Mikhail Green: “Which one of you is Gershwin? Jazzman: jazz performers, encyclopedia of jazz, history of jazz, jazz for free We do not need OO7 agents.

GREEN Mikhail

Journalist, producer, one of the organizers of jazz life in Moscow, art director of the Moscow International Festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden”.

GREEN Mikhail Matveevich

10.09.1945 , Grozny

Journalist, producer, one of the organizers of jazz life in Moscow, art director of the Moscow International Festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden”. From the age of 11 I listened to Willis Conover’s “The Jazz Hour,” and at the age of 12, in the house of the pop artist Boris Brunov (his father, Matvey Green, was a famous pop playwright), he saw and heard records by Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, after which he became an avid collector of jazz. In 1968 he graduated from the translation department (Spanish department) of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute foreign languages. During his student years, he was a regular visitor to the only jazz cafe in Moscow, Molodezhnoe, and met all the pioneers of Russian jazz. In 1969-70 he worked as a translator in Cuba, in 1972-92 (20 years!) he was editor of the Novosti press agency, including editor-in-chief of Sputnik magazine. In 1997, together with Alexander Rostotsky, he opened his first jazz club “ Blue bird"(two years later renamed "Avantage"), in which almost all Moscow jazzmen played. It was there that the main contingent of musicians formed with whom Mikhail Green began working as a producer and manager. He released the CDs “Black Coffee” and “My Favorite Songs” (Anna Buturlina, 2002 and 2006), “Get Happy” (Vladimir Danilin, 2006), “All Right, OK, You Win (Anna Koroleva, 2006), “Black and White” (German Lukyanov, 2008) and two discs from concerts of the 5th and 6th festivals “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden” (2003, 2004). In February 2002 he became the musical director of the elite Moscow club “Restavratsiya”. In August 1998, together with Rostotsky, he founded the international festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden”; in 2003-2006 he was on the board and was the art director of the “Moscow Jazz Engagement”. In addition, since 2004 he has been organizing a Russian-Spanish jazz festival together with the Cervantes Institute in Moscow. Under the pseudonym Don Miguel, he hosted original Latin American music programs on several radio stations in Moscow. Author of articles about jazz in the magazines “Ogonyok”, “Liza”, “Hecho A Mano”. Member of the Moscow Association of Jazz Journalists.

From book

It was no coincidence that the vocal and instrumental orchestra led by Yuri Sergeevich Saulsky (1928-2005) debuted at the second Leningrad Jazz Festival. With this performance (April 1966), as well as the first concerts at the Moscow Variety Theater, the orchestra immediately announced its intention to seriously promote jazz. And, indeed, after Oleg Lundstrem’s orchestra, no other metropolitan orchestra has offered the public so many instrumental pieces in one concert. “Jazz is still a stepchild on the stage,” wrote Saulsky, “But real jazz music requires philharmonic propaganda, which is certainly devoid, first of all, of all the components of the usual stage. You need to learn to listen to music without justifying it. Real jazz should exist along with pop, popular light music - this is unnecessary to prove. But jazz music should be promoted as seriously as chamber music, and as widely as pop music.” The group was unusual: in addition to traditional orchestral sections (trumpets, trombones, saxophones, rhythm group), it used a vocal octet as an instrumental group. Using vocal-syllabic singing (scat), the vocalists performed riffs, short melodic-rhythmic formulas during improvisations of instrumentalists, or created a harmonic background.

The festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden” is unlikely to introduce listeners to the latest trends in world or Russian improvised music (although this sometimes happens), but it will present best samples domestic jazz and interesting examples of American and European jazz. Highlights of this year's program: a trio by Austrian saxophonist and flautist Karlheinz Micklin (August 24), which wittily handles memorable themes; world-famous Polish jazz pianist Adam Makowicz (August 23); blues from Slovakia, somewhat unexpected for a traditional festival, performed by an ensemble Sitra Achra(August 22) and Larry Willis (August 23) - an exemplary American pianist who has played with literally everyone, from the great trumpeter Lee Morgan to the band Blood, Sweat & Tears.

GRIGORY DURNOVO talked with Mikhail Green about the concept of the festival, its organizational underbelly and jazz youth.

- What is it like to do the eleventh festival, having the tenth behind you?

My goal is to make each next festival no worse than the previous one. I thought the anniversary festival was the strongest. But I recently looked at the poster for the eleventh - it turns out that it will be better. This year there are many more foreign headliners, although this is not an end in itself. I always try to welcome domestic projects, if something new appears - at the last moment Igor Butman offered me new project St. Petersburg trumpeter Alexander Berenson, where Igor himself acts as a producer and sideman, and I inserted him into the program. So I don’t try to oversaturate everything with foreign musicians. Although I can honestly say: there is such an excess of offers from abroad as this year, and by a very large extent. good conditions, I have never had one. I don’t know why, but I think it’s just that quantity has turned into quality. Everyone already knows the festival. And in New York, among musicians who do not confine themselves to the United States and travel to Europe, this festival is known, say, no less than any French one. This year, almost all consulates, embassies, cultural centers They transport musicians at their own expense - I only pay fees.

- But American musicians perform with a Russian rhythm section.

Yes. This is due to purely commercial reasons. The audience always goes to see the headliner anyway. And in general, let the Americans look for such a rhythm section as Yakov Okun’s “Mosgortrio”, which plays with Craig Handy. Usually they bring students here from Berkeley, and the leader will take four-fifths of the fee for himself and give one-fifth to the students. Does it make sense to transport them just because they are Americans? I understand that he will have no luck the best option his rhythm section. So it's not commercially viable. And we have several normal rhythm sections. I must say that many people do this if there is no sponsor who himself says: I want this ensemble with the best composition and I will cover all expenses. Sometimes the embassy plays this role.

- Do you have an idea of ​​what must be at the festival and what should not be at it?

I believe the summer festival is on outdoors must definitely be mainstream. While I'm a producer, this is simply not discussed. Of course, there may be some inclusions - ethnic, for example, or someone's non-standard original music. I have no restrictions: if there is a good interesting project, then let it be at least free jazz. But the main direction should be the main direction. I am sometimes reproached for the lack of diversity, but in the West, most of the summer festivals, with the exception of some narrowly focused ones, follow the same pattern: anyway, the mainstream will definitely be at the forefront. This is done for people. I keep explaining to some fellow journalists that I'm making the festival for the three thousand people who come every day, not for the critics.

Speaking of these three thousand people, do you have any idea who goes to your festival? Has the public changed over time? last years?

I present. I already say hello to half of the people who come to us. The contingent has changed over the years better side. He was never bad, just older. And now we have a lot of young people. Moreover, normal young people, not those who came to get drunk. After all, over the previous ten years we have not had a single incident - and this despite the fact that beer is sold and any drinks are available in restaurants. Apparently, jazz itself selects listeners. I’m just glad that young people come, behave normally, react correctly, applaud on time.

- So the environment exists?

Undoubtedly. It seems to me that I could not do any promotion at all, they will still come. These people have it in the back of their minds that at the end of August a jazz festival is being held in Moscow at the Hermitage. Still, ten years is a decent amount of time, and we haven’t missed a single year.

- Do you feel like something is still missing?

Perhaps more comfort in the garden itself. I would really like a temporary canopy just in case it rains. But in Moscow now the prices are crazy, they can’t even compare with the musicians’ fees. Awnings are sold at square meter, the meter costs fantastic money. And so - I don’t need more people, three thousand is the maximum that allows me to feel comfortable. We were offered to stage a more modern stage, but it seems to me that the old stage has its own flavor, it must be preserved - after all, jazz is about as old as the Hermitage Garden.

- How do you assess the situation with jazz outside the festival? You release CDs, how do they sell out?

Fine. Of course, they are not swept away immediately, but within two years they disperse. But I stopped releasing discs, there is a very big problem with copyrights. Vladimir Danilin or Anna Buturlina, for example, have complete standards for the entire disc; permission must be obtained for each one. On the other hand, if I release a disc consisting entirely of original music, I'm afraid it won't attract many buyers. Still, the audience should definitely hear something familiar. Therefore, when young ensembles tell me that they have such a wonderful program, all entirely composed of original music, I ask them: “Which one of you is Gershwin, which one is Duke Ellington, which one is Count Basie? Why do you take it upon yourself to claim that you have created such masterpieces that the public will listen to you for forty-five minutes without stopping? I understand that you want to show off your composing creativity - this is normal: in jazz, a musician should always be at least a little composer. But let’s do this: three things you will play are your own, and the other three will be standards.” This is how I negotiate with everyone, and this is the right move. It’s even better to start with a standard - you’ll attract the audience, then play two of your pieces, then another standard, and the program will roll. After all, there are a lot of standards, and they are written very correctly, they hook you. Some people scoff at the fact that at the first bars of “Caravan” people begin to whistle and shout joyfully, but in fact there is nothing wrong with this, this is a normal reaction. The public wants to be enjoyed. And why not do this? She came and paid the money. I’m not saying that Dima Bilan should be invited, this is a different audience. But she also needs to be pleased.

At a press conference dedicated to the 16th Moscow festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden”, the organizers said that guests of this musical festival will see new and interesting things, and how it will differ from festivals of previous years.

“For the first time in history, we will start at 4 pm, not at 5 pm,” said general producer and art director Mikhail Green. “Unfortunately, the city authorities have put us in such conditions that we must finish by 9 pm. The second is a change in the location of the evening jams. We moved to the wonderful club-jazz-cafe “Esse”, where all press conferences and jam sessions will take place.”

Introducing the festival's headliners, Mikhail Green noted the arrival from the States of the absolutely amazing musician George Garzon - “the American Alexander Oseichuk” - as an unspeakable success. Saxophonist George Garzon will perform on August 24 with the Evgeniy Lebedev Trio. As Michael Green noted, “He is the best saxophone teacher in Berkeley, and the fact that he trained Branford Marsales and Joshua Redman speaks volumes to those who know a thing or two about jazz.”

The second most important headliner, saxophonist Benjamin Koppel, is the Danish Igor Butman. The man is just as energetic, he organizes jazz festivals in Denmark, hosts a program on Danish radio, and runs a recording company. Koppel will perform with the equally remarkable Russian musician, pianist Yakov Okun and his quartet on August 23.

On August 24, one of the leading Israeli saxophonists Robert Anchipolovsky will present the program “Dedication to Phil Woods” together with the Gregory Fine Trio (who was once a student of Woods).

Maciej Kocinski, a very interesting jazz saxophonist, will come to the festival from Poland.

However, not only magnificent saxophonists and jazz keyboardists will grace the festival stage. On August 25, avant-garde trombonist from Austria Mario Vavti will appear before the audience with his trio RIDE THE SLIDE.

And on the last day of the festival, the 25th, the Trio of Mikhail Okun, one of the pillars of Russian jazz, will take the stage. He will present a very interesting program, in which saxophonist Sergei Golovnya will perform as a special guest, and behind the drum kit you will see... pianist Okun Jr., a worthy successor to the jazz dynasty!

And the “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden” festival will be concluded by the Brazilian vocalist Philo Machado, well known to the Russian and world public, with the group Samba Jazz All Stars.

Tickets will cost the same as over the past 3 years - 1000 rubles for ordinary visitors, 300 rubles for pensioners and disabled people.

Born in 1945. Already at the age of 14 he began collecting jazz records, and at 16 he became a regular at the legendary Molodezhnoe cafe, where he met and became friends with famous Soviet jazzmen: Valery Bulanov, Andrei Egorov, Nikolai Gromin, Alexei Kozlov and many others. After graduating from Inyaz (Institute of Foreign Languages), he became a certified Spanish translator and worked for several years in Cuba, where he saw the formation of future stars of Cuban and world jazz: Arturo Sandoval, Paquito d'Rivera, Chucho Valdez and others, and in addition to jazz, he became very interested in Latin American music .
Subsequently, he worked for about 20 years at APN (Novosti Press Agency, now RIA Novosti) in various editorial positions, including editor-in-chief of the Spanish edition of Sputnik magazine.
In the early 90s, Mikhail Green decided to turn his two main hobbies into professions: he began organizing jazz concerts and, at the same time, under the pseudonym “Don Miguel”, began hosting original programs on Spanish and Latin American music on Radio 101. Later, for six years, these programs were heard on radio "Nadezhda", radio "Panorama" and radio "Classics".

In 1997, Mikhail Green, together with the famous bass guitarist Alex Rostotsky, opened his first jazz club "Birdland", then renamed "Avantage", where a core of jazz musicians gradually formed who became permanent participants in his projects: Vladimir Danilin, Anna Buturlina, Alexey Kuznetsov, Anna Koroleva, Yakov Okun and others.

In the photo: pianist Alexey Bekker, Mikhail Green, singer Anna Buturlina and US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow during Anna Buturlina's concert at Spaso House
In August 1998, Green and Rostotsky organized the First Moscow open-air jazz festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden”, which, despite the default that happened in those days, was a great success.

Since 1999, the Moscow Jazz Engagement (MDA), headed by the famous composer Yuri Saulsky, has become one of the founders of the festival, and the festival itself has become international.
Twice - in 1998 and 2000 - the festival in the Hermitage was recognized by Moscow jazz journalists as "Event of the Year"

Mikhail Green is the organizer of the series of concerts “Stars of the Hermitage in the Central House of Artists”.
Co-founder of the First Russian-Spanish Jazz Festival, which was successfully held at the Central House of Artists in 2004.

All these years, Green did not stop his club activities. Thanks to him, jazz was heard in the clubs “Vremena Goda”, “Mask”, “MKhAT”, and for more than three years in the elite club “Restoration”, where he is the art director, and where such stars of Moscow jazz perform concerts as Vladimir Danilin, Alexey Kuznetsov, Anna Buturlina, Karina Kozhevnikova, Anna Koroleva, Valery Kiselev, Yakov Okun and others.

In the photo: Alexey Kuznetsov, Mikhail Green and Vladimir Danilin at the festival "Jazz in the Hermitage Garden"
In addition, Mikhail Green produces jazz CDs: in 2002 he released Anna Buturlina's album "", well received by the public and jazz critics.
He also published CD collections of the V and VI festivals "Jazz in the Hermitage Garden". Art director and board member of the Moscow Jazz Engagement of Yuri Saulsky. Member of the Moscow and International Association of Jazz Journalists. Published in Ogonyok, Nedelya, Kommersant and other publications. Recently he published a series of articles on jazz and Latin American music in
glossy magazine
"Hecho a mano."

Consultant-nominator of the Open World program, which organizes internships for young Russian jazz musicians in the United States.

In the photo: saxophonist Ron Blake (USA) and Mikhail Green

Albeit slowly, but still the Moscow real estate market is moving towards civilized relations between the buyer and the seller of housing. The Moscow Association of Realtors (MAR) does a lot for this. Our conversation with the vice-president of the community, Mikhail Green, will hopefully help the reader figure out which real estate company is worth dealing with and which one is best to stay away from.

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We have compiled a database of companies, so to speak, a “black list” of unscrupulous realtors. When hiring a new employee, the director can look for his name in this list.

– Is it possible to fight this? Hire people while complying with labor laws...

– With an abundance of specialized literature on taxation, construction, education in other sectors of the economy, you will not find manuals that describe in detail the methodology for calculating salaries and maintaining accounting in the real estate industry. So there are difficulties here.

In addition, to be honest, some managers do not want to pay taxes that are mandatory for the employer. And “menial” work again does not have the best effect on the authority of our profession, which has been earned over the years.

After all, previously the word “realtor” was considered by consumers to be synonymous with a deceiver. It’s nice that after 12 years, thanks to the efforts of IDA and RGR, such comparisons are beginning to disappear. They see us as professionals. We work with all the companies that are part of our organization “for image”. Each transaction is carefully planned and controlled. I will add that it is very upsetting when films like “The Realtor” appear on television. This ruins all the work.

– You are talking about the imperfection of the tax and labor legislation and the lack of specialized literature. But couldn’t IDA start training HR officers and accountants?

– There is something we do: we conduct “ round tables» and forums. At the annual Forum of Capital Realtors, a separate section on legislation in this area was organized. There are companies on the market with enormous experience personnel work and record keeping. We invite them to our round tables, they share their experiences. I won’t hide that this is not enough yet.

– Do all IDA members have certificates? After all, for the client, the presence of a certificate is further proof of the reliability and professionalism of the company.

– Only a few do not have them, and only for technical reasons. It takes six months to obtain a certificate, and while this procedure lasts, those who do not have a certificate are granted temporary membership in IDA. Clients believe that if a company is a member of the IDA or RGR, then they are better protected. This is actually true.

There's always a third one

– How can IDA protect the rights of a company’s client?

– There is a committee for protecting the rights of consumers of real estate services. There is an arbitration court. If a conflict arises, the case can be immediately considered by the court. If in a civil court this procedure takes a very long time, then in our case the case is considered in a short time.

– But you must admit, Mikhail Evgenievich, the members of the committee are the same realtors, and it may happen that they will unwittingly defend their honor, and not at all get to the bottom of the truth...

– The decision of the committee or the arbitration tribunal is not the end point. And we are also interested in the highest court not overturning the decisions of our court, otherwise we are worthless. We try to keep everything within the law. Or we are looking for a compromise. By the way, the arbitration court judges have no relation to the real estate community.

– Please tell us what a single agreement is.

– The main clauses of the contracts that clients enter into with companies included in our community have almost the same, correct wording. The consumer can be sure that the rights of all parties to the contract comply with the norms and requirements of current legislation.

Are offices more profitable?

– Real estate agencies have begun to retrain themselves in commercial real estate transactions. Probably, it’s easier there with the client, and the earnings are higher?

– Indeed, companies that have earned authority and money in Moscow, due to the emerging shortage of space for construction, were forced to reorient themselves either to the commercial real estate market or to construction of housing in the Moscow region, where land is available and construction is cheaper.

– Do you think the Russian client has changed in recent years?

– Of course, people have become literate, more demanding of real estate companies, their agents, and the way they are served.

Of course, we must take this into account and train professionals. Created The educational center for realtors. And in the near future, the Higher School of Real Estate (HSN) will open, where our clients will also be able to attend educational programs.

ABOUT OUR INTERLOCTOR

Mikhail Evgenievich Green was born in 1971. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Management with a degree in Accounting and Audit. Currently a graduate student at this university, CCIM course - investment in commercial real estate.

Since 2003 – CEO Grand and Metro Consulting company. Vice-President of the Moscow Association of Realtors, Chairman of the Membership Committee and Chairman of the IDA Regional Policy Committee.

Member of the RGR since 2003.

Veniamin Vylegzhanin