Odyssey Bogussevich
Piano / Composer
(Russia)

Odyssey Bogussevich

"Pianist, composer, arranger and educator, Odyssey Bogussevich was born in Potsdam, Germany, in 1964. Raised in Moscow, Russia, Odyssey studied piano with one of Russia's jazz greats Yuri Markin in the 1980s, and teaches improvisation at Yurgenson Music School in Russian capital. But it was composition and performance what made Bogussevich's reputation as of a highly unusual artist whose musical voice was distinctively his own. 

Off the beaten paths: this is how his creative evolution could be easily described. Having performed at Montreux Jazz Festival's "Off" stage in 1995, he made such a great impact on the festival executives that the invitation for a performance at the main stage followed immediately. Bogussevich performed solo, using both acoustic piano and a synthesizer which enhanced his ability to create vast soundscapes all by himself. His unique solo performance was also what attracted the attention of the artistic directors of Piano Solo Jazz Festival in Brussels, Belgium, in 1998, and Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival in the U.S. the following year. 

But Odyssey would not be himself if he'd stuck with the same musical setting throughout his creative career. His current project might be called JOKE, but should be taken seriously at any rate: this traditional acoustic piano trio (Andrey Dudchenko, upright bass, and Oleg Shuntsov, drums,) enhanced by a classical strings quartet (two violins, viola, and cello,) inherited the best from the infamous Third Stream of the 1960s and 70s. Mixing the rich heritage of the great Russian classical music tradition and strong jazz improvisation skills, Bogussevich creates an unique blend where strings swing pretty hard, in spite of the soft nature of their sound attack, and piano switches naturally from fugue progressions to elaborate long improvisational lines and back. Released by Russia's oldest record label, Melodiya, this album could be described as an effective effort to mutually enrich both classical and jazz traditions of the cross-cultural, multinational melting pot of Russian and - speaking more wide - European and world music cultures.

• 1995 he was invited to the 29th Jazz Festival in Montreux (Switzerland). After the competition of pianists he gained an opportunity to play on the stage of “Miles Davis Hall» with the solo program.
  
• 1988 - solo piano program on the "Piano Solo" Festival in Brussels (Belgium)
  
• 1999 - solo piano program on the “Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival” (USA)
  
• 1996 – trio of "Odyssey Bogussevich "on the 4th International Festival "Poznan Jazz Fair" (Poland)
  
• 2000 – on the Eighth Moscow International Festival of Computer Graphics and Television Technologies “ANIGAPH” with new multimedia program “Jangler”
  
• 2003- new project “JOKE”

PRESS

"Given that jazz has been such a great American gift to the world, it is only fitting that the rest of the world should reciprocate by offering back jazz molded and shaded with the experience of musicians in, for example, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and London; Ankara, Tokyo and Moscow.
Moscow-based, German-born pianist Odyssey Bogussevich may be virtually unknown in this country, but on the basis of his eponymous cassette release, he is an artist who will be embraced warmly when audiences get a chance to encounter him firsthand. He moves seamlessly between funk fusion and swing, folkloric escapades and bop, Tin Pan Alley and the avant garde; he melds conservatory training with insights that can only be glimpsed in pressure-cooker jam sessions. Which is to say, he comes off as an artist projecting a singular sensibility rather than technician of disparate skills.»
W.Kim Heron,
(Managing Editor, Metro Times, Radio host, TV co-host, Detroit Sunday Journal)"

Contact:

odyssey@bogusevich.ru

www.bogusevich.ru