SOVIET ‘NEW WAVE’ FROM GANELIN TRIO

It was an evening of musical ironies Wednesday when the Los Angeles Theatre Center and Jazz Aid International presented the first local appearance by a Soviet jazz group--the Ganelin Trio.

Ironic because the Soviet musicians have made a total commitment to a form of spontaneous improvisation that was known in this country, in the ‘60s, as “avant-garde,” “new wave,” and, yes, “free jazz.”

The program consisted of two long, episodically improvised pieces titled “Non Troppo” and “New Wine,” with a brief encore interpretation of “Mack the Knife.”

After 10 years of continuous musical association, pianist/synthesist Vyacheslav Ganelin, woodwind player Vladimir Chekasin and drummer Vladimir Tarasov have developed an improvisational interaction that verges on the symbiotic. There were no apparent signs, signals, head nods or count offs as the group built a fascinating series of organically evolving musical moods.

The opening piece, “Non Troppo,” a collective construction based on a four-note motivic fragment, was a bit tentative, highlighted only by provocative amplified wind and rain sounds from Chekasin.

“New Wine” was dramatically better. Drummer Tarasov’s parade-drum snare playing near the piece’s beginning crackled with technique reminiscent of the work of Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell. And Ganelin’s long, rhapsodic piano solo, juxtaposing moments of lyricism with whirlwind runs up and down the keyboard, revealed an original jazz talent.

By the time they finished a whimsical reworking of “Mack the Knife,” the Ganelin Trio had pushed the ironies aside. Russian jazz isn’t just coming; it’s here.