Alexander Tsfasman - Revision history

Diogooutra at 12:18, 22 March 2021

2021-03-22T12:18:51Z

Diogooutra: Created page with "Alexander Tsfasman. Photo sourced from Discogs Alexander Naumovich Tsfasman (Russian: Александр Цфасман; born Dece..."

2021-03-22T12:16:55Z

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[[File:A-1044366-1313056997.jpeg.jpg|thumb|Alexander Tsfasman. Photo sourced from Discogs]]
Alexander Naumovich Tsfasman (Russian: Александр Цфасман; born December 14, 1906 - died February 20, 1971) was a [[:Category: Soviet Union|Soviet]] Jazz pianist, composer, conductor, arranger, publisher and activist.[1] He was an important figure in Soviet Jazz from the period of the mid-1920s until the late 1960s.[2]

Tsfasman was born in Alexandrovsk (now Zaporizhya, Ukraine) in the Russian empire. He studied violin and piano from the age of 7, and from the age of 12 he entered the piano department of the musical college in Nizhny Novgorod, where his family moved to flee from Jewish pogroms during the Civil War. At thirteen years old (1919) he received the first prize for a performance of the Eleventh Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. He graduated from the Nizhegorod Musical Technicum in 1923, where he played percussion in the orchestra, and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1930, where he studied piano under Felix Blumenfeld.[3]

He was the conductor, pianist and arranger of the first Moscow jazz orchestra, "AMA-jazz" (1926−1930), which he founded. A year later, this orchestra became the first to play jazz music on the radio in the USSR and was the first to record it on a gramophone record (Hallelujah). He was involved with several Soviet jazz groups and artists, and was active as an accompanist at the Bolshoi Theater School and as a solo pianist. His talent at the piano gained him the admiration of composers and musicians such as A. Goldenweiser, K. N. Igumnov, G.G. Neuhaus and [[Dmitri Shostakovich|D. Shostakovich]], the latter of which asked Tsfasman to play a piano part written for the soundtrack of the movie "Unforgettable 1919", telling him: "I cannot play this, but this shouldn't present any difficulty for you".

From 1939 to 1946 he was the artistic director of the jazz orchestra of the All-Union Radio. During WWII, the jazz orchestra of the Military Revolutionary Committee performed at the frontlines, and Alexander Tsfasman wrote a number of songs on military themes ("The Merry Tankman", "Young Sailors"). Tsfasman was one of the pioneers of the swing style in the Soviet Union.

In 1966 he became one of the founders and a member of the International Federation of jazz at UNESCO, along with Willis Conover and Alexei Batashev.

He died in Moscow on February 20, 1971, and was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

== References ==
# [http://www.jazz.ru/mag/372/tsfasman.htm Столетию Александра Цфасмана посвящается (Dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Alexander Tsfasman)] Online Jazz Journal: Jazz.ru (in Russian)
# [http://www.jazzschool.ru/?cat=10 Александр Цфасман]. Archived 2017-03-25 at the Wayback Machine Entry at Jazz In Russia (in Russian)
# [http://slovari.yandex.ru/~%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B8/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%B0%D0%B7.%20XX%20%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA/%D0%A6%D1%84%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%20%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%20%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87/ Цфасман Александр Наумович]. Archived 2014-08-25 at the Wayback Machine Entry at Yandex dictionary (in Russian)
# https://www.discogs.com/artist/1044366-%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80-%D0%A6%D1%84%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD?anv=Alexander+Tsfasman&filter_anv=1

<youtube> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvWaffYUVzU </youtube>

''Text adapted from the Russian-language Wikipedia''
[[Category: Soviet Profiles]] [[Category: Russian Profiles]]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Tsfasman was born in Alexandrovsk (now Zaporizhya, Ukraine) in the Russian empire. He studied violin and piano from the age of 7, and from the age of 12 he entered the piano department of the musical college in Nizhny Novgorod, where his family moved to flee from Jewish pogroms during the Civil War. At thirteen years old (1919) he received the first prize for a performance of the Eleventh Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. He graduated from the Nizhegorod Musical Technicum in 1923, where he played percussion in the orchestra, and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1930, where he studied piano under Felix Blumenfeld.<sup>[3]</sup>
-He was the conductor, pianist and arranger of the first Moscow jazz orchestra, "AMA-jazz" (1926−1930), which he founded. A year later, this orchestra became the first to play jazz music  on the radio in the USSR and was the first to record it on a gramophone record (Hallelujah). He was involved with several Soviet jazz groups and artists, and was active as an accompanist at the Bolshoi Theater School and as a solo pianist. His talent at the piano gained him the admiration of composers and musicians such as A. Goldenweiser, K. N. Igumnov, G.G. Neuhaus and [[Dmitri Shostakovich|D. Shostakovich]], the latter of which asked Tsfasman to play a piano part written for the soundtrack of the movie "Unforgettable 1919", telling him: "I cannot play this, but this shouldn't present any difficulty for you".
+He was the conductor, pianist and arranger of the first Moscow jazz orchestra, "AMA-jazz" (1926−1930), which he founded. A year later, this orchestra became the first to play jazz music  on the radio in the USSR and was the first to record it on a gramophone record (Hallelujah). He was involved with several Soviet jazz groups and artists, and was active as an accompanist at the Bolshoi Theater School and as a solo pianist. His talent at the piano gained him the admiration of composers and musicians such as A. Goldenweiser, K. N. Igumnov, G.G. Neuhaus and [[Dmitri Shostakovich|D. Shostakovich]], the latter of which, despite being an accomplished pianist himself,  asked Tsfasman to play a piano part written for the soundtrack of the movie "Unforgettable 1919", telling him in 1951: ''"Addressing you with a deep request. I wrote something like a piano concert for the film "Unforgettable 1919". It offers no difficulty to you. But I can't play it myself. I ask you very much not to refuse and play this thing. Once more: it will present no difficulty to you."''
 From 1939 to 1946 he was the artistic director of the jazz orchestra of the All-Union Radio. During WWII, the jazz orchestra of the Military Revolutionary Committee performed at the frontlines, and Alexander Tsfasman wrote a number of songs on military themes ("The Merry Tankman", "Young Sailors"). Tsfasman was one of the pioneers of the swing style in the Soviet Union.