Yakov Okun

Jakow Okun ( Russian Яков Окунь , English transcription Yakov Okun , born June 4, 1972 in Moscow ) is a Russian jazz musician (piano, also e-piano , keyboards , composition).

Live and act

Okun is the son of jazz pianist Michail Okun and initially received classical piano training. He attended the Gnessin Institute in Moscow (graduated in 1992) and from the 1990s worked with Alex Rostotsky , Viktor Epaneshnikov , Igor Bril , Wladimir Danilin , German Lukjanow and Alexander Pitschikow , as well as with guest musicians in Russia such as James Spaulding , Donny McCaslin , Lew Tabackin , Larry Schneider , Gary Smulyan , Craig Handy , Jeremy Pelt , Giacomo Gates and Joe Farnsworth . He leads the MosGorTrio , with Makar Novikov (double bass) and Alexander Mashin (drums), with whom he recorded the album Falling in Love Again . During another stay in New York, the trio album New York Encounter ( Criss Cross Jazz ) was created with Ben Street and Billy Drummond in 2010 , for which he also composed. In the field of jazz he was involved in 18 recording sessions between 1995 and 2010. Okun lives in Moscow.

The jazz critic Tedd Panken describes Okun as an "important voice in Russian jazz since the mid-90s".

Discographic notes

• Vladimir Danilin / Alexei Kuznetsov / Alex Rostotsky with Jacov Okun and Eduard Zizak: Once I Loved (Boheme Music, 1998)
• Alex Rostotsky / Yuri Parfenov: Oriental Impress (2000)

Web links

• Portrait (English)
• Portrait at jazz.ru (Russian)
• Yakov Okun Trio on Allmusic (English)
• Yakov Okun at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed January 11, 2017)
2. ↑ Cyril Moshkow, European jazz in Siberia: EniJazz Festival in Krasnoyarsk (2013) ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.