Alexey Krupsky, Alexey Wagner. April Sky. /digi-pack/

Both Alexey Krupsky, and Alexey Wagner already have a considerable experience of collaboration with various jazz projects. But as a duet – it is their debut work, though they have been playing together starting from 2004. The duet is a Ukraine-Germany one, as the both musicians are Ukrainians, but they mainly live in Germany, therefore they have concerts, so to speak, on two fronts. Alexey Krupsky was a student of the prominent Ukrainian jazz musician and teacher – Volodymyr Molotkov (who, by the way, in 1978 became the author of the first jazz disc in Ukraine). Actually, the recording represented here appeared during the festival commemorating V. Molotkov – it took place in April, 2006. The idea of the recording arose quite spontaneously, unexpectedly for the musicians themselves – however, the album sounds regular, balanced, sometimes even a bit cool. And at the same time – warm, transparent, delicate, soft. Nothing strange – for the April sky is so changeable... There are graceful graphics, pastels, water-color hints, even voluminous but so light oil-paint, but what is for sure not included here – poster gouache. The album is devoted to the memory of V. Molotkov – therefore, naturally, two of his plays sound here, as well as an author play by Alexey Wagner. The rest are arrangement of pieces by such authors as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Stevie Wonder, etc. High-quality, nice work – it not only brings quiet pleasure, but also gives reasons to hope for appearance of subsequent works.