Oleg Kireyev & Dennis Lambert Trio

オレグ・キレエフ&デニス・ランバート・トリオ
Absolute Blue, Ikebukuro
November 6, 2018

Dennis Lambert デニス・ランバート—piano
Oleg Kireyev オレグ・キレエフ—saxophone
Jeff Curry—bass
Blacky Kuroda—drums 

The last night on Oleg Kireyev’s tour of Japan turned into something of a musical party. You know you’re at the right jazz show when the audience is made up of musicians. The audience for his last show on the tour was more singers, bassists and pianists than fans, though they were obviously both. The musicians were there to learn, explore, rethink and acquire, and that they did. Everyone else sank back into the great evening of jazz.

Whether playing a hard bop or blues, like their first set “Fresh Blues,” the quartet really steamed ahead. Great solo followed great solo. But on the slow songs, like “What is Love,” Kireyev slowed down for achingly beautiful playing that lay embedded in Lambert, Curry and Kuroda’s strong-meshed dynamic.

Kireyev got in some great vocal work, too, a deep-throated singing/humming style from Bashkiria, in the Urals, where he is from. Its eerie resonance sounded something like a bass clarinet on high reverb, but with a complexity that could only come from deep inside the most amazing instrument of all—the human body. His vocal work blended into the music marvelously.

The second set really kicked into party mode, opening with strong, hard-driving bop at a fast tempo that made none of them even break a sweat. After that, musicians in the audience swapped spots with the musicians on stage and everyone jumped in on great renditions of “In a Sentimental Mood,” “Routed 66,” and “There Will Never Be Another You.”

Through it all Kireyev played his own powerful style of jazz that he has honed in the jazz worlds of Russia, Poland and the United States. The subtle undertones of musical variety fit well with Lambert’s piano and Kuroda’s drumming. Curry on bass, added several tunes to the line-up and a sinewy bass line to every tune.

It’s always a pleasure to hear jazz from another country, but with Kireyev that seems like several countries, all of them filled with the passion and energy of jazz. Hopefully Kireyev will return to Japan for another tour soon. Kireyev’s sax and vocal work was riveting and an amazing amount of fun.

Oleg Kireyev Homepage
https://eng.olegkireyev.com/
Dennis Lambert Homepage
https://www.dennislambertpianist.com/