(E-E) Ev.g.e.n.i.j ..K.o.z.l.o.     Berlin                                                  


      

• Sergey Kuryokhin and Pop Mekhanika – all documents
• Сергей Курёхин и Поп-механика – все документы

Hannelore Fobo: Introduction • List of Musicians • Chronicle

Published 15 August 2018. Letters courtesy Hans Kumpf.



Fifteen letters from Sergey Khrenov to Hans Kumpf document the correspondence between the Russian writer and translator and the (West) German free jazz clarinettist. The correspondence lasted from 1981 and 1984, a period roughly coinciding with Kumpf’s five visits to the USSR between 1980 and 1984. With one exception, Kumpf’s letters have not been preserved.

Sergey Khrenov (Сергей Хренов, 1956-1995) was well integrated in the Leningrad “underground” literary and music scene. He was an active member of the LTO 81, the “Literary-Cultural Association Club 81 at the Leningrad branch of the Union of Soviet writers”, founded in 1981 by progressive writers and poets. In 1984 he co-founded the samizdat publication “Predlog”. He translated English and German literature by James Branch Cabell, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, William Harrison Ainsworth, Paul Bowles, Aldous Huxley, Johann August Apel and others.

Sergey Kuryokhin (left) and Sergey Khrenov (right). Leningrad, 1983. Photo by Hans Kumpf.

Sergey Kuryokhin (left) and Sergey Khrenov (right). Leningrad, 1983. Photo by Hans Kumpf.

The LTO 81 or Club 81 used a small flat to carry out its activities, located on Pyotr Lavrov Street (present-day “Furshtatskaya”). This is where Leningrad musicians met with Hans Kumpf for a large jam session in August 1983. more >>

Together with Alexander Kan, Khrenov founded the Leningrad “Contemporary Music Club“ or CMC for Jazz music, organising concerts in the smaller hall of the Lensoviet Palace of Culture. This was the main venue for Sergey Kuryokhin’s activities until the CMC was evicted from the Lensoviet Palace of Culture in spring 1982 after a scandalous concert.

Read Graham Dulfill's review of Sergei Kuryokhin's Crazy Music Orchestra at the CMC, March 1982, and his interview with  Sergey Kuryokhin, published in the CMC typescript magazine (1982). more >>

Following the eviction of the CMC, Khrenov “adapted” Kuryokhin and his fellow musicians with a music section at the Club 81. In late 1983, the theatre section of the Club 81 – “The Fifth Studio”, also known as “Erik Goroshevsky Theatre” [Театр Эрика Горошевского] – received new premises on prospect Chernishevskogo 3, where occasionally musical encounters took place. In April 1984, Kumpf played there with Boris Grebenshikov and Sergey Kuryokhin. more>>

More about the Erik Goroshevsky Theatre >>

Fluency in English was not common among Soviet citizens, especially fluency in writing. Khrenov’s letters demonstrate this ability. With his inside knowledge of the Soviet jazz scene and his communication skills, he assisted his friend Sergey Kuryokhin in “public relations“, updating Kumpf on Kuryokhin’s concerts. He also informed Kumpf about jazz activities in Leningrad and other cities and helped him to organise his visits to the USSR, where Kumpf would always play with Kuryokhin. Kumpf released the record Jam Session Leningrad (Hans Kumpf, Sergey Kuryokhin, Anatoly Vapirov and Alexander Alexandrov) in 1981 and sent Khrenov this and other LPs. Likewise he received records from Khrenov.

Khrenov’s short reviews of concerts are to the point, and the list of names appearing in his letters is impressive. They include the most important Soviet jazz musicians and groups of that period, as well as music critics and a number of musicians and artists close to that scene. He also mentions four foreign jazz musicians visiting (or about to visit) the Soviet Union: Elton Dean and Fred Frith, as well as Pearl Bailey and Luis Besllon, the latter two as guests of the American Embassy at Moscow. From the other 51 names, only one is that of a woman – Valentina Ponomaryova, a well-known jazz singer. The world of Soviet jazz was almost completed dominated by her male colleagues.

Apart from Kuryokhin's activities, particularly attention is given to the performances of famous Ganelin Trio from Vilnius – Vyacheslav Ganelin, Vladimir Chekassin, and Vladimir Tarasov. (Kumpf played with Ganelin and Tarasov in Vilnius in 1984). Furthermore, Khrenov wrote Kumpf the results of the nominations of "musicians / groups / records of the year”. Kumpf would use this information for publications in the German magazine Jazz Podium.

Here is a list of all musicians and artists mentioned in the letters. In his earlier letters, Khrenov uses the German transcription of Cyrillic letters but then changes to English transcription used here.


Alexander Aksenow • letter 9

Arsenal Ensemble • letter 3

Pearl Bailey • letter 12

Efim Barban • letter 9

Alexey Batashev • letter 6, 9

Sergey Belitchenko • letter 8

Louis Bellson • letter 12

Vladimir Bolutchevsky • letter 9

Igor Bril • letter 7

Sergei Bugaev • letter 9

Igor Butman • letter 12

Vladimir Chekasin • letter 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14

Alexander Davydov • letter 14

Elton Dean • letter 9

Arkady Dragomoshenko • letter 14

Andrey Fedorovich • letter 12

Vladimir Feyertag • letter 9

John Fischer • letter 5

Fred Frith • letter 15

Vsevolod Gackel • letter 9

Ivar Galenieks • letter 8

Vyacheslav Ganelin  • letter 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13

Garanian’s ‘Melodya’ ensemble • letter 9

Vyacheslav Gayvoronsky • letter 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 13

Boris Grebenshikov • letter 8, 9

Eugeny Guberman • letter 1

Alexander Kan • letter 1, 6, 9

Alexander Kondrashkin • letter 8, 12, 14

Alexey Kozlov • letter 12

Sabirjan Kurmaev • letter 4, 9

Sergey Kuryokhin • letter 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Vytautas Labutis • letter 8

Gediminas Laurinavičius • letter 8

Sergey Letov • letter 8, 9, 12, 13, 14

Pavel Litvinov • letter 12

German Lukyanov • letter 9

Vladislav Makarov • letter 8, 9, 12

Andrey Matveev • letter 12

Oleg Molokoedov • letter 1, 8,

Timur Novikov • letter 9

Boško Petrović • letter 3

Valentina Ponomaryova • letter 8, 9

Popular Mechanics • letter 14

Alexey Rakhov • letter 9

Raimonds Raubiško • letter 4, 14

Wladimir Resitsky (Archangelsk) • letter 4, 5

Gunar Rosenberg • letter 4

Lembit Saarsalu • letter 9, 13

Leonid Shinkarenko • letter 8

Alexander Shishkin • letter 7

Grigory Sologub • letter 9, 11, 12

Viktor Sologub • letter 9, 12

Ivan Sotnikov • letter 9

Strannye Igry / Strange Games • letter 11, 14, 15

String Connection • letter 10

Valery Sukhanov • letter 12

Lepo Sumera • letter 9

Grigory Talas • letter 13

Wladimir Tarasov • letter 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10

Artemy Troitsky • letter 8

Anatoly Vapirov • letter 8, 9, 13

Leonid Vintskevich • letter 5, 13

Vladimir Volkov • letter 2, 3, 5, 8, 9

Petras Vyšniauskas • letter 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12

Alexey Zalinaev • letter 9

Alexey Zubov • letter 10


Chronology


Hans Kumpf. May / June 1980. (Leningrad / Moscow)

First visit to Leningrad and the Contemporary Music Club (CMC). Kumpf’s comment “The Contemporary Music Club is an offshoot of the Chorus [Club] and meets every Monday in the Lensoveta Cultural Hall.[…]I was amazed to discover how well-informed these fifteen-odd intellectuals were about details of names and tendencies in modern music in the West.” more >>

Hans Kumpf. December 1980 (Leningrad)

Second visit to Leningrad and the Contemporary Music Club (CMC). Recording of the LP Jam Session Leningrad (Hans Kumpf, Sergey Kuryokhin, Anatoly Vapirov and Alexander Alexandrov) at the Sound studio of the Musorgsky Musical College more >>

LP review in The American Review on Jazz & Blues • Cadence vol.8 No5 • May 1982 more >>

LP review in BuZZ U.S.A. 1986 more >>

Performance at the CMC with Sergey Kuryokhin, Anatoly Vapirov, Vladimir Volkov, and Alexander Alexandrov more >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 1 • 18 February 1981 >>

Hans Kumpf June 1981 (Leningrad / Moscow)

Third visit to Leningrad and the CMC; with John Fischer. Recording of Jam Session Moscow (Hans Kumpf, John Fischer, Leonid Chizhik, Hans Kumpf, and Alexey Zubov) more >>

LP review in BuZZ U.S.A. 1986 more >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 2 • 30 January 1982 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 3 • 29 February 1982 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 4 •  12 July 1982 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 5 • 8 December 1982 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 6 • 14 July 1983 >>

Hans Kumpf. August 1983 (Leningrad)

Fourth visit to Leningrad.

Jam session “Leningrad Collective Improvisations” at the LTO Club 81 more >>

Hans Kumpf's article for Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 1983 more >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 7 • 15 October 1983 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 8 • 26 November 1983 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 9 • 19 December 1983 >>

Hans Kumpf to Sergey Khrenov • 30 December 1983 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 10 • 16 February 1984 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 11 • 10 March 1984 >>

Hans Kumpf. April 1984 (Moscow, The Baltic States, Leningrad)

Fifth visit to Leningrad.

First Concert of Pop Mekhanika (Popular Mechanics, Поп-механика), documented by Hans Kumpf in Moscow more >>

LP On a Baltic Trip (Hans Kumpf, Ivars Galenieks, Rejn Rannap, Lembit Saarsalu, Vyacheslav Ganelin, Vladimir Tarasov) more >>

LP review in BuZZ U.S.A. 1986 more >>

Jam session at the at the LTO Club 81 more >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 12 • 24 March 1984 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 13 • 5 June 1984 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 14 • 12 July 1984 >>

Sergey Khrenov, Letter 15 • 20 September 1984 >>

Uploaded 15 August 2018

Last updated 1 September 2018

up.