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| Igor Kogan - In A Big City, with special guest artist 9-time GRAMMY Award nominee jazz vocalistTierney Sutton. In a Big City is a debut studio album by Igor Kogan, composed for jazz quintet, featuring all original compositions, with special guest artist 9-time GRAMMY Award nominee jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton. "Kogan seeks to mix together aspects of jazz and classical in his writing, featuring arrangements that are always forward-looking and individual while also being accessible… Throughout the night, the obviously well-rehearsed band was impressive." -Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian and author, "Los Angeles Jazz Scene" Igor Kogan is a jazz artist, bassist, composer, and bandleader. He has performed at many prestigious venues and festivals in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including Jazz at Lincoln Center and Steinway Hall (New York), Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Toronto Music Festival (Canada), Red Sea Jazz Festival (Israel); and appeared at renowned jazz clubs Smalls, Zinc, Fat Cat (New York); Herb Alpert's Vibrato, Blue Whale, Vitellos, The Lighthouse (Los Angeles) among other venues. Born in Russia, he started to play the violin at age seven. He immigrated to Israel at the age of fifteen, where he pursued his interest in music and started to play bass. Later, he attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, from which he graduated with honors and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jazz Performance and Composition. After spending several years in New York, working as a performing and recording musician, he relocated to Los Angeles in 2014, where he works as a bass player, composer and arranger on a variety of projects including jazz and orchestral concert music as well as commercial projects, film scores, recording sessions, and Broadway musicals. Besides working as a session musician, he also leads his own Jazz Quintet and 17-piece Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. His recent releases include Revival - World Home Jazz Orchestra, which is an international musical project Kogan composed and produced to support a fundraising campaign towards the "Frontline Responders Fund" (an outstanding organization that helps to provide frontline and medical workers with the masks, PPE, and essential supplies they need for their everyday battle with the global COVID-19 pandemic, more information and press release at: bit.ly/whjo). His current release is a debut jazz quintet album called In a Big City containing all original music by Kogan and features 9-time GRAMMY Award nominee jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton. In a Big City is a debut studio album by Igor Kogan, composed for jazz quintet, featuring all original compositions, with special guest artist 9-time GRAMMY Award nominee jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton. The album comprises personal reflections of Kogan's own experiences, living in different places. He was born and grew up in Russia, then moved to Israel at the age of fifteen. Later moved to the U.S. and lived several years in New York, later moving to Los Angeles. Kogan says, "all places I lived in are 'Big Cities, ' and the main move which is most related to the music in the album is the move from Israel to the U.S., nine years ago. It is profoundly personal and is when I began my professional music career." Each song thoughtfully reflects the journey and personal experience of this life-changing move. Beginning with "Takeoff, " a traditional, steady/confident, and optimistic piece, that emotes a feeling of forward-motion for good. When the airplane physically takes off the ground, and you are also taking off mentally, filled with new beginnings, big hopes, and fulfilling dreams. The composition reflects this opening song and highlights each player on a solo as an introduction. "Qwerty aka False Start" examines the emotion of a new start, a new beginning as it were, the feeling of unsettled emotions which symbolizes some bumps and unexpected things that you were not aware of and situations not exactly as expected.A quick tempo represents the fast pace needed to keep up with big city life. Furthering the storyline of the album "Expectations, " written in 3/4 meter, is an up-tempo waltz in an uplifting mood, and the name speaks for itself, the expectations of new life. "Illumination" is a ballad, a very calming and meditative piece; that sheds light on the essential things in life and gives a little break from the chaotic reality of big city life, which we all need sometimes. "Emergency Call" is representative of a worrisome feeling, a piece, based on a repetitive pattern of the phone beep you hear when trying to reach out to loved ones in an emergency situation and not getting an answer, but instead hearing long beeps on the other side, further codifying the unsettling reality and uncertainty of a big city, and being far from home by yourself. "Bass Introduction" leading into "New York Blues" (On the recording session, they were recorded as one piece, featuring an open bass solo in the beginning). Kogan being a bass player, wanted to do a featurette to signify himself as the album's composer and bandleader of the project. It also symbolizes the introduction as his first album as a bandleader. "New York Blues" signifies his time spent in New York, and is a tribute to traditional jazz styles. Although the song's form is not a classic blues, it has a 6/8 bluesy feel to it, hence its title. Generally speaking, his approach to the album is a mix of "traditional jazz" (instrumentation, arranging, some of the compositions), whereas some of the tunes represent a "contemporary jazz" sound, which overall reflects respect to the jazz tradition but also finds new ways of expression. "Vocalise" features 9-time GRAMMY Award nominee Tierney Sutton in a wordless piece that highlights the voice equally as an instrument. Kogan had Sutton in mind when writing the composition, knowing her voice would aptly fit the task stylistically. The tune begins with a free improvisational dialogue between bass and vocal that sets up the melodic theme of the piece. The song builds up dynamically and emotionally all through the piece, starting with a gentle bass solo and picks up with a more intensive vocal solo and finally a flugelhorn solo creates an emotional climax. Kogan remarks, "I loved the sonic mix of Tierney's voice with the flugelhorn and decided to utilize this sonority without the saxophone on this track." The final track "Big City" is the title track that concludes the album. It is written in several mixed meters of 5/8, 3/4 and 4/4, giving it an edgy feel, and ending the collection with the 'big city' vibe – always tricky and unexpected, and never settling down. The song presents all the players featured on solos as a conclusion and representation of everyone involved. PLAYERS & INSTRUMENTS: Igor Kogan – bass Jeremy Lappitt – tenor saxophone Joshua Aguiar – trumpet/flugelhorn Marco Apicella – piano Matthew Baker – drums Tierney Sutton – vocals (track 8) TRACKS AND TIMES & COMPOSER: 1. Takeoff 9:19 2. Qwerty aka False Start 7:38 3. Expectations 5:29 4. Illumination 7:25 5. Emergency Call 7:14 6. Bass Introduction 2:32 7. New York Blues 5:51 8. Vocalise (feat. Tierney Sutton) 8:46 9. Big City 12:21 All compositions by Igor Kogan write your comments about the article :: © 2020 Jazz News :: home page |