Back to tradition

Toms Rudzinskis’ Fruitful Summer — First Residency at the Mazā Ģilde Garden, Acoustic Quartet at Rīgas Ritmi, and New Music

Since returning home, Toms Rudzinskis seems to have accomplished an incredible amount: he’s been organizing regular jam sessions at the restaurant The Botanist, presented his award-winning album ABYSS in a double concert with an international lineup (which received the Zelta Mikrofons award for Best Jazz Album in 2023), and then again in 2024 for INTERCEPTION. Additionally, he has recorded another album, which is already available for pre-order on Bandcamp, featuring one of the tracks with a music video.

Toms clearly isn’t short on creative energy, so there’s no doubt we’ll be hearing much more from him. For now, though, I invite you to dive into our conversation, where we talk about his busy summer — filled with concerts, including Rīgas Ritmi festival and a month-long residency in the Small Guild Garden.

So, you’ve had quite a fruitful and brilliant summer, with many concerts — including Rīgas Ritmi and your residency in the Small Guild Garden! Perhaps we should start with Rīgas Ritmi. Mareks Ameriks, who organized that concert (the Jersika Records stage), mentioned that you’ll also have a vinyl release with the repertoire you performed at the festival.

We’re working very hard to make that happen. The lineup at Rīgas Ritmi wasn’t the same as the one we recorded with. We recorded with an acoustic ensemble last year, featuring Ivars Arutjunjans on drums, Italian bassist Igor Spallati, Belgian pianist Alex Koo, and me. After our tour last year, we went into the Latvian Radio studio to record. Recently, we also finished recording with a string quartet led by Ivars Brinums and his team. At this point, the remaining tasks are mixing and mastering.

What kind of music will be on it?

It’s my own music, written during last year’s tour. Some of the pieces had been performed in concerts before, but hadn’t been recorded or released. The album is a mix of previously performed material and new compositions, but mostly it’s new music that emerged from the tour.

And stylistically, genre-wise? Will it be different from the last album, or in which direction is it going?

This album stylistically echoes my debut, which was more acoustic compared to ABYSS. ABYSS focused more on electronic elements — layers, synthesizers, electric guitar, and electric bass.

This time, I wanted to record music with instruments more in line with a classic jazz quartet. Of course, we’ve added a string quartet as well, but at the core, it’s an acoustic quartet. Meanwhile, ABYSS was an electronic quartet. This acoustic version is rooted in the standard setup — saxophone, piano, double bass, and drums — and then the strings were added to give it a brighter, fuller sound.

By debut album, you mean ABRA?

Yes, ABRA. We recorded it nine years ago, and the anniversary is coming up, so I suppose we’ll have to organize something special. The new project is essentially a continuation of that quartet, which is why the name still carries: Toms Rudzinskis Acoustic Quartet.

Well, you’ve had quite a prolific stretch! How many albums altogether now? There was ABRA, Locomotion…

Then we did the Space Big Band album with Kenneth Dahl Knudsen.

Right, Space Big Band.

Then ABYSS, and now this acoustic quartet.

Pretty productive! Five albums in ten years — that’s a lot! If I remember right, at Rīgas Ritmi, you had this funny situation where your lineup almost completely overlapped with Vadims Dmitrijevs’.

Yes, as always, when you’re organizing concerts and festivals, the boring but unavoidable issue is budget. It’s not always possible to bring the original lineup. My initial idea was that if we got extra funding, I’d bring the acoustic quartet to Riga — but that probably would’ve been too expensive.

In any case, the acoustic quartet will definitely perform in Latvia, but this time I was already regularly playing with Tuomo [Uusitalo]. I wrote to him, and he performs in Latvia quite often. When Vadims found out I was playing with Tuomo, he told me he’d be playing with his drummer. So I wrote to his drummer, and Vadims wrote to Tuomo. In the end, our lineups blended, and we ended up with almost the same band.

It turned out that Vadims’ drummer had actually written to me half a year earlier to offer a gig, but it never materialized. In the end, though, we did play together at Rīgas Ritmi. Everything aligned, and I think it turned out to be a really friendly and fun concert.

So basically, the audience at Rīgas Ritmi got a sneak peek of your new album?

Yes, the record will be released through Jersika Records, which is fantastic. I really enjoy working with Mareks — he’s incredibly supportive and gives me complete freedom to express myself as I see fit. It’s great collaborating with him, and it’s also cool that he has quite extensive resources. Recently, it seems they’ve gained significant international recognition as well.

There are many wonderful aspects to releasing with Jersika Records. The recording will be available on vinyl and digitally. The release strategy is still something we’re figuring out — perhaps we’ll release the vinyl first, and later the digital version will appear on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and others. However, one thing is sure: there will be vinyl, and it will also be available digitally.

This year, you also had a residency in the Small Guild Garden. That was your first time, right?

Yes, the very first time in that format at the Small Guild. The residency idea originated from Madara, the event organizer. It would be interesting to expand it into a month-long residency in August, where we play every Thursday with different friends and colleagues. Some of them don’t usually live in Latvia but happened to be here during the summer, so it was a great opportunity.

Each week, we had a different lineup. The first concert was my music — purely electronic, with Artis Orubs on drums, Edvīns Ozols on double bass, and Ritvars Garoza on synths. The following week, I played with Kristīne Cīrule, Edgars Cīrulis, and Jānis Rubiks, which was dedicated more to Kristīne’s music, plus a few of Edgars’ and Jānis’ pieces. The following Thursday, we performed with vocalist Arta Jēkabsone, Krista Sāržants on piano, and Toms Poišs on bass. And the final Thursday was with Matīss Čudars, Ivars Arutjunjans, and Jānis Rubiks.

So, four completely different concerts. And I really love the idea: free summer concerts right in Old Riga. The audience included many regulars, as well as numerous foreigners and tourists who were in town for the summer. I think it turned into a very cool month of music and different atmospheres, and I’m grateful they trusted me with it.

Last time it was totally packed. I came, realized there were no free seats left, and people were even standing outside the fence. That’s a great sign, because you were playing more traditional jazz, which isn’t exactly the most mainstream entertainment in Old Riga — but people still came and listened. Of course, some were tourists, but there were plenty of locals as well.

Yes, it’s gotten to the point where if you want a seat, you need to line up about half an hour before the concert starts.

What do you think about the concept itself — free concerts? Doesn’t that risk training the audience to expect art for free? For instance, when it comes time to buy tickets for other concerts, perhaps people are less interested?

That’s an excellent question. It’s true that if you had the choice, you’d probably prefer not to pay for concerts. However, thanks to places like M/Darbnīca, audiences in Riga are accustomed to paying for live music, which is beneficial — it ensures those venues can survive in the long term if there’s a paying public. Of course, there’s also some state support — for example, the Small Guild concerts are funded by the Riga City Council and the State Culture Capital Foundation. That’s what makes it possible to organize free events.

Yes, there’s always the risk that people who attend numerous free concerts might become reluctant to buy tickets later. That’s not the best scenario in the long run.

On the other hand, free concerts can reach a much larger audience. In Old Riga, it really works — people who come casually to listen may discover new music. Maybe in winter, when there are no free concerts at the Small Guild, they’ll go to M/Darbnīca instead and buy a ticket. In some ways, it’s positive. Riga doesn’t have that many free events, to be honest. The Small Guild is probably one of the few regular places where this happens.