Animal jazz. Animal Jazz is

“Animal Jazz” are modest guys from St. Petersburg. Perhaps they are the only adults whom successive generations of teenagers listen to with interest. Music, concerts, new rhymes - this is what the artists live with every day since the founding of the project. The audience loves them for their sincerity, and in return they never tire of giving them new hits.

History of creation and composition

The creative team was created in 2000 in St. Petersburg. Contrary to the tradition popular among rock bands, the musicians were not young rebels who dreamed of tearing up the hall or smashing a guitar on the floor. The ideological leader and inspirer of the team, Alexander Mikhailovich Krasovitsky, was 28 years old at that time.

Before the creation of the group, he managed to move to the Northern capital from Magadan, enter the Faculty of Sociology at St. Petersburg State University, teach, get a degree in marketing, do an internship abroad, get married, and have a child. Nothing foreshadowed the appearance of a musical scene in the biography, although Sasha sang, in his words, “from God.”

He demonstrated vocals in a youth choir and in a student dormitory, but took up music seriously when he was an adult with a passport. In 1999, he found himself at a concert:

“I was attracted by what was happening on stage. That’s when I thought that I would also stand on stage.”

The team was formed spontaneously. Vocalist Mikhalych and bass guitarist Igor Bulygin were playing in a common project at that time. Rehearsals took place in one of the St. Petersburg basements, where many performers, both professionals and amateurs, worked. One day, having again heard the “neighbors” behind the wall, the future frontman offered to play together.

In addition, he had developments and unrealized ideas in his piggy bank, the implementation of which would have benefited from a fresh creative look. Thus, the composition of the band was enriched with a backing vocalist with a guitar, a keyboard player and a drummer.

Considering how easily creative unions fall apart, especially in the underground scene, for many years the team has remained a model of cohesion. Three of the five members - Krasovitsky (vocals), Bulygin (bass) and Ryakhovsky (backing and guitar) - have been performing since its founding. In 2007, Alexander Zarankin (keys) joined the project, and a year later - Sergey Kivin (drums).

We thought about the name for a long time. As a result, at one of the sessions, the first drummer of the project, Sergei Egorov, shared with his colleagues that he had previously played in a project called “Animal Jazz”, but of its participants he was the only one alive. At first glance, the story seemed too gloomy to his fellow workers. However, when the time came to print posters and flyers for the first concert, there were no other options. The musicians still consider the name they “inherited” to be correct.

Music

The band's compositions stylistically fit into several rock genres: alternative, art rock, indie, and post-grunge. The artists themselves identify their direction as “heavy guitar eclecticism.”

“When I look in the mirror, I see the face not of a teenager, but the eyes of a person who doesn’t understand a damn thing in life. This is my partly schizophrenic problem. But it allows me to write texts that are close to 15-year-old children, because in the texts I ask questions. That’s why the audience at our concerts changes from year to year: older teenagers move back, giving way to high school students and students.”

The team celebrated the coming of age of creative activity in 2018 with the album “Happiness.” Over the previous years, 9 numbered discs were released. One of the most successful works was the sixth studio album “Step Inhale”. The song of the same name from this disc was released on the soundtrack to the film “Graffiti” by Igor Apasyan. The film received several awards at prestigious festivals: in Tokyo, Seoul, Lagov, Yerevan.

And yet the main song was “Three Stripes”. The anthem of youth and love at a tender age has become iconic for several generations of teenagers, whose problems remain the same in 2006 and 2016. The composition received the “Best Hit of the Year” award at the prestigious RAMP award of the A-ONE TV channel.

The artists also have 4 acoustic collections. Several albums from the discography were recorded with funds raised through crowdfunding platforms. The same money was used to release some clips. According to the musicians, every time it is a pleasant surprise for them, a surprise that they do not try to get used to.

The group has repeatedly become a participant in national music festivals: “Maxidrom”, “Wings”, “Invasion”. At atmospheric events they performed with: Even after becoming popular performers, the artists enjoyed playing as the opening act for their foreign colleagues: Garbage, .

In 2012, at a concert before the RHCP show in St. Petersburg, the audience heard for the first time a joint composition by Mikhalych and the singer. The famous pop singer unexpectedly appeared before the audience in an unusual role. Later, a video was shot for the song “Live,” which collected millions of views on YouTube.

This is not the only experience of collaboration with other stars. For example, in 2009, the track “Everything is Possible” was created, which was in rotation for a long time on music TV channels, including MTV.

The artists are constantly on the move, but they speak about nomadic life with humor:

“We are the most boring band in the history of rock music. We don’t have eight girls in the Jacuzzi after concerts and burned hotel rooms.”

Since 2011, two Alexanders (keyboardist and vocalist) have been leading the side project Zero People. The duo works in the genre of authentic minimalist rock, without interfering with the format of the main creative activity of both musicians. Games with words, a minimum of expressive means (vocals, beats, keys) emphasize the narrow specificity and small number of listeners of this experiment.

"Animal Jazz" now

More often than other participants in the press there are photos and interviews of the lead singer of the group. He talks about creative plans, premieres of new videos and songs. The personal life of the vocalist arouses the interest of the group's fans. Little is known about her.

The singer was in a relationship with MakSim - the creative tandem grew into a romance. The lovers openly showed their feelings in public during the “warm-up” for RHCP, ending the performance with a kiss. The album “Rapid Sleep Phases” was dedicated to the singer. Soon the performers separated. The couple did not report the reasons for the breakup. There is no reliable information about the singer’s other relationships.

The group's tours are scheduled months in advance. However, even in such a busy schedule there is time for extra-musical activities. For example, Bulygin and Krasovitsky run a popular portal dedicated to underground music, which is visited by 2-3 thousand people daily. The frontman is also seriously interested in street graffiti art.

On Instagram, he posts hourly photos of striking examples of street art. There are plenty of content providers: artists write from all over the world. In addition, he manages to act in films little by little. The film “School Shooter” with his participation is in the post-production stage. He is an ambassador for Shure Incorporated, a company specializing in the production of musical equipment.

Discography

• 2002 - “Animalism”
• 2004 - “Stereolove”
• 2004 - “Like People”
• 2007 - “Step Inhale”
• 2009 - “Egoist”
• 2011 - “Animal Jazz”
• 2013 - “REM Sleep”
• 2015 - “Guardian of Spring”
• 2018 - “Happiness”

Clips

• 2004 - “Stereolove”
• 2006 - “Step Inhale”
• 2007 - “Three Stripes”
• 2007 - “1:0 in favor of autumn”
• 2009 - “Egoist”
• 2009 - “Everything is possible”
• 2012 - “Love”
• 2012 - “Live”
• 2014 - “Lies”
• 2018 - “Happiness”

The Animal Jazz group was born in the fall of 2000. Animal Jazz music combines heavy drive and energy with romanticism and lyricism.
The focus on mixing styles is reflected in the name of the team, since one of the meanings of the word “jazz” in the English interpretation is “vanity, confusion.” However, the word "Animal" suggests an animal, that is, a natural, organizing principle. As a result, from the chaos and mixture of styles, a solid sound organically crystallizes, suggesting, on the one hand, non-trivial harmonies, on the other hand, hard energy.
Participated in the largest festivals in the Russian Federation. She performed for Rollins Band, Garbage, Clawfinger, Rasmus in Ledovoy and Luzhniki. Animal Jazz songs can be heard on the air of many radio stations in the Russian Federation and neighboring countries.
At the beginning of 2006, Animal Jazz recorded several compositions for the soundtrack of the film "Graffiti", selected for the program of the Tokyo 2006 category "A" festival.

On October 21, 2007, the group presented to the public an acoustic album entitled “1:0 For the Benefit of Autumn.” This is the first acoustic Animal Jazz recorded with the full band.

In December 2010, the group celebrates its tenth anniversary and organizes an anniversary concert tour. In March 2011 he released his tenth album. Whether by chance or intentionally, the disc, released in the year of the group’s 10th anniversary and modestly titled “Animal Jazz,” turned out to be the quintessence of what is commonly understood as the band’s music. Moving away from the sound experiments of the previous album "Egoist", Animal Jazz seemed to have returned to the roots of their creativity and prepared super-eclectic material.
The variety of styles ranges from allusions to R&B (the song "Pop") to a slight mockery of nu-metal ("Faith and Swastika"), from romantic electronic beats ("2010") to post-grunge dirty guitars ("My Love Me") . But these definitions are also very conditional, since the musicians mix several styles within one composition, doing what they themselves once called “brutal jazz” (the word “jazz” in the interpretation of “chaos, confusion”).

Current lineup:
Alexander Krasovitsky - vocals
Igor Bulygin - bass guitar
Evgeniy Ryakhovsky - guitar
Alexander Zarankin - keyboards
Sergey Kivin - drums

Former members:
Sergey Egorov (2000-2004) - drummer
Boris Golodets (2000-2004) - keyboards
Stanislav Gavrilov (2004-2005) - keyboards
Andrey Kazachenko (2005-2007) - keyboards
Jan Lemski (2004-2008) - drummer

Discography:

Number albums
2002 - Animalism
2004 - Stereolove
2004 - Like people
2007 - Step Inhale
2009 - Egoist
2011 - Animal Jazz

Acoustic albums
2005 - Unplugged
2006 - Unplugged. Part II: Rarities
2007 - 1:0 in favor of autumn

Singles
2002 - Intermission
2003 - 15
2003 - If you breathe
2003 - Bolero for Marlene Dietrich
2006 - Step Inhale
2008 - I
2010 - 2010

Live albums
2003 - OrangeZ

Collections
2004 - The Best

Genre: alternative rock

Official website of the group “Animal Jazz”

Animal Jazz music combines heavy drive and energy with romanticism and lyricism.

The focus on mixing styles is reflected in the name of the team, since one of the meanings of the word “jazz” in the English interpretation is “vanity, confusion.” However, the word "animal" suggests an animal, that is, a natural, organizing principle. As a result, from the chaos and mixture of styles, a solid sound organically crystallizes, suggesting, on the one hand, non-trivial harmonies, on the other hand, harsh energy.

2000 - 2002

The Animal Jazz group was born in the fall of 2000. Initial group composition: Alexander "Mikhalych" Krasovitsky- vocals, Evgeny "Johnson" Ryakhovsky- guitar, Igor Bulygin- Bas-guitar, Boris Golodets- keyboards, Sergey Egorov- drums. From the very first days of its existence, the group’s indispensable sound engineer became Yuri Smirnov.

Animal Jazz debuted 22 December 2000. Actively playing concerts, during 2001 Animal Jazz gained fame in St. Petersburg, received invitations to participate in major festivals "SKIF", "Open Windows!" etc. In January 2002, Animal Jazz was chosen as a warm-up team for Rollins Band at concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg , July 2 Animal Jazz performs as a special guest at the band's concert Garbage at the St. Petersburg Ice Palace.

November 24, 2002 The band's first studio album was released Animalism(label - “KDK Records”). The album was produced by the musicians themselves. The group gives a lot of concerts, including outside the two capitals.

Based on the results of 2002, Animal Jazz was nominated for the prestigious FUZZ magazine award as " Best New Group".

2003 marked the beginning of recording the second album. Following the Western path, Animal Jazz releases singles preceding the disc - 15 , If you breathe And Bolero for Marlene Dietrich. Media attention to the group is growing. So, maxi-single" 15" published as a supplement to FUZZ (April 2003) and NME (May 2003) magazines.

On June 28, 2003, Animal Jazz performed for the third year in a row at the St. Petersburg festival “Open the Windows!” in front of a record audience of 30 thousand at the stadium. Kirov. In September, Animal Jazz plays as the opening act for the group Clawfinger in the Moscow Palace of Culture Gorbunov. At the end of 2003, the group was nominated for the FUZZ Magazine Award in the category "Best live band".

January 31, 2004 The second studio album is released on KDK Records Stereolove, again produced by the musicians themselves. The album becomes a breakthrough for the group. The song “Stereolove” has been in the top ten of the “Chart Dozen” hit parade on “Our Radio” for 11 weeks. A video was shot for this track and aired on MTV, A-ONE, etc.

In the summer of 2004, Animal Jazz participated in the largest festivals in the country: Megahouse, Wings, Invasion and receives offers from major labels to release the next album. At the same time, in the summer of 2004, changes occurred in the group's composition. New members have become Stas Gavrilov(keys) and Jan Lemski(drums).

October 19, 2004 The third album Animal Jazz is released on the FG Nikitin label Like people. In addition to Yuri Smirnov and Alexander Krasovitsky, Maxim Kravtsov takes part in the production of the disc.

On the New Year's broadcast of NTV Animal Jazz performs in the program "First night with Oleg Menshikov" singing a song Neon cowboy together with Sergei Shnurov and Zhanna Friske.

2005 - 2006

Over the next few years, the geography of the group's tours is expanding, and the number of festivals is growing. Animal Jazz releases two acoustic albums - Unplugged And Unplugged. Part II: Rarities. As part of the group, Stas Gavrilov plays the keys Andrey Kazachenko. In January 2006, Animal Jazz recorded several compositions for the soundtrack of the film " Graffiti"(director Igor Apasyan), selected for the program of Tokyo and other film festivals. The group releases a video for the song Step. Inhale(director Nikita Ryakhovsky), which included footage from the film.

January 28, 2007 The band's fourth album is released on the Kapkan label Step. Inhale . As in previous releases, the sound producers of the disc were Animal Jazz themselves. The album brings the group all-Russian fame. Video for the song Three strips(directed by Evgeny "Priest" Kazakov) gets into the rotation of TV channels A-ONE, O2-TV, Musicbox, etc., and the song becomes one of the anthems of the younger generation.

The group's debut DVD was released in February 2007. Brutal Jazz - documentary film-concert (director - Yuri Kolesnikov).

In the summer of 2007, the group experienced another change of keyboard player - Jazz joined Animal Alexander Zarankin. The band is recording a full-length acoustic album with a new line-up 1:0 in favor of autumn , which goes out to October 2007 on the A-ONE label.

According to the results 2007 Animal Jazz receives two RAMP awards - “Hit of the Year” (for the song “ Three strips") and "Soundtrack of the Year" (for the music for the film " Graffiti"), as well as nominations in three more categories.

2008 - 2009

During 2008-2009, Animal Jazz became one of the most actively touring bands in the country - the number of concerts exceeded a hundred per year. The drummer cannot stand the heavy schedule - as a result, now he plays drums in Animal Jazz Sergey Kivin.

March 13, 2009 concert in Sports Palace "Luzhniki" the band presents their fifth album Egoist . The sound producer of the album was Andrey Samsonov. To the songs, Egoist , Third Eye And Sami clips were shot, the first of which was included in the top ten most popular clips of the A-ONE TV channel at the end of 2008. Song " Everything is allowed" spends more than a month in the top ten of the “Hit Parade of Two Capitals” on Radio MAXIMUM.

In the fall of 2009, the group presents a new DVD Anything is possible: Animal Jazz LIVE in Teleclub (produced by Era-TV) - recording of a concert held in Yekaterinburg TELECLUB. Video for the song Everything is allowed (directed by Victor Vilks), recorded together with Vladi (KASTA), gets into rotation on many TV channels and is included in the “Russian Ten” hit parade on MTV-Russia (2nd place), and also takes 1st place in the hit parade of clips “ Top 10" on the A-ONE TV channel.

The group takes part in the tribute band "Time Machine" " Typescript", recording his version of the composition “Circles on the Water”.

2010 - 2011

During 2010 The group actively tours the country and neighboring countries with the album “Egoist” (more than 100 concerts) and writes new material.

March 26, 2011 a new album with a laconic title is coming out Animal Jazz . Songs " Toxicosis», « 2010 », « Autumn 2010», « Saturday, 6 am» are included in the rotation of the largest rock radio stations in the country. " Toxicosis" And " Autumn 2010" have been in the Chart's Dozen hit parade for more than 3 months. A video is shot for the song (directed by Alexey Petrovykh), which tops the “Top 10” hit parade on the A-ONE TV channel for 2 weeks, and spends a total of 6 weeks on it.

IN March 2012 a new single Animal Jazz with the songs “ Jig" And " Time is not money».

A video for the song will be released on July 7 Love (directed by Marina Fedoseeva), partially filmed in Chernobyl. And on July 18, the YouTube portal WOW TV will host the premiere of the song “Live” - a duet by Animal Jazz with singer MakSim. Video With the premiere of the song, it gains more than 300,000 views on YouTube.

July 20 Animal Jazz performs as special guests at the concert RedHotChiliPeppers at the Petrovsky stadium in St. Petersburg in the presence of more than 30 thousand spectators.

August 30 video for the song presented Jig , recorded with the participation of Vasya Vasin ( Bricks).

September 1 remake of the song Three strips performed by a group with vocals by Alexander Krasovitsky, it enters the “Chart Dozen” of OUR Radio, reaches 3rd place and spends 6 weeks on the chart.

October 5 a limited edition DVD "JAZZ WITH PEPPER" is released with a recording of a performance at the Petrovsky stadium during a joint show with Red Hot Chili Peppers And The Vaccines.

The group takes part in the tribute band Aquarium "Re:Aquarium", organized by the Lenta.ru portal, recording his version of the song Generation of janitors and watchmen.

November 6 The premiere of the video for the song is taking place on the youtube portal “ELLO” Live . In the first 3 days, the clip gains more than 500 thousand views, and by the end of November it reaches the 1 million views mark only on the “ELLO” channel. The clip takes 1st place in the “Russian Ten” hit parade on MTV-Russia, enters the charts and is actively rotated on channels Muz TV, Ru-TV, Musicbox and many others. November 7 the song is played live in the program Evening Urgant on Channel One.

In November the band announces they are raising funds for the release of their future album on a crowdfunding platform Planeta.ru. The declared amount is collected by fans in just a month and a half, and the final amount exceeds the declared amount by almost 2 times. Animal Jazz are becoming successful pioneers of crowdfunding in Russia.

At the end of 2012, Animal Jazz was nominated for the “ Red Star», « Russian Top 2012" And " Chart's Dozen 2012».

March 30, 2013 Animal Jazz releases seventh electric album REM sleep phase . For the first time in the band's history, in addition to the CD edition, a vinyl version of the album is also being released.

April 16 on the youtube portal ELLO the video premiere is taking place Spider , singer MakSim took part in the filming. The clip is not included in rotation on any of the music channels due to explicit scenes, at the same time, the number of views of the video on YouTube exceeds half a million views within the first two weeks. Acoustic version of the song " Spider" Fall into " Chart's Dozen", reaching 7th place and staying in the hit parade for 6 weeks.

30 June on the channel NTV the program " Central television", which features a live performance by Animal Jazz. On September 21 the group performs at Palace Square St. Petersburg in front of 60 thousand spectators in a joint concert with groups Spleen And Chaif.

November 24 a video for the song is coming out Anamnesis . The video was again denied rotation on television due to its shocking content. The video is directed by the band's vocalist Alexander Krasovitsky. The song "Anamnesis" is included in the "Chart Dozen".

Autumn 2013 Alexander Krasovitsky and Alexander Zarankin are recording the soundtrack for the full-length cartoon " The escape» by the Baltic Film Studio.

Animal Jazz begins the New Year with an unusual concert - on January 3, the group presents a new program "New Year's Acoustics" in St. Petersburg, in which invited musicians take part - Anton "Bender" Dokuchaev (PTVP), Danil Prokopyev (Markscheider Kunst) and the string quartet Ensemble PRO ARTE. The concert became the basis for the DVD "New Year's acoustics" produced by Kan Brothers.

Since the beginning of 2014, the group has begun working on a new album. The first sign of the future release is the composition "Breathe". On February 7, the song will debut in "Chart Dozen", where it spends seven weeks with the highest result in the form of 6th place on the chart. Single Breathe is released as an online release and takes 1st place in terms of download volume in the “Alternative” category in the charts iTunes Russia and Google Play Music.

March 7 Animal Jazz releases EP , which also takes 1st place in terms of download volume in the “Alternative” category in the iTunes Russia and Google Play Music charts.

In April Alexander Krasovitsky is starring in the film “ School shooter» studio “..Others..” in the role of a school teacher.

June 1st and 2nd Animal Jazz perform as special guests of Linkin Park at concerts in St. Petersburg (Petrovsky Stadium, 12,000 people) and Moscow (Olympiysky Sports Complex, 20,000 people).

June 8 in Moscow's Izvestia Hall the group presents two new releases at once - DVD New Year's acoustics and double album Live in Aurora . The release is a video and audio version of the acoustic concert that took place on January 3 at the AURORA Concert Hall in St. Petersburg.

June 20 on youtube channel ELLO a video for the song is coming out Lie (OST "School Shooter").

The 4th of October in Moscow Yotaspace the group presents a new video for the song Breathe (directed by Marina Fedoseeva), as well as the single All will pass , which became the third release from the band’s future album. The single again takes 1st place in the “Alternative” category in the charts iTunes Russia And Google Play Music.

20 November on the portal Planeta.ru crowdfunding project starts Guardian of Spring» to raise funds for the future album. The declared amount was collected in a record 4 days, and the total amount again exceeds the declared amount by almost 2 times.

March 17 Animal Jazz's eighth electric album is released Guardian of Spring. On the very first day, the album takes 1st place in terms of download volume in the “Alternative” category in the charts iTunes Russia And Google Play Market, and also enters the Top 10 of the global music chart iTunes Russia(maximum result - 5th place) and remains in the top ten for five weeks.

March 27 song " Here and now"debuts in " Chart dozen", where he spends a record 10 weeks, and on April 17, for the first time in the history of the group, he takes 1st place and does not give it up until the end of April.

On June 5, the composition “Next” from the album “Keeper of Spring” debuts in the “Chart Dozen” and remains on the chart for 11 weeks. A video for the song will be released on August 20 Further, filmed by Vadim Shatrov.

On September 25, at the St. Petersburg "Cosmonaut" the group will present a new single Murderer And clip to the composition of the same name from the album "Keeper of Spring", filmed by director Eldar Asanov.

In December, the group celebrates its 15th anniversary with big concerts in Moscow YOTASPACE and St. Petersburg A2 Green Concert. The events attract more than 5,000 people. To mark the anniversary, the group is releasing a collection AZXV, which includes the 15 best songs in the band’s history in a remastered version, as well as a book AZXV, written by Elena Mikheeva and representing an authorized biography of the group.

Editorial iTunes Russia acknowledges Guardian of Spring best album of 2015 in the category " Russian rock".

Animal Jazz is:

• Alexander "Mikhalych" Krasovitsky - vocals
• Igor Bulygin - bass guitar
• Evgeny "Johnson" Ryakhovsky - guitar
• Alexander Zarankin - keyboards
• Sergey Kivin - drums
• Yuri Smirnov - sound