Memoirs of a Russian Jazzman

A well rounded and educated Levinovsky presents the portraits of who-is-who in the Soviet Jazz music in the period of 1960-80. Being a founder of Allegro,the first jazz band in the Soviet Union, Levinovsky uncovers this cultural front line of official objections and confrontations with authorities who perceived jazz as a subversive western element direct to corrupt the Soviet youth.

Being a native of Saratov grants Levinovsky to present that Russian “glubinka” “Peoria” that is chronically missing in the work of other books.

His extended musical education has set him to demand a similar professional performance from the members of his band. It is on this ground that the now world prominent saxophonist, Igor Butman was initially rejected by Levinovsky. Levinovsky’s fine tune to jazz and orchestration spills over into his literary presentation of this era gone by.

340 pages

Only few copies remain.