Born: February 6, 1963 Primary Instrument: Sax, tenor
Oleg Kireyev is an internationally recognized musician. He is touring a lot, being in minds since long ago and being loved by people both locally and overseas. He posted his name on most innovative and provocative international jazz projects. His creative ideas are vast, from mainstream and ethno to jazz rock and world music. “Incredibly good, soft, enthusiastic, stylish and top notch” “ that is what musical critics say about the voice of his saxophone.
What's cool (to me, at least) about the result is how unabashed the band is in swinging genuinely hard on chestnut exotica like Puerto Rican-born Ellington trombonist Juan Tizol's “Caravan,” which Kireyev turned to as an encore, and seems born to blow, dervish-like. Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association, USA
“A Russian sax player with a reputation for hard swing and high excitement...” The Express and Star, GBR.
“The musician performing looked like a priest of a strange music patronizing God. Through all the night his eyes were shining with that fire of a man who totally devoted himself to the deed beloved”. OpenMusic magazine, Russia.
“The tenor saxophonist from Ufa in the Urals is establishing a reputation as an entertaining and skilled musician... Revolutionary Russian reedman Oleg Kireyev...” The Evening Mail, GBR.
“The Russian sax player breaks down genre borders”. Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer, USA
“The saxophonist employs his broad and brazen tone as an authoritative voice that floats in the wind. His is a mesmerizing, sensuous voice, sometimes throaty like Coleman Hawkins, and at other times husky, seductive and hypnotic as big Ben Webster. And he plays with a kind of fluidity that few can, his fingers rippling across the keys as he creates rhapsodic flowing ideas that twist and turn flying forth and then returning anew”. Raul D'Gama Rose, AllAboutJazz, USA.
“Kireyev possesses a breathy and alluring tonal quality” Dan Bilawsky, AllAboutJazz, USA.
“Kirevey saxophone's mouthpiece is a constant, woody presence - the frayed edges of each note allowing you to almost taste the filtering reed against your tongue” Matt Marshall, Jazzinside, USA.
“Kireyev’s approach to this music is extraordinary, the way he allows this instrument to breathe almost endows it with a life of its own: the sax itself becomes the musician, not Kireyev, the two subsuming into one. Tremendous: it’s a style that draws the listener deeper into the music.” Alex Torres, Sea of Tranquility.
“When it come to lascivious tenor, the Russian Oleg Kireyev is your man. He doesn’t just whisper in your ear, he says very seductive and rather rude things. He slides around the instrument in deeply suggestive fashion. It’s hard to resist.” Thejazzbreakfast.wordpress.com, GBR.
