• BIOGRAPHY:
• Born in 1947 in Ukraine, Berdiansk.
• 1971 - Graduated from Leningrad Conservatory - Clarinet.
• 1977 - Finished postgraduate course / Master Class / Leningrad Conservatory - Saxophone.
• 1976 - 1982 - Professor at the Leningrad Conservatory - Saxophone / Classical and Jazz / conductor Big-Band, JAZZ / IMPROVISATION / FACULTATIVE.
• 1974 - 2001 - 60 author records and CDs in Russia, Bulgaria, Austria, England, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, USA.
• 1974 - 2005 - Participation in Jazz Festivals in Russia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, USA, France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece.
• 1992 - 2005 - Artistic Director of the Varna Summer International Jazz Festival.

Vapirov began playing jazz in Leningrad (Now Saint Petersburg) Conservatory in the late 60s, further on, in the 70s and 80s, he achieved a secure position as one of the leading musicians and composers of modern jazz. The brilliant schooling, many years experience and splendid skill, have provided him with practically unlimited opportunities as a musician. He has a wide range of interests - he likes to and plays mainstream in the Gold Years of Jazz ensemble, in Varna he is Head of a Big Band playing traditional jazz, he has composed chamber pieces and ballet music.

Although during the last years Anatoly Vapirov lives in Bulgaria, this former Leningrader, saxophonist and composer, has the full right, not nominally but in fact, to stay as a person to the Soviet jazz scene. He doesn’t break the relations with his fatherland and very often plays at various festivals in what was the USSR recently.

Leningraders - jazz enthusiasts, will never forget Vapirov’s large compositions: The Mirror of Memory (dedicated to Charlie Mingus), The Lines of Fortune (in memory of Alban Berge), De Profundis, Macbeth, Slavonian Mystery.
Many of them have been released on LPs and CDs and are soundtracks to TV films.

AUSTRIA:

- INVOCATIONS

- LEO RECORDS - LP - (LR-130)

- AVA RECORDS - CD - (AVA-00??)

This record will come as a spectacular shock to those who know only Soviet reed player Vapirov from his previous release “Sentenced to Silence”. But this record will bring even more amazement to those unfamiliar with the cutting edges of new Soviet jazz. Described by the record company as a “mixture of shamanism, avant-garde jazz and classical Russian romance”, this recording both lives up to that claim and transcends it. There are few recordings in the history of jazz that radically demarcate a new epoch of musical thinking - not merely a new style of trend. “Invocations” is such a recording.

“Invocations” can be viewed as a symphonic work in three movements, designated as “invocations” of spirit, fire and water. The spirit movement comprises nearly a half-hour of music on Side One. It is a “tour de force” for pianist Sergey Kuryokhin who races across the keyboard with a rhythmic intelligence which puts him in the same league with Cecil Taylor. Vapirov on sax presents an encyclopedic grasp of styles ranging from the sensually languid to the robustly strident. Vocalist Ponomareva produces a chillingly seductive tapestry of vocal growls, grunts, rants and sweet crooning. The overall impact is that of shamanic ritual in which contrary worlds are bridged through primally passionate sounds, symbolic death and rebirth are articulated trough body and earth rhythms. The two invocations on Side Two continue this miraculous drama with Kuryokhin adding ghostlike tinklings on prepared piano and Alexanrdov droning mightily on bassoon. The roots of Vapirov’s music can be found in Coltrane, Dolphy, Braxton, Bartok, Eastern European dance music. His genius involves going to the heart of each genre, capturing the gist, and transplanting that core into a wholly new symbolic development.

Norman Weinstein

On Anatoly Vapirov’s “Invocations” we find two different groups containing such excellent players as Sergey Kuryokhin and Ivars Galeniks. However, Vapirov’s saxophone, very much out of the Coltrane-Shepp-Ayler axis, seems a bit disconnected from the more free styles of the other musicians. On “Macbeth”, Vapirov creates music that is truly exceptional. “Macbeth” is a Vapirov composition for chamber orchestra, in which he performs well in the demanding roles of lead instrumentalist, improvising soloist and conductor. His writing for chamber orchestra brings Stravinsky to mind, but his blend of jazz and classical sensitivity is unique. A fusion made seemingly without compromise. The voicing of his saxophone against strings and percussion makes for a music that at its best features long passages of delirious tension. Vapirov on this record makes the best of an opportunity that few Western jazz musicians have ever given.

David Lee (Coda # 212, Feb / Mar 1987)

A poll winner in his own country, Vapirov is a very accomplished player. Spiritually he is a more gentle side to his musical personality. This is heard in his second duet passage on “Spirit”, although, it must be said, he is at his best when attacking full frontal with technique blazing.

Barry McRae

- MACBETH

- LEO RECORDS - LP - (LR-130)

- AVA RECORDS - CD - (AVA-14)

This release leans heavily towards the New Music side of the Leo catalog. Basically a tenor saxophone concerto featuring Vapirov as soloist, composer and conductor of a chamber orchestra made up of string and percussion, the writing evokes Bartok rather than, say, the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. The piece successfully avoids both Third Stream clichus and “free jazz” anarchy, providing Vapirov with a shifting orchestral backdrop for his declamatory solos. Since Leo’s Russian recordings are reputed to be of variable technical quality, it should be mentioned that, except for a brief bit of tape saturation, the sound is good, comparable to a label like CRI.

Some of Kuryokhin’s better work can be heard on Anatoly Vapirov’s “Sentenced To Silence” (Leo 130), where the pianist empathetically echoes the saxophonist’s litany of artistic struggle. Given Vapirov,s history, is not surprising that he chooses Macbeth, a paradigm of corrupt power, as the subject of a major orchestral work. Subsequently, one of the many riches of “Macbeth” (Leo 130) is the parallel metaphor of artistic struggle against the power structure and the internal struggle throughout its 40 min duration not with gratuitous bombast or dissonance, but with careful sequencing of impassioned tenor solos, foreboding and harrowing orchestral passages and the riveting timpani of Alexander Mikhaylov. The subtle ebb and the flow of materials corresponds with the passive/aggressive syndrome that is Macbeth’s character flaw; Vapirov’s stylistic orientation is a Coltrane/Shepp/Ayler matrix that, attenuated by the subject of the piece, smolders relentlessly, sending occasional sparks arching over the orchestra. The only pressure drop in listening to “Macbeth” occurs when the listener has to turn the disk over. Vapirov has asserted himself as a composer and saxophonist of international caliber.

Bill Shoemaker (Down Beat, August 1987)

Vapirov wrote this Macbeth Suite which has it all - witches, argument, murder, and a good dance version of Dunsinane Wood. Melodically, it is strong and the Chamber Orchestra seem to capture the vastly different moods with ease.
Vapirov carries the full solo responsibilities, particularly on Side Two, and he does it rather well. He belongs to the Alan Skidmore school without being a clone and knows when to tell stories with sensitivity and when to bellow for the world to hear. He has written some very imaginative string parts to support him and the cellos produce one particularly moving passage on Side One. It is not a record for the superficial listener, it has real compositional substance as well as exciting tenor playing and makes a welcome addition to this reviewer’s growing library of Russian jazz.

Barry McRae

KUKER MUSIC - Ultramarin (KM CREATIVE 05)