Inspired by Nature Rain Sultanov

• 1 Intro - The White Birds of Qizilagac 02:16
• 2 The White Birds of Qizilagac 06:24
• 3 Up Lahij Mountains 06:02
• 4 Intro - On the Trail of Shirvan’s Gazelles 04:10
• 5 On the Trail of Shirvan’s Gazelles 08:54
• 6 On the Absheron Hook 06:39
• 7 Intro - Wild Wind of Zuvend 03:29
• 8 Wild Wind of Zuvend 05:17
• 9 Hirkan’s Colors 05:50
• 10 The Breath of an Caspian Volcano 08:20
• Total Runtime 57:21

Info for Inspired by Nature

A musical travel guide to Azerbaijan: Since the soviet days, Azerbaijan has had a rich jazz scene. To make sure it’s not becoming another obscure insider tip the remote country at the Caspian Sea needs to make some waves internationally from time to time. Under these circumstances a luminary like Rain Sultanov is a real blessing.

The saxophone player is the most popular jazz musician in Azerbaijan. An official „honoured artist“ of the country, Sultanov often comes back to themes from Azerbaijan in his music, drawing attention to the history and culture of his home land. His project „Voice of Karabakh“ describes the struggles of Mountainous Garabagh, the contested region on the border to Armenia and „Tale Of My Land“ delves into the stories and histories of Azerbaijan.

Whilst working on these projects, Sultanov developed the idea of also turning the breath- taking, extreme landscapes of the country into music and show their beauty to his audience. With the help of German filmmaker Antje Dombrowski and diplomat Thomas Melzer, the idea became reality. They gathered musicians and set off to a trip around Azerbaijan to collect sounds and inspiration for the album. They found bubbling gush springs, jammed with blacksmiths, blew against the storm, manhandled a grand piano into the steppe and scared off water birds with unheard sounds. All the impressions, sketches and recordings from this trip they took to Oslo’s reclaimed Rainbow Studios. Here Sultanov’s dream finally turned into an album, every bit as breath-taking, extreme and beautiful as the landscapes of Azerbaijan: „Inspired by Nature - Seven Sounds of Azerbaidjan“. Even though Oslo is far away from Azerbaijan, Rain Sultanov managed to bring back these unique places and turn their atmosphere into music. The sounds and moods the musicians found on their „sound excursion“ where translated into parts for instruments and where contrasted with typical melodies of the region. This experimental mixture of folk and sounds Rain Sultanov and his musicians then integrated in imaginative yet elegant jazz arrangements.

The result are pictures made of sound - dreamy, inspiring and surprising – put together from saxophone, percussion, piano, bass, drums, cello and vocals. „Inspired by Nature“ sends the listener on an inner journey to Rain Sultanov’s Azerbaijan and proves that we sometimes see more, when we take the time to listen.

Rain Sultanov, tenor-, soprano saxophone
Shahin Novrasli, piano
Linnea Olsson, cello, voice
Yosef Eyvazov, oud
Yasuhito Mori, double bass
Peter Nilsson, drums
Irakei Koiava, percussion, oud

Recorded November 2013 at Rainbow studio, Oslo
Recorded & mixed by Jan Erik Kongshaug
Music editing by Peer Espen Urfjord
Produced by Dagobert Böhm

Rain Sultanov
is leading jazz saxophonist who has made a huge contribution to the development of jazz culture in Azerbaijan. Not many were able to walk such a turbulent and interesting creative path, rich and full of musical events, as Rain Sultanov. He is a person whose work is always of interest to the world's experts of high music. Rain's music carries a lot of sense and leads one to a deep thought.

Rain Sultanov was born on April 29, 1965 in Baku, Azerbaijan. After graduating from a music school as a distance student, specializing in clarinet and surprising his teachers with hard work and natural talent, Rain demonstrated his extraordinary ability for the first time. In 1985, Rain Sultanov was awarded at the Republican clarinetists contest. ​

In 1988, having received an invitation from the master of Azerbaijani vocal arts Rashid Behbudov, he began working at the Azerbaijan Song Theatre. After Behbudov's in 1990 Rain becomes jazz soloist of the ‘Qaya' State Jazz Orchestra. After this period of life can be called Rain Sultanov's emerging professional jazz career. ​

In 1997 he founded the band Syndicate and released his first album ‘Last Moment’. ​

In 2003, Rain Sultanov published a work of many years, his book ‘Anthology of Jazz in Azerbaijan’. The book featured archival materials collected from all over the world, as well as facts and photographs of those who were somehow associated with jazz in Azerbaijan. The book also contains two Cd’s with the music of past years and the compositions of contemporary musicians. It became the first comprehensive reference material on jazz in Azerbaijan, showing the whole process of historical development of jazz in Baku. ​

Along with scientific research and analysis of the development of jazz, Sultanov did not limit himself in musical activity. A year later, Rain Sultanov became the art director and organizer of the festival, which he named the Baku Jazz Festival. Starting that year, the international festival in Baku has been held annually and is the largest jazz event in the country.

He also possesses his own unique style of performance and an everlasting series of new ideas, albums and projects. Beginning in the Soviet time and to this day, Rain Sultanov has been a participant of a large number of concerts and jazz festivals held worldwide.

Rain Sultanov – authoritative jazz musician and leading exponent of different forms of music, with his own style and a plethora of ideas and projects, drawn inexorably to the mysterious world of the future.

Booklet for Inspired by Nature