Rhythm Dissection Olga Reznichenko Trio

• 1A Ballad For a Cowboy Who Is Yet To Find Out About Fear06:52
• 2Elegie07:38
• 3Hopeful Anxiety04:49
• 4Solaris05:48
• 5Polyphobic Impromptu05:59
• 6Salty Drunk Fish05:32
• 7Old Feeling06:58
• 8Trampelpfad06:12
• 9Rhythm Dissection07:12
• Total Runtime57:00

Info for Rhythm Dissection

In May 2022 Somnambule, the debut album of Olga Reznichenko’s trio, was released and the young Leipzig-based band enjoyed an outstanding feedback from the media. Rondo praised their “refined sense for unusual song developments,” Concerto wrote: “Reznichenko’s piano playing is powerful and fast-paced, and that is very enjoyable. […] Suspense is guaranteed, even in passages where she incorporates her Classical background, like in ‘Slipping Pace Returning Time.’” On WDR3, Somnambule was one of the best German jazz albums of 2022: “On her debut album, she impresses with an abundance of melodic ideas that she continues to develop in never-ending twists and turns.” The jazz talk show on BR Klassik radio applauded the “sophisticated, harmonically and rhythmically challenging music” and stated: “With her debut album as a bandleader, Olga Reznichenko […] can not only establish herself, but even stand out.”

The repertoire of Somnambule was based on imaginary dream sequences, whereas the pieces on Rhythm Dissection are inspired by real experiences and above all, by musical ideas. “Rhythmically and also harmonically, the new album is much more complex than our debut,” Reznichenko explains, “the focus is more on improvisation, in many forms there is a stronger connection to jazz. I see the improvisations as part of the composition, so they are not completely free, but rather an expansion of the motifs.”

Another essential aspect are odd meters, which Reznichenko has always enjoyed. This can already be heard on the debut album, for instance in “Final Mirrors” in 11/8. In the current repertoire, most of which was written in 2022, the „crooked“ bars change almost constantly – even within the pieces, which come across as very lively, effortless and unpretentious nonetheless. “It seems that 5/4 is my natural flow, the meter appears in many of my improvisations,” laughs the musician, who was born in 1989 and completed her Master’s degree at the University of Music Leipzig in January 2023.

Reznichenko’s compositions are carefully thought out, but are also always heartfelt. As a matter of fact, some pieces are based on pure intuition, for example “Elegie”. “The theme was initially an improvisation that I recorded at home. I only realised when I transcribed it that the meter was constantly changing.” At first, she tried to fit the piece into 4/4 time, with unsatisfactory results. The consequence was to create a free form together. Even though Reznichenko is often very clear in her compositions, she says there is always space for ideas and impulses from her two musicians. In this way, some facets of the pieces were developed in interactions.

The aforementioned rhythmic variations create surprising changes of tempo and mood. The opener “A Ballad For A Cowboy Who Is Yet To Find Out About Fear” sets the tone. An enticingly melodic theme is followed by a forceful, dynamic passage that suggests nervousness, anxiety or even menace; but in the emerging improvisation most of these dark clouds vanish again. The meandering from catchy motifs to more abstract, but never completely out of form expressions is recurrent in many pieces. Just like Max Stadtfeld’s extremely agile, sometimes rocky and forceful drum accompaniment, with which he establishes himself more than ever as an equal voice within the trio. Heigenhuber’s subtle double bass provides a foundation or further momentum depending on what is needed in the sometimes wonderfully transparent (like “Solaris” or “Old Feeling”) and at other times highly dense interplay. The dramaturgical arc of the album certainly has an absorbing quality, culminating in “Trampelpfad” [“Beaten Path“] with its insistent staccato aesthetics and offset rhythms as well as in the exuberant final title piece, which is inciting in the most positive sense.

“I like loud music,” grins Olga Reznichenko, mentioning the metal band Pantera as an example. Other than that, her sources of inspiration range from noise rock, avant-garde and free jazz to classical music, with which she spent her first years at the piano. She is particularly fond of the late Romantics and Impressionists, as well as Ligeti and Xenakis piano works, and also compositions by the spectral music pioneer Georg Friedrich Haas (*1953). In addition to such influences, which for the most part can only be identified in subtle nuances, some of Reznichenko’s pieces were shaped by impressions outside of music. “For ‘Salty Drunk Fish’ I had an improv draft, but I wrote most of the piece in Sardinia,” she says. As the title suggests, “Solaris” was inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s feature film based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem. “I watched the movie several times and enjoyed the atmosphere, especially because after a while you don’t expect any more action. I wanted to achieve exactly that aesthetic for the piece.”

Rezinchenko believes that her trio is now playing more vehemently and sometimes more wildly than four years ago. Almost all the pieces on the album were rehearsed and tested in live shows before the studio session in February 2023; only the comparatively simple “Old Feeling” with its almost unbroken 6/8 groove was added shortly before recording. “After two days, we had a lot of really good takes, including some moments that I immediately fell in love with,” says Reznichenko, reflecting on the concentration and intensity at Bauer Studio Ludwigsburg. „It was also a wonderful experience to play on this Steinway D from 1920, which has been played by so many famous pianists.”

The joy of playing is now also revealed to the audience. Many passages on Rhythm Dissection feel energetic or even euphoric. The profound skills of the trio and Olga Reznichenko’s clear creative will, the joyful play with rhythmic finesse and expansive melodic arcs, timbres and moods make the album a great pleasure to listen to. And it reinforces the band’s by BR radio entitled “outstanding” status in the current jazz scene.

Olga Reznichenko, piano, compositions
Maximilian Stadtfeld, percussion
Lorenz Heigenhuber, double bass

Recorded Feburary 2023 by Johannes Kellig at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg
Mixed & mastered by Martin Ruch at Control Room, Berlin

Olga Reznichenko
In never-exhausting, effervescent energy, jazz pianist and composer Olga Reznichenko surrenders to exploring extremes. Both the impulse to play her instrument almost destructively and the pleasure of beautiful, peaceful sounds find quite natural space in her intuitive playing. In her eponymous trio, Olga Reznichenko combines complex harmonic and rhythmic structures with a simple, almost minimalist texture and easily accessible melodies. At the same time, her distinct feeling for aesthetics is reflected expressively in her compositions. The pieces, which are mainly born out of improvisations, provide space for Reznichenko's pure, intuitive joy of playing to unfold its full musical potential. Olga Reznichenko was born in 1989 in Taganrog, Russia, where she began her musical training as a classical pianist at the age of eight. After several years of intensive study, one day the jazz department, which practices, learns and casually hangs out in the corridors under the same roof of the music school, catches her attention. The jazz fire is lit and her fingers begin to find new ways on the keys to make the piano sound. Her parents are initially suspicious of the world of jazz and so Reznichenko keeps it from them when she takes jazz piano lessons in Rostov, a few hours away by train, as part of her education. What follows is half a year of secretly commuting between worlds, which the pubescent Olga finances by taking a part-time job as a répétiteur for the trombone classes. After the restoration of family peace and the parental insight that Olga's mind and joy of playing are at home in jazz and improvisation, she passes the entrance examination for jazz piano at the S.V. Rakhmaninov State Conservatory in Rostov in 2008. In 2012 Olga Reznichenko followed fellow student and jazz saxophonist Evgeny Ring to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig. In addition to her curiosity about the European jazz scene, her fascination with the Gothic churches of Europe and the prospect of thoroughly developed cycle paths also drove her to make the switch. Reznichenko studies with professors Richie Beirach and Michael Wollny and decides to stay in Leipzig for her Master of Music after successfully completing her Bachelor of Music. With the inspiration of modern Russian composers, such as Rachmaninov, in her heart, she fully soaks up her new surroundings and immerses herself in the European jazz scene. With jazz singer Sophia Bicking, she founded the band "Sophia&Olga". After first appearances at the X-Jazz 2014, among others, and the release of their debut album "Shells in Motion" in 2017, the duo wins second place at the Sparda Jazz Awards of the Jazz Rally Düsseldorf in the same year. Reznichenko's quintet "Ylativ Algo" experiments with wide arcs of tension, drawing on both the jazz tradition of the 60s and folkloristic elements. In 2014, the band won the GETXO jazz competition in Spain. With Theresia Philipp (ts), Robert Lucaciu (kb) and Philipp Scholz (dr), Reznichenko plays under the band name "A Word is a swallow" at the South Tyrol Jazz Festival 2021. She is part of the Leipzig Contemporary Big Band "Spielvereinigung Sued" and plays on the debut album of Nuremberg drummer Maximilian Breu. In bands like "Space Shuttle" and "Oluma", Olga can sometimes be heard in full euphoria on the synths. In 2022, her trio's debut album will be released on the renowned Traumton label. Through her involvement as a curator of various Leipzig music festivals, Olga is also helping to shape the future of Germany's jazz scene outside of her own playing.

This album contains no booklet.