“Ilya Alabuzhev has put together a very cinematic collection of music that takes the listener on a very enjoyable journey through many sonic landscapes. These songs are filled with emotion, sensitivity and clarity and are played by his band with care for nuance and dynamics. It is a fun ride made by a musician who knows that the number one priority in music is communication.”
Larry Grenadier
“Will to Live - absolutely new and fresh view of Ilya Alabuzhev, a work that is fundamentally different from all previous projects of Ilya. Exquisite female vocals, an interesting (and not simple) ensemble, almost ascetic, but inventive arrangements. The music is similar to a story where the average pace, depth and strange concentrated simplicity prevail. In a word - purely European modern jazz.”
Alexey Kogan (Ukrainian jazz journalist)”
Bio
Ilya Alabuzhev is a Ukrainian bass-player, composer and arranger.
Since his early years, he has started to play music. First he played the violin, then the bayan (button accordion). His accordion teacher was his father, who was a very good musician. His further achievements were learning to play the guitar and the electric bass.
Ilya grew up listening mostly to the rock music (the bands like Nirvana and the Beatles). Since the age of 16, he has started to study electric bass at the Music College in Krivoy Rog (Ukraine), where he was introduced to jazz and played in many jazz and rock projects. With “FunkStuff” project, he went to an almost two-month tour to France, where he participated in numerous events and jazz festivals such as “Jazz a Vienne” and “Millau en Jazz.”
After graduating from the college, he moved to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, to study at R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music. There he met a lot of musicians to play with and was inspired a lot by their music and work. At the same time, he became an important part of Kyiv jazz scene and gained a lot of experience playing with both local and foreign musicians. Also, during this time he started writing his own music and experimenting with various instrumentations.
In 2010, Ilya started to play the double bass. He moved to Graz (Austria), where studied with Professor Wayne Darling at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Since then, he has also become a member of Piotr Pawlak Jazztet, an international band that toured a lot around Europe and won several jazz competitions such “Jazz nad Odra” (Poland), Getxo Jazz (Spain).
In 2013, along with a great saxophone-player and his friend Andrej Prozorov, he started “DACH,” the Ukrainian-Austrian band with unique sound that is still very active on European and, surprisingly, Asian (primarily Indian) jazz scene. In 2014, they recorded their debut CD “Radio Liberty,” an artistic response to the Ukrainian revolution of 2013-2014.
In 2014, as an Erasmus student, he studied with Professor Gregory Cohen at the Jazz Institute in Berlin and was lucky to gain a lot of experience in the city with such strong jazz scene.
In 2014, while still studying in Graz, Ilya moved to Vienna, where he spent one year.
Since 2015, he has been residing in Basel (Switzerland), where he has already completed two Master´s degrees: Jazz Performance/Producing and the Pedagogic Master’s degree. Among his teachers are: Bänz Oester, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard, Marc Turner, Jorge Rossy and Guillermo Klein.
Since moving to Basel, he has become an active member of Swiss jazz scene and a member of the team “Jazzkollektive Basel” that organizes concerts and jam sessions.
In Basel, he launched his main project as of today, the band with unique instrumentation: double bass, e-bass, vocal, trumpet and drums. He composed all the music with lyrics and arranged for the band. The product of their work as of now is their first CD “Will to Live” released by QFTF label.