The adventures of an old world in Portugal

Jazz, cello, the old world’s charm and suits from the 40s — a story of classical musicians that have fallen in love with jazz

If you, my dear reader, have been an avid follower of Latvian jazz and classical music, you have definitely noticed one very active cellist who’s been noticed in various experiments with different music genres. Already during the before-covid times, I saw an advertisement for a curious music program in the garden of Riga Dome Cathedral; it stated clearly — Jazz! Piazzolla and chello. That hinted at something quite enticing since it’s not a regular occurrence to hear the cello in jazz. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to that concert, but a few years forward, on a warm April night, I found myself in the «M/Darbnīca» gallery listening to the very same artist.

The concert turned out to be quite fascinating — I have already been acquainted with two of three performing musicians: Toms Timofejevs on double bass is a very well know jazzman in Latvia, and Jānis Pastars is an excellent young jazz guitarist who has been steadily rising in our local jazz scene. But it was the third artist that intrigued me. It started with reading his bio, and here it’s worth mentioning that the internet has the ultimate power to create a particular impression of a person, and not always will this impression be on point. But here, all the stars aligned: charm and charisma — check, colorful repertoire — check, not dull — check! But, of course, I’m talking about the one and only cellist, and now also a singer, Mark Vilensky, and his ensemble «The Old World Blues», which has been on the scene for not very long but has thought of everything right from the start. Their stage style deserves special mentioning, but we will hear a story about that later on in our conversation.

And what led to this meeting? Even though the ensemble has existed for a relatively short time, it has shown its worth not only in Latvia but also abroad, in Portugal. The ensemble had a chance to participate in the first Portugal Chello Jazz festival in the city of Porto. Their adventures weren’t made of simply musical fibers but had many other twists and turns since warmer countries never had the tendency to live calmly.

During our conversation, I realized that there wouldn’t be a lot of sense in talking only about their trip; I wanted to know more about the musicians — who they are, where they come from, and what inspires them. So we did just that and also shared a couple of coffees while engaging in this exciting chat.

I’m sitting here with two musicians — Toms Timofejevs and Mark Vilensky. Together you are two-thirds of the «The Old World Blues» trio! Mark, I know that it was your idea to create this band, so tell me, how did you come up with such an idea? Where does the interest in jazz music come from? You are a classical musician; it’s a rare occurrence when someone from that world joins our side!

Marks: Yes, I have graduated from Jāzeps Vītols Latvian academy of music, a cello class, with a master’s degree. The wish to study jazz music deeper was awoken during my studies in Portugal, where I have been participating in an Erasmus+ program. Porto, the city where I have been studying, has a very strong jazz school, although it can be said mainly about the wind instrument classes. But that also meant that I had the chance to work with their big band. I also managed to persuade the head of the big band to give me private lessons in jazz piano. It was the starting point for me. Later on, my interest manifested in the project where the cello played together with an electric guitar and a double bass. Jam sessions at «M/Darbnīcas» became my biggest impulse — it was a first for me to see people going somewhere to play freely in such a welcoming environment. You spend your time on a lovely terrasse and get to try your best at jazz standards but without the additional stress since both the listeners and the musicians that participate in these jam sessions are so positive and inviting. Classical musicians are used to other orders of things — there are certain expectations when you’re on stage, the listeners know what the tune should sound like, etc. Jazz, in my opinion, gives way more freedom, but that also doesn’t mean that someone expects less of you.

Sometimes the expectations are even higher…

Marks: Yes, exactly! It’s a totally different approach, it fascinates me.

So it looks like you have decided to create a band after some jam session at «M/Darbnīca»?

Marks: We have already collaborated with Toms before; we have played the Argentinian tango by Astor Piazzolla and the music of Johan Sebastian Bach. I have done all the transcribing for all instruments involved — cello, accordion, and double bass. So when I formed this band, we had already played with Toms.

Toms: Yes, this all started that summer — we attended jam sessions at «M/Darbnīca» together and were interested and enthusiastic. Then the proposal from Maija [Moira Mazanova] came, and we already had a lineup ready; all we needed were drums, so we invited Pauls Ķierpe.

Marks: Exactly. Also, Vadims Dmitrijevs was in Riga at the time; he was an active participant in various projects, a very enthusiastic musician, and talented, and it was very easy to work with him. It’s also easy to work with Jānis Pastars; he is more interested in playing jazz because we all know that jazz musicians often have to participate in events that require a different type of music… [laugs]

Tom, you are quite a mystery — you had basically disappeared from the Latvian scene for some ten years at least and then appeared out of nowhere when you suddenly came back. Where have you been? What were you up to?

Toms: I have spent nine years in Denmark.

So long? That’s why I don’t remember you! [laughs]

Toms: Well, somehow, life turned out that way. I lived in Odense, which is the trend biggest city in the country. I have studied there for a time, also in Copenhagen. In truth, I have also studied a bit in Germany, but I have a very nice job in Denmark; I played with the symphony orchestra. But at some point, I started longing for home. I have missed the creativity and hominess, my people…

Isn’t Denmark creative?

Toms: Every place on earth is creative, but I think that people in Latvia are more active.

And in Denmark, you played classical bass, right?

Toms: Yes, but I have studied jazz during my Erasmus+ studies.

It’s curious how two classical musicians suddenly fell in love with jazz music! What exactly do you think is so fascinating about it?

Marks: I don’t believe there’s a hard line between classical music and jazz. Traditional jazz songs are, after all, a continuation of 19th-century romanticism. It’s basically everything that has been written from the 1910s until the 1950s. The way they played at the time was how classical musicians did. Swing as a style was new, it invaded pop music, but the songs, and the material we use, are classical. The key is the unique rhythm, swing feel, and improvisation. We can approach this material with creativity and add some personality to it, thus creating music with a new spirit so that it would fit our inner feelings.

The things I heard at your concert in «M/Darbnīca» wasn’t really a jazzy repertoire, it was more musicals and some Russian romances.

Marks: We have played one composition in Russian; it was actually a famous Polish tango from the 30s. There was a composer who used to tour with his own ensemble and, in the 80s, I believe, had also been to Latvia — Jerzy Petersburski! I never intended to create a regular American music concert; we have enough of those. My intention was to create a bridge to the old world, to paint a musical picture of the 20th and show the music that sounded worldwide to broaden the view.

Like a musical journey of sorts?

Marks: Precisely. I think diversity is the thing that people love — the more diverse your program is, the more listeners you will be able to address.

Who chose the songs? You?

Marks: Mainly me, but now we are working on a new program. A lot of ideas come from both Toms and Jānis; for example, we have created our own arrangement of the famous Bill Evans tune «Waltz For Debby». It’s almost ready!

Maybe you’d dare sing it in Swedish? That famous «Monicas Vals» version performed by Monica Zetterlund?

Marks: I don’t think I can do it! [laughs]

Toms: I could try singing it in Danish! [laughs]

And have you ever tried singing?

Toms: In danish or just singing? Never in front of the public, no… [laughs]

And you, Mark, how did you start singing?

Marks: it all started, once again, at «M/Darbnīca». I came for a couple of jam sessions and sang some tunes, there were fantastic musicians, and the atmosphere was so welcoming and warm. Maija suggested I do a concert program, and a couple more people said the same, that I sound good, so why not? My stance on creative experience is — why not do things if the audience wants them? If they want it, it’s meant to be. And that concerns not only music but all the rest that life throws at you. Conservative people sometimes say about some rapid changes that it can’t be «that way», but I think that whether a «thing» survives or not depends on the audience — listeners will want to hear specific tunes or genres for decades, but other things will disappear. One or two people can’t be judges on what survives and what won’t. It’s the audience that decides.

And your audience has grown from Latvian to Portuguese! What happened there?

Marks: And once again, it’s me who has to be the storyteller! [laughs] I have spent half a year in Portugal during my Bachelor studies. There I made a lot of good friends amongst musicians, both classical and jazz. Then I was contacted by a colleague who said that there’s going to be the first jazz cello festival, «Porto Cello Festival». The festival’s main goal was to show various sides of the instruments, not only in a classical context, but to show everything that the cello can do — together with dance art, spoken word, and jazz. This is why our program was such a good fit; I have sent in various videos — Bach, Piazzolla, and the jazz project. They chose the latter. The organizers chose jazz, the most recent one. That was also one of the reasons to continue what we initially started because people want to hear it, even in Portugal. We were supposed to play two shows in Portugal — one in a regular setup where you have the audience, and you introduce the tunes. The second concert was meant as a jam session. We went there, and it turned out that they had a disco there right before our performance! It was a collaboration of the festival with the «Artesian Beer Festival» — a beer festival, imagine that! The people were already slightly tipsy after degustating the bear, there was quite a party atmosphere, and then there were we with our music on the jam session that was supposed to start in some fifteen minutes! The sound engineer was late, the problems snowballed, and we had to decide what to do next…

Toms: We were under the impression that our music would simply not fit… Mark insisted that we couldn’t just walk away, that we needed to stay and do this! In the end, it turned out really well!

Marks: In truth, the atmosphere shifted. While we were busy setting everything up for our performance, some people left, but those who wanted live music were very excited. Thank god we had drums with us on that trip! I had an inkling that it might not work out; it was a real challenge. So we had two concerts during the festival, and then we had two more shows I arranged. So I figured, why not make a tour out of this trip? If you play only one or two concerts, you don’t really get the feel of your «golden setup», what you can do. So we flew to Lisbon, played two shows there and only then went to Porto. Some three days before the concert, I decided to call the venue, and suddenly I got informed that the show was canceled. They planned to close the venue; apparently, they couldn’t handle all the restrictions the pandemic caused, and they were too deep in debt. I was very distraught and said that we had a deal… So they said — ok, we’ll arrange a concert in another venue. So that’s how we ended up in a bar we knew absolutely nothing of. And it turned out that the bar didn’t even have any sound equipment…

Toms: They gave us two karaoke speakers. We had no options, so we had to plug everything there… At least we had two speakers, stereo sound…

Marks: That was quite an experience…

Toms: The sound was peculiar there; someone turned off the mike on the cello at some point, then the bass disappeared…

Marks: But the reviews, surprisingly, were quite good. The next concert venue — «Pharmácia Musical» — was way better. The venue owner was a cellist himself, so he gave me his microphone! The atmosphere was such a welcoming one!

Toms: And there was also Susanna Stivali in the audience, a singer from Italy who later on came to Latvia to listen to the exams at the Academy of Music! Such a lovely woman, too bad we didn’t get a chance to meet in Riga.

Marks: To summarize, it was a very interesting trip, filled with emotions.

Toms: Yes, I enjoyed Portugal a lot! The atmosphere there is very liberating. Western European countries are a bit stiffer, in my opinion. But, on the other hand, people in Portugal are very creative. Portugal itself resembles a work of art — all the colorful tiles, buildings with wall art on them… A very beautiful country! Our concerts, of course, were the most exciting on this trip!