Interview with Yury Markin: It is not life itself that is important, but what a person does in it: Video

Jazz interview with jazz pianist and composer Yury Markin. An interview by email in writing with a taciturn musician. 

JazzBluesNews.com: – First let’s start with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music?

Yury Markin: – I grew up on the Volga River (Astrakhan city). I was attracted by jazz, heard on the radio “Voice of America” ​​in the programs of Willis Conover.

JBN: – How did your sound evolve over time? What did you do to find and develop your sound?

YM: – I studied at a music school for piano, at a music school for double bass and at the Moscow Conservatory for composition.

JBN: – What practice routine or exercise have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical ability especially pertaining to rhythm?

YM: – Loving the rhythm, I practiced independently on the drums.

JBN: – How to prevent disparate influences from coloring what you’re doing?

YM: – In the beginning, all influences are useful, then you need to sublimate everything and look for your own path.

JBN: – How do you prepare before your performances to help you maintain both spiritual and musical stamina?

YM: – I hope for inspiration in speeches.

JBN: – Ism is culled from a variety of lives dates with various performers over the course of a few years. Did your sound evolve during that time? And how did you select the musicians who play on the album?

YM: – The performer tends to perform free music.

JBN: – What’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?

YM: – Moderate balance between “Body and Soul”, as in the well-known standard.

JBN: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; you’re okay with giving the people what they want?

YM: – Do not mind the compromise between the imaginary and the real.

JBN: – Please any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

YM: – I remember the concerts of Charles Lloyd’s ensemble and the Ted Jones and Mel Lewis orchestra in Russia.

JBN: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of the standard tunes are half a century old?

YM: – Young people should first study the mainstream before. than to do something of your own.

JBN: – John Coltrane said that music was his spirit. How do you understand the spirit and the meaning of life?

YM: – The Persian king Darius said: – It is not life itself that is important, but what a person does in it.

JBN: – If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

YM: – Connecting all genres together.

JBN: – Who do you find yourself listening to these days?

YM: – I listen to bebop.

JBN: – What is the message you choose to bring through your music?

YM: – To convey imagery (the essence of interval relationships that form the theme).

JBN: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go?

YM: – I want to go to the 60s, when hard bop reigned as the pinnacle of jazz.

JBN: – I have been asking you so far, now may I have a question from yourself…

YM: – How long will the pandemic last?

JBN: – This website is not about health, you are wrong …

JBN: – So putting that all together, how are you able to harness that now?

YM: – It can be used as a synthesis. to find new directions.