Tallinn '67 Jazz Festival: Myths and Memories
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Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival: Myths and Memories explores the legendary 1967 jazz gathering that centred Tallinn, Estonia as the jazz capital of the USSR and marked both the pinnacle of a Soviet jazz awakening as well as the end of a long series of evolutionary jazz festivals in Estonia. This study offers new insights into what was the largest Soviet jazz festival of its time through an abundance of collected materials – including thousands of pages of archival documents, more than a hundred hours of interviews and countless media reviews and photographs – while grappling with the constellation of myths integral to jazz discourse in an attempt to illuminate ‘how it really was’. Accounts from musicians, jazz fans, organisers and listeners bring renewed life to this transcultural event from more than half a century ago, framed by scholarly discussions contextualising the festival within the closed conditions of the Cold War. Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival details the lasting international importance of this confluence of Estonian, Soviet and American jazz and the ripple effects it spread throughout the world. Heli Reimann is a postdoctoral researcher at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki. Transnational Studies in Jazz Series Editors: Tony Whyton, Birmingham City University, UK, and Nicholas Gebhardt, Birmingham City University, UK Transnational Studies in Jazz presents cross-disciplinary and global perspectives on the development and history of jazz and explores its many social, political, and cultural meanings. Recent Titles Austral Jazz The Localization of a Global Music Form in Sydney Andrew Robson Jazz Diaspora New Approaches to Music and Globalisation Bruce Johnson Voices Found Free Jazz and Singing Chris Tonelli Remixing European Jazz Culture Kristin McGee Jazz on the Line Improvisation in Practice Petter Frost Fadnes Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival Myths and Memories Heli Reimann Women in Jazz Musicality, Femininity, Marginalization Marie Buscatto For more information, please visit: www .r outle dge .c om /Tr ansna tiona l -Stu dies- in -Ja zz /bo ok -se ries/ TSJ Tallinn ’67 Jazz Festival Myths and Memories Heli Reimann First published 2022 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Taylor & Francis The right of Heli Reimann to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-41567-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-07294-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-81529-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780367815295 Typeset in Bembo by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To jazz idealists – those who made the festival happen Contents List of figures ix Series foreword xi Acknowledgements xii Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 Transnational Trajectories – Estonian, American and Soviet Jazz 1 Jazz as a Subject of Academic Research 6 About the Book 8 Method and Chapters 10 1 Setting the Scene: Estonian Jazz Popularisers Uno Naissoo and Valter Ojakäär and Official Organising Procedures of Tallinn ’67 14 Uno Naissoo: The Initiator of the Jazz Festival Tradition 15 Valter Ojakäär: Broadcasting and Writing the History of Jazz 19 The Official Initiation of the Festival 23 Festival Organisers 26 The Festival Schedule 36 2 Individual Memories 42 Leningraders Vladimir Feyertag and Yuri Vikharev 43 Muscovites Boris Frumkin, Anatoly Kroll and German Lukyanov 56 Latvians Valdis Eglītis, Leonid Nidbalsky and Artur Nikitin 64 Lithuanian Representatives Vyacheslav Ganelin and Oleg Molokoyedov 70 Estonian Participants Tiit Paulus and Els Himma 74 Swedes 89 viii Contents 3 Americans at the Festival 94 George Avakian and the Soviet Union 94 Planning the Soviet Tour in 1966 95 Preparation for the Tour in 1967 100 Festival in Tallinn 108 Epilogue 113 Ron McClure 115 Charles Lloyd 121 Willis Conover 124 4 Post-Festival Reviews: Media and Official Reports 132 TV and Radio 133 Reviews in Estonian Media 140 Vasily Aksyonov and Alexey Batashev 141 Heinz Peter Hofmann, Melodie und Rhythmus 147 Norwegian Randi Hultin 150 Poland: Józef Balcerak 152 Lloyd’s Visit in the American Press 155 Official Reports 158 Neither Allowed nor Forbidden: The Fate of Tallinn’s Jazz Festivals 160 Conclusions: Tallinn ’67 as an Affective Event 165 The ‘Global Affect’ of the 1960s 165 The Willis Conover Sensation 166 American and Soviet Conflicting Realities 168 Myths 170 Soviet Jazz in 1960s and Tallinn ’67 Festival 172 Literature 178 Appendix I: List of Participants 182 Appendix II: The Executive Committee of the Tallinn Council of People’s Deputies (CPD) of the ESSR 185 Index 187 Figures 0.1 Festival poster. Author Valery Smirnov 2 1.1 Uno Naissoo (personal collection of Heli Reimann). Uno Naissoo’s caricature by Hugo Hiibus (personal collection of Ksenia Naissoo) 18 1.2 Valter Ojakäär giving his opening speech. Photographer: Gustav German 19 1.3 Heinrich Schultz in his office in 1967. The portrait of the communist leader Vladimir Lenin was an obligatory element in Soviet office environment (personal collection of Uno Schultz) 28 1.4 Czesław Bartkowski and Jan Johansson conducting the mas- terclasses in Olav’s Hall at the YCP. Photographer: Viktor Salmre (ERM Fk 2644: 13829; ERM Fk 2644: 13849) 37 1.5 Press conference at the YCP. From left: Juhan Undusk – Head of the Executive Committee of the Tallinn CPD; Uno Naisoo; Valter Ojakäär; Vladimir Gurfinkel – orgkomitee mem- ber from Leningrad; Rein Ristlaan – Head of the orgkomitee; Kaido Okk – instructor of the Cultural Department of the Executive Committee of the Tallinn CPD (ETMM) 38 1.6 Jazz Parade entering Kadriorg Park (UNTL) 38 2.1 Vladimir Feyertag emceeing concert at Leningrad Philharmonic Hall. Photographer: Heli Reimann 44 2.2 Boris Frumkin playing the piano at the Hall of Union of Composers, Moscow in 16.11.2017. Photographer Heli Reimann. Portrait (personal collection of Frumkin) 57 2.3 Zvyozdochka: Gunārs Rozenbergs trumpet, Uldis Stabulnieks piano, Valdis Eglītis bass, Dzintars Beķeris drums rehears- ing for the preliminary round of the festival at the Latvian Composers’ Union on 6 April 1967 (personal collection of Eglītis) 65 2.4 Riga’s Dixieland from the left: Vladimir Yermolovich bass, Leonid Marukhno banjo, Eduard Klovsky trombone, Leonid Nidbalsky drums, Yuri Mutulis clarinet. In the second row: Shirley and Willis Conover (personal collection of Nidbalsky) 67 x Figures 2.5 Raivo Tammik trio: Raivo Tammik, Tiit Paulus and Jüri Plisnik. Tiit Paulus at Tallinn ’67. Photographer: Jaan Rõõmus 78 2.6 Els Himma. Photographer: Viktor Salmre (ERM Fk2644: 6447; ERA F_efa 0252_ 000_0 00000 0_612 55_ft _Himm a_ Tam mik) 83 3.1 Avakian at the final banquet. Photographer: Viktor Salmre (ERM Fk2644: 13861). Promotional postcard of Lloyd, carry- ing the note ‘Mir’ (peace) 103 3.2 Lloyd warming up backstage before his performance on the second day (personal collection of Viktor Dubiler) 109 3.3 Performance of Lloyd’s Quartet. Photographer: Viktor Salmre (ERM Fk 2644: 905; ERM Fk 2644: 891; ERM Fk 2644: 13821; ERM Fk 2644: 906) 112 3.4 Conover giving autographs (WCC, UNTML). Conover on stage in the banquet at Restaurant Kevad with interpreter Vladimir Gurfinkel (ETMM) 125 3.5 The Conovers at Vikharev’s home party in Leningrad in May 1967 (WCC, UNTML) 129 4.1 Masses of people around Kalev Sports Hall (ERRA: JAZZ- 67; https://arhiiv .err .ee /vaata /jazz -67) 134 4.2 The ‘Three sisters’. Photographer: Randi Hultin (NJL, RHC). Festival emblem on invitation card and festival badge of Tallinn ’67 135 4.3 Festival paparazzi. Photographers: Gustav German, Viktor Salmre (ERM Fk 2644: 1383) 137 4.4 The festival stage with flags. On the stage the group led by Vladimir Vitikh. Photographer: Gustav Germann 138 4.5 Leningrad Pantomime of Grigory Gurevich. Photographers: Valdur Vahi, Samuel Rosenfeld (ETMM) 148 4.6 Intourist Hotel Tallinn, dancers in front of the hotel, monu- ment of Lenin, the banner of the festival at the Draamateater. Film of Randi Hultin (NJA, RHC) 153 Series Foreword Since the 1990s the study of jazz has changed dramatically, as the field con- tinues to open up to a variety of disciplinary perspectives and critical models. Today, as the music’s meaning undergoes profound changes, there is a pressing need to situate jazz within an international research context and to develop theories and methods of investigation which open up new ways of understand- ing its cultural significance and its place within different historical and social settings. The Transnational Studies in Jazz Series presents the best research from this important and exciting area of scholarship, and features interdisciplinary and international perspectives on the relationships between jazz, society, politics, and culture. The series provides authors with a platform for rethinking the methodologies and concepts used to analyze jazz, and will seek to work across disciplinary boundaries, finding different ways of examining the practices, values and meanings of the music. The series explores the complex cultural and musical exchanges that have shaped the global development and reception of jazz. Contributors will focus on studies of the music which find different ways of telling the story of jazz with or without reference to the United States, and will investigate jazz as a medium for negotiating global identities.