Reverberations Alex Sipiagin feat. Will Vinson, John Escreet, Makar Novikov, Donald Edwards, Aubrey Johnson

• 1 Sipa Tham 08:41
• 2 Mish-Match 09:36
• 3 Swana's Point 08:39
• 4 Little Royal Suite 08:46
• 5 Prelude To A Kiss 10:01
• 6 Blues On The Corner 07:59
• 7 Upper Manhattan Medical Group 07:03
• 8 From Seeley To Simei 04:57
• Total Runtime 01:05:42

Info zu Reverberations

Reverberations is the 14th album by Russian-born jazz trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, released by Criss Cross Jazz, the album features a sextet of long-time collaborators, including Will Vinson on saxophone, John Escreet on piano, Makar Novikov on bass, Donald Edwards on drums, guest vocalist Aubrey Johnson, with Sipiagin leading. The repertoire blends original compositions with reinterpretations of jazz classics, showcasing Sipiagin's intricate arrangements and the ensemble's cohesive interplay.

“I always try to create a story,” Alex Sipiagin says. “For me, the pieces are totally connected, even if they don’t sound that way – a standard could connect with some free composition or complicated odd meter. It’s a very logical line from the beginning until the end.”

With an eye towards realizing that aspiration on his 14th Criss Cross leader album, titled Reverberations, Sipiagin booked a six-concert tour in November by a sextet of long-time friends and bandmates from several files of activity that constitute his thriving career. After a few days off, they convened at a well-appointed studio in Bassano del Grappa, the grappa capital of Italy, a 10-minute drive from Sandrigo, the village in the north Italian region of Vicenza, where Sipiagin resides with his wife, Melissa Tham.

“My improvisations and compositions have more space, more air, more stopping to process what I feel,” Sipiagin, now 58, said in our conversation about Reverberations. “I no longer need to prove something. I no longer have this battle mood. I just want to play my music and do the best I can. Living here, you can breathe, create and practice.”

On Reverberations you can feel that attitude suffusing the contributions of Will Vinson and John Escreet, both U.K.-born, the formidable Berlin-based Russian expat bassist Makar Novikov, and Donald Edwards, a son of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. “There’s nothing super-complicated except a few melody heads,” Sipiagin says. “We took our time and relaxed, played it in the same order as the concerts, and it came out quite spontaneously. It’s my presentation of today, but inspired by memories of the reverberations of moments from the past with great musicians and great friends. For example, when I was 15, I transcribed a little phrase of Clifford Brown. Forty years later, I’m still practicing that phrase, and it still brings me ideas, because it’s so musical, so spiritual.”

Alex Sipiagin, trumpet, flugelhorn
Will Vinson, alto saxophone
John Escreet, piano
Makar Novikov, bass
Donald Edwards, drums
Aubrey Johnson, vocals (track 2)

Recorded November 10, 2024 & November 11, 2024 in Bassano del Grappa, Italy
Engineered by Diego Piotto
Editing, mixing, mastering by Michael Marciano
Produced by Jerry Teekens

Alex Sipiagin
Jazz festivals worldwide have seen Alex Sipiagin performing with the likes of Dave Hol- land, Michael Brecker, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, the Mingus groups, and many more. In 1990, Alex participated in the International Louis Armstrong Competition sponsored by the Thelonius Monk Institute in Washington DC, winning top honors. After 30 over years of living in New York City, he has since relocated to Italy.

In his early career, Alex became a favored player for various bands including the Gil Evans Orchestra, Gil Goldstein's Zebra Coast Orchestra, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, drummer Bob Moses' band Mozamba, the Mingus Big Band as well as the Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Orchestra, and the Dave Holland Big Band, Sextet and Octet groups.

In 2003 he recorded with Michael Brecker’s Quindectet, touring also with the Michael Brecker Sextet. Alex has also worked with Eric Clapton, DrJohn, Aaron Neville, Elvis Costello, Michael Franks, Dave Sanborn, Deborah Cox, legendary producer Phil Ramone, Gonzalo Rubalcaba among other artistes. Many of the recordings he has been involved in have been nominated for and/or won at the Grammy Awards. He is part of the Grammy award-winning albums by the Dave Holland Big Band, “What Goes Around” and “Overtime,” Michael Brecker Quindectet’s “Wide Angles,” and the Dafnis Prieto Big Band’s “Into the Sunset”.

As a soloist, Sipiagin has more than twenty recordings to his credit including having jazz greats such as Mulgrew Miller and Chris Potter featured in them. He has toured exten- sively throughout Europe, the United States, Asia, New Zealand with his own groups. He held a professorship at New York University (NYU) for seven years, and a residency at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He currently holds residencies at Academy of Music in Basel Switzerland and Siena Jazz in Italy.

Alex Sipiagin has recorded at least 20 solo albums for the prestigious jazz label “Criss- Cross Jazz, featuring several notable musicians such as Chris Potter, Eric Harland, David Binney, Adam Rogers, John Escreet and Matt Brewer. In recent years, Alex has also recorded two solo albums titled “Upstream” and “Ascent to the Blues” with the Posi- tone Label. Alex Sipiagin recently released his newest album with Criss Cross label ti- tled “Mel’s Vision” in early 2023. He is currently working on his next recording for Blue Room Music label which will feature his favorite musicians Chris Potter, Eric Harland, John Escreet, Matt Brewer, all of whom also recorded on his previous notable albums by Criss Cross label “Moments Captured” , “Balance 38-58”, “Destination Unknown”, Blue Room Music label “NoFo Skies” and others.

This recent year saw Alex collaborating as soloist with several large ensembles in Eu- rope including the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for Fekete-Kovács Kornél, Alex’s original compositions with RTV Radio Slovenia Big Band titled “New York Sketches”, and Big Band Radio Romania titled “Wind Dance”. In August 2022, Alex Sipiagin also received a commission to arrange his music for and perform with a contempo-

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