Keshavan Maslak
Keshavan Maslak (born February 26, 1947 in Detroit ), who also appears under the name Kenny Millions , is an American saxophonist , clarinetist and guitarist of modern creative jazz .
Live and act
Maslak is of the second generation of Ukrainian ancestors and grew up in Detroit . His grandfather introduced him to Eastern European folk music and European classical music. He began taking music lessons at the age of six and had his first appearances at the age of twelve, playing polkas and mazurkas in the Slavic immigrant community of Detroit.
During his time in high school, he became interested in jazz and rhythm & blues . In the second half of the 1960s he studied at the University of Michigan and North Texas State University , where he learned classical saxophone, a. a. with teachers like Larry Teal and Donald Sinta as well as composition studies with Martin Mailman . After his studies, he went on tour with a revue from Motown Records . He moved to San Francisco , where he studied yoga and worked with drummer Charles Moffett Sr. , who was a major influence on Maslak's musical development. He then moved to New York City , where he plays in the experimental music scene. In the 1970s he worked with Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson and with free jazz musicians . In 1978 he moved to Europe for a few years, mainly living in Amsterdam . During this time he played with Loek Dikker , Burton Greene and other musicians from the Dutch scene. Several albums were made for smaller labels such as Circle Records or Leo Records.In 1981 he founded the formation Loved By Millions , with which he merged free jazz and rock rhythms ( Free Funk ), with which he and Rhys at the Moers Festival under the pseudonym Kenny Millions Chatham , Pamela Lyons, Charles and Charnett Moffett performed. In the music of this group he processed the most diverse musical style elements. Wolf Kampman therefore even considers him the “first essential representative of a radical postmodernism in jazz”.
Maslak returned to New York in 1982 and moved to Florida in 1986 , where he eventually opened a sushi restaurant with his wife Junko Maslak.
After that, Maslak continued to record albums; most of the recordings were made for his own HUM HA label. In his career, Maslak has worked with musicians such as Paul Bley , Sam Rivers , Sunny Murray , Ray Anderson , Misha Mengelberg , Chet Baker and Katsuyuki Itakura .
Chris Kelsey in the All Music Guide describes Maslak as an eccentric, avant-garde saxophonist who incorporates moments of entertainment into his playing. The jazz critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton count his duo recordings with the pianist Paul Bley among his most important albums.
Discographic notes
- Structures - Narada Burton Greene Trio with Keshavan Maslak (Circle, 1978)
- Budhha's Hand (Circle, 1978) with Mark Miller (b) & Sadiq Abdu Shahid (dr)
- Humanplexity (Leo, 1979) with Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink
- Blaster master (Black Saint, 1981) with Charles Moffett Sr.
- Loved By Millions (Leo 1980) with John Lindberg , Sunny Murray
- Not To Be A Star (Black Saint, 1992) with Paul Bley
- Mother Russia (Leo, 1991) with Vladimir Tarasov , Michail Alperin , Anatoly Vapirov
- Romance in the City (Leo, 1993) with Paul Bley
literature
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette . 2nd Edition. Penguin, London 1994, ISBN 0-14-017949-6 .
- Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Wolf Kampmann (Ed.), With the assistance of Ekkehard Jost : Reclams Jazzlexikon . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010528-5 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maslak, Keshavan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Millions, Kenny (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 26, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Detroit |