Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky / Andrei Kondakov / Vladimir Volkov: In Search Of A Standard

"Don't Take The "B" Train" is the trio's reference to Duke Ellington's "Take The "A" Train," and is a freewheeling jaunt, spiked with avant-garde sound-mechanisms and a polyrhythmic reverse engineering foray. Here, trumpeter Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky's singing lines hint at Ellington's primary melody, and abetted by pianist Andrei Kondakov's rollicking piano voicings amid a throng of curves and dips.

Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," is transgressed into the piece titled, "Unsophisticated Lady." In effect, the musicians remove the urbane element and cast a bluesy, laid-back vibe, complete with an emphatic rendering of the original tune's main theme. Then on "Standard," they completely redefine any notions of a jazz or pop standard via playful exchanges, false endings and staggered flows. Add some doses of humor with a horde of expand and contract maneuvers and you have a composition awash with free-form madness and transitory motifs. It's a rather ingenious affair, shaded with multi-genre components that project a thrilling and action-packed concept. The album breathes renewed life upon repeated listens and unequivocally serves as the antithesis to the tried and true.

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