Sounds Beyond Barriers

One of the most politically charged terms of the 20th century, the Iron Curtain was a metaphor for political and cultural division. In a post-war telegram Winston Churchill referred to the fault line that ran through Europe between East and West as "an Iron Curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind".

In this two-part album, as far as jazz is concerned, we will showcase, describe and celebrate exactly what was ‘going on behind’. We see that music is the power supreme, with the ability to transcend all barriers, be they physical, political or metaphorical.

Our liner notes illustrate the complex and contradictory history of Soviet jazz, and the tracks we’ve chosen cover the key period of the early 1960s to the 1980s. It was during these dark years of the Cold War that the Soviet Union and its satellite states produced a number of outstanding artists playing in a variety of styles. The impact of modernism, from hard bop and Latin to modal and cool jazz, had found its way through cracks in the curtain. The deeply-felt ancestral strains of traditional European folk music were combined with the exciting new and progressive sounds of the West, and a radical, intoxicating brew was created that no amount of guns, tanks or polonium tea could overcome.

We chronicle the triumph of jazz at a time of extreme geopolitical conflict. What went on behind the Iron Curtain in these countries was once mysterious and unknown to the West, but the perseverance of their artists provided sound and light amid the secretive, dark days of the communist-capitalist standoff. There was no end of life-affirming spiritual jazz behind the Iron Curtain.

“Whether it’s by improvisation in the African-American jazz tradition, or by a village kobza player standing on top of a damn hill - he feels connected to the stars.” 

TRACKLIST:

A1. Collage - Halb Sirp (Bad Sickle)

A2. Manfred-Ludwig Sextett - Gral

A3. Bernt Rosengren - Crazy Girl

A4. Polish Jazz Quartet - Promenade Through Empty Streets

A5. Vagif Mustafa Zadeh - Caucasus

B1. Джаз Фокус-65 - Monday Morning

B2. Theo Schumann Combo - Karawane

B3. Václav Zahradník - Podzimní Slunce

B4. SHQ - Lori

C1. ВИА Севиль - Mugam

C2. Джаз Фокус-65 - Autumn Sun

C3. The Golstain-Nosov Quintet - Rosinent In Toledo

D1. YU All Stars 1977 - Kosmet

D2. Michael Fritzen Quartett - Rien

D3. Dan Mîndrilă - Sonet