Vlad West

For "GREEN LIGHT" CD Vlad West is a pianist with a very original style, both in his playing and his writing. His constantly inventive piano playing and his colorful originals certainly hold one’s interest throughout. The opener, “Ring For Swing,” has a tricky melody that he plays effortlessly. The performance, which hints in spots at Thelonious Monk, is concise and effective. “Robins’ Dream” is atmospheric, has the feel of classical music, and covers a variety of different ideas. On “Red Carpet,” Vlad West digs into a blues, infusing the music with some impressive double-time runs

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For "GREEN LIGHT" CD Vlad West is a pianist with a very original style, both in his playing and his writing. His constantly inventive piano playing and his colorful originals certainly hold one’s interest throughout. The opener, “Ring For Swing,” has a tricky melody that he plays effortlessly. The performance, which hints in spots at Thelonious Monk, is concise and effective. “Robins’ Dream” is atmospheric, has the feel of classical music, and covers a variety of different ideas. On “Red Carpet,” Vlad West digs into a blues, infusing the music with some impressive double-time runs. On “Up To You,” the pianist quotes both “’Round Midnight” and “Epistrophy,” combining aspects of the two Thelonious Monk pieces in his own very individual way. Throughout his career, Vlad West has consistently shown that he is a musician well worth paying close attention to. Green Light is his latest accomplishment. -Scott Yanow, jazz critic and author http://news.allaboutjazz.com/pianist-vlad-west-releases-green-light.php For "IN MY CORNER" CD "On any instrument and under any name Vlad West has a distinctive and extremely attractive voice. This CD puts his instrumental diversity on exhibit and also reveals intriguing developments in his musical style. But thank goodness, there is still that wonderful lyric and rhythmic voice suffusing it all. Hats off to the new Vlad West and to yet newer Vlad Wests yet to come!!" - Frederic Starr, Johns Hopkins University, former president of Oberlin College, Jazz Studies. * * * “Yet another wonderful surprise from Vlad West (also known as V. Sermakashev). A marvelous melange of traditional jazz, bebop, and classical music. And the formerly superb saxophonist reminds to us that his first introduction to music was on piano. So this recording features him as a sensitive intellectual musician with excellent piano chops and sensibilities.” - Inna Naroditskaya - PhD, University of Michigan, Associate Professor, Musicology, Writer and Specialist in Eastern music cultures For "SAY HELLO TO RUSSIA" "West comes up with creative and frequently hard-driving solos on six of his originals and three standards, making one wonder why he is not better know." - Scott Yanow, Jazz Times Magazine * * * "As a composer, he demonstrates an affinity for the classic Coltrane quartet of FAR AWAY and BLACK SNOW." - Owen Cordle, Down Beat Magazine * * * ” Vlad West, a shortened version of Vladimir Sermakashev, is a rollicking modernist, a tenor saxophonist with a barrel- chested sound and a puckish sense of time. Once one of the USSR’s most noted players, the parapatetic West takes risks. That much is clear from the music. But when one realizes that his defection from Russia was the inspiration for Robin Williams’ movie “Moscow on the Hudson,” one’s got to say, “hat’s off!” West knows what he’s doing. His rhythm section is drawn from New York’s best. He’s also an engaging composer, as his “Far Away” and “Black Snow” indicate. And though he blinks several times while negotiating the harmonic hairpin turns of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” there’s an emotional directness that connects. Though not yet in Perelman’s or Rodidi’s class, one senses an unbounded commitment to both his new home and to jazz. West, by the way, has a sense of humor. After thanking his parents and wife, he writes: “To Bill Clinton, who inspired me to do this CD”. - Chuck Berg, Jazz Critic, Professor Ph.D., University of Iowa Film/Television History, Theory and Criticism; American Pop Culture, Music and Media, Lawrence Journal-World-Feb.12, 1995 * * * "You must say HELLO to VLAD. He has his own voice and story to tell." - Dan Morgenstern, Director, NEA Jazz Master, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, a noted jazz historian and a former editor of Down Beat http://www.allaboutjazz.com/say-hello-to-russia-vlad-west-alve-publishing-and-recording-co-review-by-budd-kopman.php

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