Reviewed by Greg Fisher
Ganelin / Vysniauskas / Gotesman :" Trio Alliance " LeoLab 042

Vyacheslav Ganelin: piano, synth; Petras Vysniauskas: saxophones; Arkadi
Gotesman: drums, percussion recorded live in Vilnius and Kaunas, October
1996

If you're new to Russian jazz you'd be well advised to start with a key
figure in the music, Vyacheslav Ganelin. He is a multi-instrumentalist,
composer and improviser, and previous leader of the now-disbanded Ganelin
Trio ( which still stands as the former Soviet Union's most influential new
jazz group). He remains a pivotal figure in the Russian jazz world despite
relocating to Israel in 1987. As this live recording attests, Ganelin has
embarked on fresh adventures in creative improvised music, recently forming
a trio alliance with old Lithuanian friend Petras Vysniauskas (himself an
important and widely documented figure) and recent acquaintance, the
Ukrainian-born but now Israeli-resident Arkadi Gotesman. The two half-hour
pieces on this disc are live improvisations recorded during the trio's 1996
tour of Lithuania. Ganelin is clearly the leader here, introducing both
pieces with keyboard improvisations. The first begins wistfully with the
breathy textures of his synth, the second more casually rambling on a
bright-sounding piano. The immediate sense suggests a mix of good humour and
cheerful exploration. You do get the feeling that Ganelin is a prodigious
improviser and could happily go on all night with just his keyboards, but
the very impressive Vysniauskas steps into the spotlight several minutes
into each piece and plays some beautiful and delicate curlicues of melody
which lead into more urgent playing, opening up paths for the percussion of
Gotesman. Vysniauskas possesses a tone of great warmth and feeling on
soprano sax, exacting numerous dancing folk-like rhymes and capturing a
palpable melancholy at times. While the first piece (recorded in Vilnius)
presents an ensemble engaged in full-flight interaction, the second provides
an opportunity to hear each of the players working the seams of their own
solo music, until, twenty six minutes in and after a lengthy drum and
percussion interlude, the trio suddenly hit full stride together with some
jet-propeller rhythms from Gotesman and Vysniauskas working himself and
Ganelin into a frenzy. It's sadly all over before you'd want it to be, but
this is the nature of improv, for better or worse. Structurally, I prefer
the first piece with its sense of drama, light and shade and some lovely
atmospheric agreement between the three players. Cinematic in scope and
texture (and not without humour, almost cartoonish in parts thanks to
Ganelin's touch) the piece contrasts well with the more virtuosic extensions
heard in the second piece, recorded at the concert in Kaunas. Ganelin's
simultaneous and spontaneous orchestrations on piano and synth are also a
great tonic. It would be a pity to pass over such fresh-sounding and
invigorating music as this. Trio Alliance is full of surprises with enough
quirky left-turns to keep the enjoyment levels high. Go seek.

Direct link to V. Ganelin, P. Vysniauskas, A. Gotesman
" Trio Alliance " CD -
http://www.balticshop.com/cgi-bin/affiliate.cgi?JAZZ:ITEM:1903