Igor Butman
Encyclopedia
Igor Butman is a jazz saxophonist born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1961. He is considered to be a virtuoso saxophonist, and a skilled bandleader. American saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.
was instrumental in introducing Igor Butman to American audiences by featuring the Russian saxophonist on his 1988 album, Then and Now. American trumpet player Wynton Marsalis
has also been a strong champion of Igor Butman.
Former US President
Bill Clinton
has called Butman "my favorite living saxophone player."
`s big band. In 1984, he was invited by Nick Levinovsky to join the jazz group "Allegro" and played with them for three years.
After Igor Butman immigrated to America in 1987, he went on to major in Performance and Composition at Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. While still in the U.S.S.R., Igor was invited to play with touring American musicians, including Dave Brubeck
, Chick Corea
, Pat Metheny
, Gary Burton
, Louis Bellson and Grover Washington Jr.. Igor appeared as Grover's special guest in concerts at Chautauqua, New York, the Berklee Center in Boston and at Great Woods Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. He is featured on Grover Washington Jr.'s Columbia release Then and Now (1988) soloing on "Stolen Moments", "Stella By Starlight" and Igor's own composition "French Connections".
Moving to New York in 1989, Butman worked with The Lionel Hampton Orchestra. In 1992, Igor recorded with actor/musician Michael Moriarty's Quintet the album Live at the Fat Tuesday's on DRG Records.
In 1993, saw the release of his solo album Falling Out mostly with Igor's own composition, which featured Eddie Gomez on bass, Lyle Mays on piano and Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. Next year Butman collaborated with Partners in Time, joined by Gary Burton, in the recording of their album Equinost (Intersound).
When Wynton Marsalis performed in Russia in 1998, he invited Butman to be a guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Next year Marsalis was a featured guest with the Igor Butman Big Band at Le Club.
In February 2009, the Igor Butman Big Band toured the United States with Yuri Bashmet, Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra and Igor Raykhelson. The tour included performances in Seattle (Symphony Hall), LA (Wilshire Theatre), San Francisco (Palace of Fine Arts), Cleveland (Severance Hall), Washington (Strathmore Hall), Boston (BSO Hall), New York (Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center) and Chicago (Orchestra Hall of Symphony Center).
In May 2009 Igor Butman launched his own jazz label “Butman Music”.
Grover Washington, Jr.
Grover Washington, Jr. was an American jazz-funk / soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with George Benson, John Klemmer, David Sanborn, Bob James, Chuck Mangione, Herb Alpert, and Spyro Gyra, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre.He wrote some of his material and...
was instrumental in introducing Igor Butman to American audiences by featuring the Russian saxophonist on his 1988 album, Then and Now. American trumpet player Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
has also been a strong champion of Igor Butman.
Former US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
has called Butman "my favorite living saxophone player."
Biography
Igor Butman was born in Leningrad, USSR on October 27, 1961. In 1976 he entered the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music. In 1977, he decided to switch from the classical clarinet to the jazz saxophone. Besides being taught by the remarkable musician and brilliant teacher Gennady Goldstein, he took unofficial lessons from nightly broadcasts of jazz from 11: 15 p.m. to midnight on Voice of America. In 1983, Butman played in Oleg LundstremOleg Lundstrem
Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem was a Soviet and Russian jazz composer and conductor of the Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra, one of the earliest officially recognized jazz bands in the Soviet Union Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem (also spelled Lundstroem, Lundström, ; April 2, 1916, Chita—October 14, 2005, near...
`s big band. In 1984, he was invited by Nick Levinovsky to join the jazz group "Allegro" and played with them for three years.
After Igor Butman immigrated to America in 1987, he went on to major in Performance and Composition at Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. While still in the U.S.S.R., Igor was invited to play with touring American musicians, including Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
, Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
, Louis Bellson and Grover Washington Jr.. Igor appeared as Grover's special guest in concerts at Chautauqua, New York, the Berklee Center in Boston and at Great Woods Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. He is featured on Grover Washington Jr.'s Columbia release Then and Now (1988) soloing on "Stolen Moments", "Stella By Starlight" and Igor's own composition "French Connections".
Moving to New York in 1989, Butman worked with The Lionel Hampton Orchestra. In 1992, Igor recorded with actor/musician Michael Moriarty's Quintet the album Live at the Fat Tuesday's on DRG Records.
In 1993, saw the release of his solo album Falling Out mostly with Igor's own composition, which featured Eddie Gomez on bass, Lyle Mays on piano and Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. Next year Butman collaborated with Partners in Time, joined by Gary Burton, in the recording of their album Equinost (Intersound).
When Wynton Marsalis performed in Russia in 1998, he invited Butman to be a guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Next year Marsalis was a featured guest with the Igor Butman Big Band at Le Club.
In February 2009, the Igor Butman Big Band toured the United States with Yuri Bashmet, Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra and Igor Raykhelson. The tour included performances in Seattle (Symphony Hall), LA (Wilshire Theatre), San Francisco (Palace of Fine Arts), Cleveland (Severance Hall), Washington (Strathmore Hall), Boston (BSO Hall), New York (Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center) and Chicago (Orchestra Hall of Symphony Center).
In May 2009 Igor Butman launched his own jazz label “Butman Music”.