t drive nails - he’s just sure that he’ll have to break them later.

Since 2008, the successful musician has been a member of the United Russia political party. He wants to benefit his native country. In 2012, he was a proxy approved by the Central Election Commission of Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation. In 2014, he signed the Appeal of cultural figures of the Russian Federation in support of Vladimir Putin’s policies on Ukraine and Crimea. He is involved in charity work, organizes festivals, and is always open to cooperation and new ideas.

In 1999, saxophonist Igor Butman formed his legendary Igor Butman Orchestra, which has since been actively touring in Russia, Europe and the USA. The big band has repeatedly performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the legendary jazz club Birdland and other equally prestigious concert venues around the world. In 2012, the Igor Butman Orchestra was awarded the title of the Moscow State Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Igor Butman. A sensation for the entire jazz world was the joint performance in September 2003 of the Igor Butman Big Band and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra conducted by Wynton Marsalis at the opening of the jazz season at Lincoln Center in New York. At these sold-out concerts, original compositions by Marsalis and Butman, jazz standards were performed, as well as pieces specially arranged for two orchestras: “Polyushko-Pole”, “Evening on the Roadstead” and “Water Skiing” from the cartoon “Well, Just Wait!”. The New York Times wrote in its review that Igor Butman's Big Band showed "excellent competence and fluency." The Big Band's first album, “Eternal Triangle,” featuring the famous American trumpeter Randy Brecker, was recorded in August 2003 in Moscow and mixed by the best American jazz sound engineer James Farber in November 2003 in New York. Eternal Triangle set an extremely high bar for performance and sound quality for all Russian jazz. This is confirmed by the fact that music from the not yet released album has already been heard on many jazz radio stations in America. World-famous jazzmen were delighted with joint performances with the Igor Butman Big Band, among them Dee Dee Bridgewater, the New York Voices vocal quartet, Kevin Mahogany, George Benson, Gino Vanelli, Wynton Marsalis, Larry Corriell, Billy Cobham, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Gary Burton, Toots Tielemans. Igor Butman’s big band together with People’s Artist of Russia Larisa Dolina created the concert program “Jazz Carnival”, which they successfully performed in Moscow, as well as in other cities of Russia, Ukraine, Israel and America. In 2003, the double album “Jazz Carnival” was released, recorded during concerts in the “Russia” hall. The premiere of the new program “Jazz Carnival 2. No comments” took place in July 2008 on the stage of Lincoln Center as part of the JVC Jazz Festival and caused a stir among jazz fans in New York: the Rose Theater could barely accommodate everyone who wanted to attend the concerts.

The director of the orchestra, Igor Butman, does not limit himself to the jazz mainstream and loves to create crossover projects: the Big Band often tours with American pianist and composer Igor Raikhelson, Grammy Award winner violist Yuri Bashmet and his chamber ensemble “Moscow Soloists”. In February 2009, the musicians made a large tour of US cities. Performances took place in the most famous concert halls in the country (Seattle Symphony Hall, BSO Hall, Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center, Orchestra Hall of Chicago Symphony Center and others). The tour can be called a real triumph: more than 20,000 people attended the concerts!

In June 2009, the Butman Music label released a new Big Band album “Moscow@3am”, which presents the music of one of the most gifted jazz composers of our time, Nikolai Levinovsky. It should be noted that perhaps the most famous American jazz musician, the excellent trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, took part in the recording of the album. By the way, his trumpet solo is heard in the play “Russian Passion”. In 2010, at the Chereshnevy Les festival in Moscow, Igor Butman’s jazz orchestra performed the cycle “Sheherazade’s tales” with the participation of famous New York jazzmen - trumpeter Sean Jones, guitarist Peter Bernstein, vocalist Katie Jenkins and trombonist James Burton. The cycle includes famous Russian romances and the symphonic suite “Scheherazade” by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov in a jazz arrangement by Nikolai Levinovsky. It is not surprising that such a non-trivial fusion of classical and jazz became a real revelation for the public and the press; indeed, no one before had so successfully and wittily connected such polar worlds! The live album “Sheherazade’s tales”, recorded at the concert, was released in November 2011 on the Butman Music label. In February 2012, the album “Sheherazade’s tales” was released in limited edition on vinyl.

In July 2013, the Moscow Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Igor Butman made a large tour of Europe and will perform at the largest jazz festivals: Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, Jazz a Juan in France, Wigan Jazz Festival in the UK. The orchestra's tours in the United States are planned for September 2013 and January 2014.

In November 2013, Butman Music Records released a new sensational work "Special Opinion" by Nikolai Levinovsky and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Igor Butman, recorded at Avatar Studios in New York in January 2013 with fusion and jazz-rock superstars drummer Dave Weckl, guitarists Mike Stern and Mitch Stine, saxophonist Bill Evans, trumpeter Randy Brecker and bassist Tom Kennedy.

Over the past five years alone, the Orchestra, called a “constellation of virtuosos” by the famous JazzTimes magazine, has given more than 500 concerts in Russia, and has also performed repeatedly in South Korea, India, China, Italy, Canada, France, Great Britain, Latvia, Germany and the USA . The orchestra has performed at the best concert venues on the planet with such jazz legends as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Natalie Cole, New York Voices, Kevin Mahogany, George Benson, Gino Vanelli, Wynton Marsalis, Larry Corriell, Billy Cobham, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Gary Burton, Toots Tielemans, Patti Austin and many others.

In 2019, the Moscow Jazz Orchestra, a legendary group led by People's Artist of Russia Igor Butman, celebrates its 20th anniversary. Today, some of the best jazz musicians in the country play in the Orchestra. Over the years of its existence, the group has established itself as one of the leading orchestras in the world and the main catalyst for the development of jazz art in Russia.

For 20 years, musicians have regularly represented our country at the most prestigious festivals in Europe, Asia and America. In October 2017, the orchestra was chosen as the headliner of the World Festival of Youth and Students. In 2018, the Big Band became the first orchestra in the world to perform at the main jazz event on the planet - the All-Star Global Concert of International Jazz Day.

Director

People's Artist of the Russian Federation

People's Artist of the Russian Federation Igor Butman was born in 1961 in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). At the age of 11 he began playing the clarinet at a children's music school. At the same time, Igor took up hockey seriously, and even played for the SKA Leningrad youth team. However, he still made a choice in favor of music, and in 1976 he entered the music school named after. Mussorgsky in saxophone class. While still a student, Igor began playing in David Goloshchekin's ensemble. Around the same time, Igor Butman participated in concerts and recordings of Sergei Kuryokhin's Popular Mechanics, as well as the Kino and Aquarium groups.

Igor received his first recognition from jazz critics in 1981: in the newspaper “Soviet Youth” he was named “Discovery of the Year”.

In 1983 he performed in Oleg Lundstrem's orchestra, the best big band in the USSR. The following year, Igor changed his alto saxophone to tenor and was invited by Nikolai Levinovsky to the Allegro ensemble, in which he played until leaving for America. In the Soviet Union, a country of more than 300 million people, Igor Butman was considered the best tenor saxophonist, according to polls of jazz critics.

When Igor came to America at the age of 26, he already had his own fan club, formed from the most famous and respected American jazzmen. So, back in the Soviet Union, Igor was invited to play by touring American musicians: Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Gary Burton, Louis Bellson and Grover Washington. In September 1987 Igor Butman entered The Berklee College of Music, where he received a diploma in two specialties: concert saxophonist and composer. Grover Washington liked the composition "French Connection", written by Igor during his studies, and he included it in his album "Then & Now" (Colombia, 1987), in the recording of which Igor took part. Igor Butman performed with the Grover Washington Ensemble at many jazz festivals, as well as at the most prestigious jazz club “Blue Note” in New York.

Igor's career in the United States developed rapidly. He performed with his group at a leading jazz club in Boston, played with Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, Artie Shepp, Rachel Zee, as well as with the Billy Taylor Quartet, Walter Davis Quartet and the Monty Alexander Quintet - as a special guest soloist. Famous actor and musician Michael Moriarty invited Igor to his quintet. The result of this collaboration was the release of the album "Live at Fat Tuesday" on DRG Records. Igor Butman took part in American television programs "The Today Show" CBS, "Good Morning America" ​​ABC.

In 1989, Igor Butman moved to New York, where he began performing with the orchestra of the famous vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. In 1993 The New York label Impromptu released Igor Butman's first solo album, Falling Out, featuring pianist Lyle Mays, double bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith.

In 1992, Igor performed in Moscow at an international jazz festival for the first time since emigrating.

In May 1995, Igor Butman was honored to speak in the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin in front of the Presidents of the United States and Russia - Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.

In December 1996, in New York, Igor Butman produced and participated in the recording of the album “Blues for Four” by St. Petersburg pianist Andrei Kondakov with the participation of double bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Lenny White. In April of the following year, this quartet toured the cities of Russia, which resulted in the release of the album “Jazz for Four” by Soyuz in the fall of 1997.

In 1997 and 1998 Igor Butman acted as a producer and organizer of Independent Jazz Festivals in Moscow with the participation of Russian and foreign musicians. The Kommersant-Daily newspaper wrote: “Igor Butman single-handedly managed to do what neither old creative unions, nor new associations and jazz clubs were capable of. Namely: to establish a regular creative exchange between Moscow and New York jazz circles.” .

In August 1997, Igor's second solo album "Nostalgia", recorded at RPM Studio in New York and released by Soyuz. immediately became the sales leader among jazz CDs, and the video clip of the same name took second place in the Canadian television chart Bravo!Canada.

In March 1999, Igor Butman organized his own orchestra, Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra, bringing together the best jazz musicians in Russia. Simultaneously with the orchestra, the Igor Butman Quartet emerged, in which today pianist Anton Baronin, double bassist Vitaly Solomonov and drummer Eduard Zizak play. In June 2000, the saxophonist played for Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Bill Clinton. The latter described his impression of Igor’s performance in the book “My Life” as follows: “In the finale, on a stage immersed in darkness, my favorite living jazz tenor saxophonist, Igor Butman, played. John Podesta, who loved jazz no less than I admit that I have never heard a better performance “live.” In 2005, Bill Clinton included the composition “Nostalgie” performed by Igor Butman on the CD “The Bill Clinton Collection: Selections from the Clinton Music Room” he created, putting it on one next to the legendary musicians Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nina Simone.

The joint performances of the Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra conducted by Wynton Marsalis, which took place on September 18 and 20, 2003 at the opening of the new jazz season at Lincoln Center in New York, became an incredible sensation. For the first time in the history of Russian jazz, a concert of such a high level and scale took place. The New York Times wrote in its review that Igor Butman's big band showed "excellent competence and fluency." The orchestra’s albums also earned high praise from critics and jazz lovers around the world: “The Eternal Triangle” (2003), which included original compositions written by Igor Butman and arranged by Vitaly Dolgov, as well as “Moscow @ 3am” (2009) and “Sheherazade's Tales”, created by the Igor Butman Orchestra together with the outstanding composer and arranger Nikolai Levinovsky and a number of foreign stars (the discs feature solos by Wynton Marsalis, Peter Bernstein, Sean Jones and other musicians).

Igor Butman became the first Russian jazz musician to release his album on Universal Music Russia. The presentation of the saxophonist's album "Prophecy" ("Prophecy"), recorded in America during the tour of the Igor Butman quartet and released on Universal Music Russia, took place at the jazz clubs "Birdland" in New York and "Le Club" in Moscow in June 2003 of the year.

In 2003-2004, Igor Butman performed with such world stars as Ray Charles, George Benson, Al Jero.

In 2007, the legendary album by Igor Butman “Funny Stories” (in the foreign version - “Magic Land”), recorded with Chick Corea, John Patitucci, Stephon Harris, Randy Brecker and Jack DeJohnette, was released on the Sony Classical label. In 2009, the saxophonist received a gold disc from the National Federation of Phonogram Producers for selling more than 15,000 copies of the album in Russia. In Europe and the USA, more than 10,000 copies of the recording were sold (not to mention the number of downloads of the album from iTunes, AmazonMP3 and other online stores).

Igor Butman is not only a recognized musician, but also a successful producer. Since 2000, Igor has been holding the largest Russian jazz festival “Triumph of Jazz”, at which real jazz legends performed for the first time in our country: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gary Burton, Larry Corriell, Toots Tielemans, “TAKE 6”, Joe Lovano, Billy Cobham, Gino Vannelli, Joy DiFrancesco, Ahmad Jamal, Randy Brecker. The musician also produces the annual international festival “AquaJazz”, held as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Igor Butman runs his own record label Butman Music, which releases albums of Russian-American jazz projects, and is the art director of two jazz centers in Moscow - the Igor Butman Clubs on Taganka and Mendeleevskaya. Igor Butman's clubs in 2013 and 2014 were included in the top 150 best jazz clubs in the world according to Downbeat magazine.

For five years, Igor was the TV presenter of the “Jazophrenia” program on the “Culture” channel.

Igor Butman performed in various projects, including with violist Yuri Bashmet and his Moscow Soloists orchestra, with symphony orchestras, with opera prima Elena Obraztsova, in theatrical productions by Mikhail Kozakov, and recorded music for many films. Larisa Dolina and the Igor Butman Orchestra created two jazz concert programs, with which they toured cities in Russia and the world, and also released a CD and DVD.

For his outstanding contribution to the development of music, in June 2004, Igor Butman was awarded the title of Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, and in October 2011, President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev awarded the musician the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation.

Since May 15, 2017 - Director of the State Budgetary Professional Educational Institution of Moscow "State School (College) of Wind Arts."

Igor Butman is a brilliant jazz musician whose work is admired on both sides of the Atlantic. The talented artist performed for presidents, traveled the world with his big band and collaborated with the best musicians in the world, spreading the magic of the jazz he loved.

Childhood and youth

Igor Mikhailovich is the first child in the family of Mikhail Solomonovich and Mariula Nikolaevna Butman. Born on October 27, 1961 in Leningrad. After 5 years, a younger brother appeared, Oleg, who also subsequently connected his life with music.

My father worked as a civil engineer, but loved creativity: he participated in amateur performances, sang, played the piano and drums. Charming Mikhail was even invited to the Variety Theater named after. , but did not dare to change his profession. My father played at home, visiting friends, and performed at weddings.

The parents of Igor’s mother, Mariula, are directly connected with art. My grandfather was in the orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, played the violin, and his wife sang in the choir. By nationality, Butman is half Jewish (on his father’s side), half Russian. He told about the origin in an interview:

“I am proud of my origin: not a Jew according to Halakha, I am a Jew according to my own laws. I am not indifferent to the life and fate of my fellow tribesmen.”

And in 2005 he received the “Person of the Year” award from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

The boy loved sports, especially football and hockey, went to the sports section, but did not achieve great success. Music captivated the young man from childhood. Almost all the facts in the biography of the artist’s early years are connected specifically with her. At the age of 11 he entered a music school, where he began playing the clarinet.

Upon graduation, he began studying at the music school named after. M. P. Mussorgsky, where Gavriil Popov once taught, and Ivan Dzerzhinsky also studied. At the school I entered the saxophone class with the great teacher Gennady Lvovich Golshtein. In addition to Butman, participant Igor Timofeev, leader of the Soviet rock group “Children” Roman Kaporin, and a member of the group studied under his patronage.

At the age of 17, Igor received an invitation from jazz multi-instrumentalist David Goloshchekin to play in his ensemble. In the same year, he organized the first jazz quartet from his colleagues at the music school. The big band made a splash at a concert in the Leningrad club "Kvadrat", then located in the building of the Palace of Culture named after. Kirov.

In 1981, several significant events occurred at once. The saxophonist joined the already famous quintet and performed at the “Spring Concerts of New Jazz”. In the same year he graduated from college, and also received a laudatory review and favorable reviews from critics in the newspaper “Soviet Youth”, where Butman was named “Discovery of the Year”, which, given the 300 million population of the USSR, is honorable, especially at the age of 20.

Music

In 1981-1983, graduate Butman collaborated in Moscow with famous orchestras. He continued to work with David Goloshchekin, who had previously invited Igor to the ensemble when he was still a student at the school. A year later, he became the first alto saxophonist in the orchestra of Oleg Lundstrem, a former luminary of Soviet jazz.

In 1983 he returned to Leningrad, where he assembled a new group - initially a quartet, which later grew to a quintet. As part of a big band, he participated in festivals in Moscow, Leningrad and Riga. As a soloist he collaborated with the groups "Aquarium" and. He participated in the recordings of the albums “Taboo” and “Radio Africa” and recorded a solo for the song “Chief of Kamchatka”.

Since 1984, he has resumed his collaboration with Kuryokhin, regularly playing at concerts of the unusual project “Pop Mechanics”. Its distinctive feature was the non-permanent composition of the group, in which musicians of all styles and directions could take part. Over the years, Pop Mechanics has celebrated artists from, Aquarium, Kino and others. In 1996, with the death of Kuryokhin, the musical “potpourri” ended.

Then Butman changed his alto saxophone to tenor and became a member of the Moscow ensemble “Allegro”. Over the years, director Nikolai Levinovsky attracted famous artists to work: vocalist Vyacheslav Nazarov, drummers Yuri Genbachev and Evgeniy Guberman.

In 1987, Butman completed his collaboration with Allegro and moved to America to continue his musical studies. Becomes a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Igor Mikhailovich recalled about the education and experience he received:

“The differences are just huge. The teaching methodology has been developed over the years and produces brilliant results. At Gnesinka there are 85 students studying in the pop and jazz department, and at Berkeley there are 4 thousand. Feel the difference!”

Subsequently, the artist’s goals included “importing” this level and style of teaching to Russia. In the States, he met the country's leading jazzmen: Grover Washington, Pat Metheny, Archie Shepp, and went on tour with Lionel Hampton's orchestra. Some American colleagues participated in the recording of Butman's solo album.

Igor Butman Quartet

The artist's career in the United States developed rapidly. He took part in the recording of Washington's album, participated in his orchestra at festivals in New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and performed on the prestigious stage of the legendary Blue Note jazz club. He received praise from The Boston Globe for his performance with the Dave Brubeck Quartet:

“The high point of the concert came when Brubeck invited a young Russian saxophonist on stage. Butman's beautiful and flowing tenor added a new dimension to the classic "Turkish Rondo in Blue."

He performed solo and in big bands, appeared on the cult American TV shows The Today Show and Good Morning America, and received the status of an international jazz star. After returning to Russia, Butman managed to become a mediator of the jazz community of the two countries: he encouraged cultural exchange, invited foreign colleagues, and participated in joint festivals.

He spoke twice in the Kremlin before the heads of Russia and the United States: first in 1995 and then in 2000. At both meetings America was represented by , who is known to be a big fan of the saxophone. The American President was so impressed by Butman's playing that he called him one of the greatest saxophonists of our time.

Also in an interview with Express Gazeta, Igor Mikhailovich said that Clinton sent a parcel of spices from Louisiana, which he had to personally pick up at customs - the border guards were very interested in the “vegetable contents” of the parcel. In 2005, the indefatigable Bill included Butman’s composition Nostalgie in his CD selection “The Bill Clinton Collection: Selections from the Clinton Music Room.”

Composition by Igor Butman “Nostalgie”

In 1996, the artist returned to Russia and settled in Moscow. In subsequent years, he assembled his own orchestra, “IgorButman Big Band,” to which leading musicians from Russia and abroad are invited. In 1999, he opened the legendary jazz club Le Club, which he led until its closure in 2006. “Reincarnation” of Le Club – “Igor Butman’s Jazz Club” opened on Chistye Prudy in 2007, and later moved to Taganka again, returning “to the roots.” The establishment is included in the list of the best jazz clubs in the world.

Since 1998, he has hosted the original musical program “Jazophrenia” on the “Culture” channel. He ended his collaboration with the TV channel in 2005. At the same time, the artist recorded solo albums and compositions as part of various groups. The discography grew steadily. He became the first Russian jazz musician to record an album at Universal Music Russia.

Igor Butman and Larisa Dolina

Participated in projects with a singer and actor. The most famous collaboration took place with the artist in 2002. The musicians visited Russian and foreign cities with the joint program “Jazz Carnival”.

In 2003, Butman performed on the legendary stage of Lincoln Center at the opening of the jazz season together with artistic director of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra Wynton Marsalis, which became one of the peak events in the saxophonist’s career. At the same time, he collaborated with living legends of music: George Benson, Al Jarreau.

Albena Denkova and Igor Butman in the show “Ice Age”

In 2009, he presented the record label Butman Music. Since 2014, together with he organizes the annual World Jazz Festival in Riga, Latvia. In total, Butman is a co-producer of over 10 jazz events.

The artist participated in the television project “Ice Age” together with the world champion, where he had to put aside his usual musical instrument and go on skates. In 2018, he again appeared in an unusual role, becoming a participant in the filming of the popular series “Real Boys” on TNT. True, this time I didn’t have to part with the saxophone. On the contrary, the artist played the melody from the show's intro.

Personal life

The artist shares his personal life with the press. For example, in an interview with Express Gazeta he spoke about his illegitimate son Mikhail, with whom he had not communicated for a long time. The musician's first wife, Eileen, was from the USA. In 1987, the couple got married, and already in 1990 the union broke up.

Then the artist became interested in a girl named Donn, who gave birth to a son, Misha, in 1991. The mother deprived Butman of his rights to the child and did not contact him. Only when the boy matured did Donne allow his biological father to help with his education at the university. The first meeting took place then.

In 1995, the musician married model Oksana, who gave birth to two children: Daniil and Mark. In 2013, the couple divorced.

Igor Butman now

Now the artist tours a lot and performs at various venues, and appears on television. Together with the child prodigy pianist Oleg Akkuratov, he played on the “Evening Urgant” show on Channel One.

The official website presents Butman's concerts, which will take place throughout the country: from Moscow to Vladivostok are scheduled for the year in advance. The latest photos and videos of the People's Artist of Russia and members of the big band are also available there.

Discography

• 1988 – “Then and Now”
• 1994 – “Falling Out”
• 1997 – “First Night Swing” ‎
• 1997 – “Nostalgie”
• 2002 – “Once In Summer Weekend”
• 2003 – “Prophecy”
• 2007 – “Funny Stories”
• 2008 – “Moondance”
• 2011 – “Sheherazade’s tales”
• 2013 – “Special opinion”
• 2014 – “Igor Butman and friends”
• 2016 – “Reflections”
• 2017 – “Winter's Tale”

Igor Butman was born in 1961 in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). At the age of 11 he began playing the clarinet at a children's music school. At the same time, Igor took up hockey seriously, and even played for the SKA Leningrad youth team. However, he still made a choice in favor of music, and in 1976 he entered the music school named after. Mussorgsky in saxophone class. While still a student, Igor began playing in David Goloshchekin's ensemble. Around the same time, Igor Butman participated in concerts and recordings of Sergei Kuryokhin's Popular Mechanics, as well as the Kino and Aquarium groups.

Igor received his first recognition from jazz critics in 1981: in the newspaper “Soviet Youth” he was named “Discovery of the Year”.

In 1983 he performed in Oleg Lundstrem's orchestra, the best big band in the USSR. The following year, Igor changed his alto saxophone to tenor and was invited by Nikolai Levinovsky to the Allegro ensemble, in which he played until leaving for America. In the Soviet Union, a country of more than 300 million people, Igor Butman was considered the best tenor saxophonist, according to polls of jazz critics.

When Igor came to America at the age of 26, he already had his own fan club, formed from the most famous and respected American jazzmen. So, back in the Soviet Union, Igor was invited to play by touring American musicians: Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Gary Burton, Louis Bellson and Grover Washington. In September 1987 Igor Butman entered The Berklee College of Music, where he received a diploma in two specialties: concert saxophonist and composer. Grover Washington liked the composition "French Connection", written by Igor during his studies, and he included it in his album "Then & Now" (Colombia, 1987), in the recording of which Igor took part. Igor Butman performed with the Grover Washington Ensemble at many jazz festivals, as well as at the most prestigious jazz club “Blue Note” in New York.

Igor's career in the United States developed rapidly. He performed with his group at a leading jazz club in Boston, played with Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, Artie Shepp, Rachel Zee, as well as with the Billy Taylor Quartet, Walter Davis Quartet and the Monty Alexander Quintet - as a special guest soloist. Famous actor and musician Michael Moriarty invited Igor to his quintet. The result of this collaboration was the release of the album "Live at Fat Tuesday" on DRG Records. Igor Butman took part in American television programs "The Today Show" CBS, "Good Morning America" ​​ABC.

In 1989, Igor Butman moved to New York, where he began performing with the orchestra of the famous vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. In 1993 The New York label Impromptu released Igor Butman's first solo album, Falling Out, featuring pianist Lyle Mays, double bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith.

In 1992, Igor performed in Moscow at an international jazz festival for the first time since emigrating.

In May 1995, Igor Butman was honored to speak in the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin in front of the Presidents of the United States and Russia - Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.

In December 1996, in New York, Igor Butman produced and participated in the recording of the album “Blues for Four” by St. Petersburg pianist Andrei Kondakov with the participation of double bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Lenny White. In April of the following year, this quartet toured the cities of Russia, which resulted in the release of the album “Jazz for Four” by Soyuz in the fall of 1997.

In 1997 and 1998 Igor Butman acted as a producer and organizer of Independent Jazz Festivals in Moscow with the participation of Russian and foreign musicians. The Kommersant-Daily newspaper wrote: “Igor Butman single-handedly managed to do what neither old creative unions, nor new associations and jazz clubs were capable of. Namely: to establish a regular creative exchange between Moscow and New York jazz circles.” .

In August 1997, Igor's second solo album "Nostalgia", recorded at RPM Studio in New York and released by Soyuz. immediately became the sales leader among jazz CDs, and the video clip of the same name took second place in the Canadian television chart Bravo!Canada.

In March 1999, Igor Butman organized his own orchestra, Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra, bringing together the best jazz musicians in Russia. Simultaneously with the orchestra, the Igor Butman Quartet emerged, in which today pianist Anton Baronin, double bassist Vitaly Solomonov and drummer Eduard Zizak play.

In June 2000, the saxophonist played for Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Bill Clinton. The latter described his impression of Igor’s performance in the book “My Life” as follows: “In the finale, on a stage immersed in darkness, my favorite living jazz tenor saxophonist, Igor Butman, played. John Podesta, who loved jazz no less than I admitted that I have never heard a better performance “live.” One of the most significant events in Igor’s biography is the annual “Triumph of Jazz” festival.

In February 2002, Igor Butman became the producer and organizer of the grandiose gala concert “The Triumph of Jazz” with the participation of his big band and world jazz stars Joe Lovano, Billy Cobham, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kevin Mahogany, Gary Burton, Toots Tielemans, Elvin Jones. As jazz critic Ira Hitler noted, no producer has ever been able to pull off such a unique concert.

In 2007, the seventh festival took place: among its participants were the American supergroup of Bill Evans and Randy Brecker “Soul Bop Band” and the French jazz singer Anne Ducrot.

In the spring of 2002, Larisa Dolina, together with Igor Butman's big band, created the concert program "Jazz Carnival", which was sold out in Moscow at the Rossiya concert hall, as well as in cities in the USA, Israel, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Igor Butman became the first Russian jazz musician to release his album on Universal Music Russia. The presentation of the saxophonist's latest solo album "Prophecy" ("Prophecy"), recorded in America during the tour of the Igor Butman quartet and released on Universal Music Russia, took place at the jazz clubs "Birdland" in New York and "Le Club" in Moscow in June 2003.

The joint performances of the Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra conducted by Wynton Marsalis, which took place on September 18 and 20, 2003 at the opening of the new jazz season at Lincoln Center in New York, became an incredible sensation. For the first time in the history of Russian jazz, a concert of such a high level and scale took place. The New York Times wrote in its review that Igor Butman's big band showed "excellent competence and fluency." The first album of Igor Butman's big band, "The Eternal Triangle", which included original compositions written by Igor Butman and arranged by Vitaly Dolgov, also received high praise.

In 2003-2004, Igor Butman performed with such world stars as Ray Charles, George Benson, Al Jero.

In June 2004, Igor Butman became the Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art.

In 2005, Bill Clinton included the composition “Nostalgie” performed by Igor Butman on the CD he created, “The Bill Clinton Collection: Selections from the Clinton Music Room,” putting him on a par with legendary musicians Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Nina Simone. Of course, it should be noted that Igor Butman was the permanent art director of the legendary Moscow jazz club "Le Club", included in the top hundred best jazz clubs in the world by the authoritative American magazine "Downbeat", until its closure on January 1, 2007. On the Le Club stage, Igor first introduced the Russian public to such outstanding musicians as Ray Brown, Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Randy Brecker, Al Di Miola, Take 6 and many others.

In 2006, the jazzman opened a new club in Moscow - the Igor Butman Club on Chistye Prudy, the successor to Le Club, which became the real jazz epicenter of the capital. In 2011, the second Igor Butman Club opened on Sokol! Igor Butman has repeatedly performed with violist Yuri Bashmet and his Moscow Soloists orchestra in Russia, Italy, and France. Together they made a video clip to Rachmaninov's music "Vocalise". In February 2009, the musicians made a large tour of US cities. Performances took place in the most famous concert halls in the country (Seattle Symphony Hall, BSO Hall, Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center, Orchestra Hall of Chicago Symphony Center and others). The tour can be called a real triumph: more than 20,000 people attended the concerts!

In 2007, the Sony Classical label released a new album by Igor Butman, “Funny Stories” (in the foreign version - “Magic Land”), recorded with Chick Corea, John Patitucci, Stephon Harris, Randy Brecker and Jack DeJohnette. In 2009, the saxophonist received a gold disc from the National Federation of Phonogram Producers for selling more than 15,000 copies of the album in Russia. In Europe and the USA, more than 10,000 copies of the recording were sold (not to mention the number of downloads of the album from iTunes, AmazonMP3 and other online stores). However, unfortunately, the work of the recording giants in distributing albums abroad did not live up to the artist’s expectations. Intrigued by rotations on jazz radio stations and excellent reviews of Igor’s albums in the most authoritative foreign publications, jazz fans had to work incredibly hard to find Igor’s disc in music stores around the world.

So, the saxophonist decided that he no longer needed the services of majors, and in the summer of 2009, together with his team, he opened the jazz label Butman Music. From the very beginning, Igor outlined the main tasks of the label's functioning - promoting Russian jazz abroad and promoting its integration into the world jazz space. The company's main office is located in Moscow, and a branch of the company operates in New York. Thanks to this, releases are published simultaneously in Russia and the USA, appear on the shelves of Russian and American stores almost at the same time, and also become available throughout the world on iTunes, AmazonMP3 and other Internet services.

From June to December 2009, the label has already released 7 releases (“The Shadow of Your Smile” by trumpeter Vadim Eilenkrig, “Moscow @ 3 am” and “The Eternal Triangle” by Big Band Igor Butman, “Jazz Passion” by drummer Oleg Butman, “The Way Home” by Ivan Farmakovsky “Take Me With You” by trumpeter Alexander Berenson) - mainly with music by Russian composers, which Russian jazzmen perform together with their American colleagues!

Despite the fact that the label has just turned one year old, Wynton Marsalis, Randy Brecker, Essiet Essiet, Wayne Escoffery, Will Lee, David Garfield, Hiram Bullock, Cyrus Chestnut have already recorded their parts on the label's albums! The label’s immediate plans include the albums “Cherry Jam” by the Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra (featuring vocalist Katie Jenkins, trumpeter Shawn Jones, guitarist Peter Bernstein and trombonist James Burton) and “Igor Butman and friends” (featuring saxophonists Michael Brecker and Bill Evans, vocalists Kevin Mahogany and Carla Cook).

Since 2004, Igor Butman has regularly competed at the Olympic Games, and he was among those who ensured Russia's victory in the competition to host the Winter Games in 2014. In July 2010, Butman organized the first international festival "Aqua Jazz", where the best Russian jazzmen and American jazz rock stars - Tony McAlpine, Virgil Donati and Bunny Brunel - performed. “Aquajazz” was sold out at the Sochi Green Theater; more than 10,000 people visited it in two days! Igor Butman plans to hold “Aquajazz” every year until 2014.