January 11, 2010
В Krasnodar 75-year-old died Georgy Garanyan — a legend of Soviet jazz. Saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor.
What is a song without a button accordion, what is jazz without... Garanyan!
(that's how the audience always finished the jazzman's sentence, although he was referring to the famous jazz piece "Caravan")
Born in Moscow in 1934. His mother, an elementary school teacher, instilled in her son a love of music. His father, an engineer, believed he should get a "real profession."
At 7, I heard "Sun Valley Serenade" for the first time. Glenn Miller and fell in love with jazz. He learned the basics of piano from a neighbor, a music teacher, whom his mother paid by doing laundry.
During his student years, he played in an amateur musical ensemble and learned to play the saxophone on his own.
I envy those who went to music school as children, then college, and then conservatory. While the kids were partying, I had to sit and practice music. I wouldn't wish that kind of "independence" on anyone.
By the time he graduated from the Moscow Machine-Tool Institute, as his father insisted, he was already leading the youth orchestra of the Central House of Arts Workers. In 1957, after performing at the World Youth Festival in Moscow, he earned the praise of foreign jazz musicians (the orchestra won a silver medal). He was invited abroad, but the management refused—it was a time of persecution of jazz. Soon, the orchestra itself was disbanded.
The Central House of Arts youth pop orchestra is a pernicious example of the loss of independence. We watch with disgust at the long-haired hipsters in their exaggeratedly tight trousers and extravagant jackets.
(Soviet Culture newspaper)
In 1958, 24-year-old Garanyan was the first Soviet musician to be invited to join the orchestra. Oleg Lundstrem.
In the mid-1960s, he transferred to the pop orchestra at All-Union Radio. The jazz pieces broadcast on its airwaves brought Garanyan popularity. They were even featured on the Voice of America radio station, banned in the Soviet Union, and the BBC.
In 1973, the orchestra was again disbanded as undesirable, and so Garanyan found himself at the Melodiya label, where in 1974 he released the first jazz album in the USSR. He recorded Vysotsky, Schnittke, Tukhmanov, Pugacheva, Kobzon, Gurchenko и Mironova.
He conducted the Cinematography Committee Symphony Orchestra and composed music for over 30 films, including "Pokrovskie Vorota," "The Magic Lantern," "Evening Labyrinth," "Island of Lost Ships," and "Recipe for Her Youth" (Best Musical Film of 1985).
He conducted the orchestra in the films "The Irony of Fate," "12 Chairs," "At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own," and "The Adventures of Buratino." His saxophone can be heard in the films "The Diamond Arm," "We Are from Jazz," "Autumn Blues," and the animated film "Well, Just You Wait!"
He didn't like to relax or go on vacation: he once climbed into a closet in a hotel room so as not to disturb anyone while playing the saxophone.
Many people suffer from my character, but they get used to it and work. It's good to work with me: at work, I only do work.
Since the 1990s, he has performed with Moscow and Krasnodar big bands, transforming them into world-class orchestras.
In 1999, he recorded an album with the American group Oregon in Moscow and was the only Russian jazz musician to be nominated for a Grammy Award for it.
In 2000, he received the Russian State Prize—the first in the country’s history for his achievements in jazz.
I really love playing jazz, and who fate brings me together with is not so important.
In 2003, he took over the baton of chief conductor from Oleg Lundstrem. In 2006, he re-established the Melodiya ensemble and the new Big Band.
Jazz festival organizer and music television host. He made many recordings in his own home studio and was respected among sound engineers.
In 2008, he founded the Jazz Art Development Foundation. He is the author of the textbook "Fundamentals of Pop and Jazz Arranging." His "Ballad" has become a model for aspiring saxophonists.
Until recently, he performed, giving more than 100 concerts a year, and appeared on stage with local musicians in the regions.
Shortly before his death, he came to the capital of Kuban to give joint concerts with a French pianist. Michel Legrand. After the New Year holidays he was admitted to hospital and died.
