CULTURE

Back with a vengeance

The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review returns to the stage with a new line-up.

By Sergey Chernov

Staff Writer

Popcorn Studio The ensemble is back with a new singer and fresh input from members of fellow local band Markscheider Kunst.

The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review, one of the city’s finest bands, returns after an 18-month hiatus — with a new lineup and a new singer.

The formerly St. Petersburg-based American vocalist Jennifer Davis, who was with the band from 2002 until returning to the U.S. in 2008, will be replaced by local singer Yulia Kogan. The band will comprise founding member Denis Kuptsov on drums plus the full lineup of the respected local Afro-Cuban/ska-influenced band Markscheider Kunst.

Kuptsov, who founded the band, which blends ska and jazz, adding elements of funk, jive and swing in 2001, said the ensemble had reformed due to public demand. “Everyone around wanted it so much, talked about it all the time, wrote to me by email, via our web site and MySpace page, asking me when and where, when and where,”

he said.

During Davis’ most recent visit to the city in December 2008, the band recorded its third studio album, which has been put on the shelf due to a lack of funds. According to Kuptsov, it still needs to be mixed and mastered.

“First everybody started to ask about the album, and then about the band,” he said.

The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review originally started as a spin-off project of Spitfire, the ska-punk band that Kuptsov co-founded in 1993 with two members of Markscheider Kunst. It was primarily an instrumental band during its first year, until Davis joined as singer and lyricist in April 2002.

“To be honest, I’ve always liked this band better [than Spitfire], because of its musical diversity and because I simply like this kind of music more,” said Kuptsov.

Along with the other members of Spitfire, Kuptsov also played with the hugely popular band Leningrad from 2002 until it was disbanded by leader Sergei Shnurov in November 2008. He parted ways with Spitfire in July 2009.

Kuptsov said he first talked about bringing back The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review with the members of Spitfire, but was greeted with a lack of enthusiasm.

“I wanted to revive the band one way or another, even if it meant doing so with different musicians, but to be honest, I don’t know anybody in the city who would play this music better than Spitfire or Markscheider Kunst,” he said.

“There are no musicians here other than them who specialize in Jamaican and Afro-Caribbean music. So I approached Markscheider Kunst, and they reacted positively from the very beginning.”

Kuptsov said his rift with Spitfire occurred after Leningrad, which was the main source of the band’s income and confidence due to its popularity as a stadium and corporate events band, was disbanded.

“Leningrad split up, and everyone started to have problems,” he said.

“The crisis has come — both a monetary crisis, and a middle-age crisis for many.

“It happens. It’s like you live with your wife for 15 years and then you divorce. It sort of expired.”

At that point Kuptsov, who had previously played in five bands, was left with two. While Optimystica Orchestra, a superband formed by Tequilajazzz’s Yevgeny Fyodorov, performed rarely, playing drums with the surf band Messer Chups became his main occupation.

“Thank God I had Messer Chups, and I still have it,” he said. “I’ve been on a big European tour with them recently, and I work with them closely, but I want to have something of my own.”

Leningrad, which packed stadiums in its heyday, was disbanded in November 2008 by Shnurov, who said he was tired and bored of the band and wanted to try something new. He subsequently launched a rock band, Rubl. In December that year, Leningrad played its last Russian concert, and finally split after concerts in Poland in January 2009.

“Leningrad definitely occupied the main position at one point, because it was the most popular, biggest-budget and most in-demand band, when at its peak,” said Kuptsov.

Viktoria Viatris / For The St. Petersburg Times Founding member Denis Kuptsov reformed the ensemble due to popular demand.

While Davis had experience singing with local jazz bands before joining the St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review, new singer Kogan, who sang backing vocals with Leningrad during the band’s last 18 months, has an opera background and continues to sing soprano parts while having a separate career as a jazz and pop/disco singer.

Kogan said she joined the band because she “was invited by Denis, and because it’s good music.”

“I didn’t sing exactly this kind of music before, but I sang jazz, opera and many other genres,” she said.

The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review’s eponymous first album was instrumental, but Davis performed at the album’s launch concerts and in St. Petersburg and Moscow in April 2002. The second album, “Too Good to Be True,” with Davis co-writing many songs including the title number, came out in September 2005.

It was followed in 2007 by the live album “Live at Red Club,” recorded at the now-defunct venue in December 2006 and released on both CD and DVD.

With its records also released in Germany, Spain and Japan, the band had a solid touring career on the European club circuit. “We’re actually very well-known around the world,” said Kuptov.

“There are three names — the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, the St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review and the Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation. Three bands.”

As Markscheider Kunst has a spin-off band, Tres Muchachos y Companeros, which focuses on its own reworkings of original Cuban and Latin songs, the St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review has devised a convenient touring arrangement.

“It adds up to three-in-one; we can come to one city and play three nights in a row — the same people, but totally different music,” said Kuptsov.

At its comeback concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the band will be performing its old repertoire, including original songs with Davis’ lyrics and covers such as “Simmer Down” (Bob Marley’s first hit, originally recorded by The Wailers with The Skatalites in 1963), Chet Baker’s “Old Devil Moon” and Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff,” as well as the band’s unlikely version of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Song of India.”

“We haven’t written any new songs yet, and it would be silly to perform a new set under the old name, it should be done step by step,” Kuptsov said.

Markscheider Kunst singer and guitarist Sergei Yefremenko said he joined because he liked the music, and the members of his band had been involved with the St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review in the past.

“It was really an excellent project, and Denis is a great guy, so we got together, rehearsed a bit and things got rolling,” said Yefremenko, adding that the sound will differ from the original band due to a different combination of instruments.

The approach is slightly different, too, Yefremenko added.

“They played in a more academic way, if I can put it like that, while we often joke around. There’s humor to it.”

Singer Davis, who also fronted her own jazz-funk band J.D. and the Blenders, left St. Petersburg for a one-year art journalism course at Syracuse University in June 2008.

Having graduated with a masters in journalism in June 2009, she now lives in Boulder, Colorado, contributing as a freelancer to SKI Magazine and the online culture magazine PopMatters. She also has a blog, Beet Salad.

“I think the revival is a good idea; there’s still a large fanbase in Russia and a repertoire of great, original songs. Why not?” she commented this week.

The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review will perform at 9 p.m. on Saturday at Tantsy, located at 49 Gorokhovaya Ulitsa (walk through the archway into the courtyards and look for the signs). M: Sennaya Ploshchad.

Tel: +7 950 001 6506.

More stories by this section:

Chernov’s choice | Coming of age | Well Oiled | The 10th Music of The Great Hermitage festival | Petersburg Art Week Showcases Talent | New Chekhov-Themed Film Opens In Russia | Baltic Biennale Gives Artist, Audiences a New Meeting Forum

Or take part in the discussion below.