The Swinging Partysans:
Russian jazz hits & Eddie Rosner vintage
In today's jazz scene, the name "The Swinging PartYsans" conceals a Berlin gem that gives musical expression to the work and tradition of the "tsar of Soviet jazz", Eddie Rosner. Eddie Rosner was an exceptional talent of Berlin provenance who had to leave Germany in the wake of Nazi terror. Stranded in the USSR in 1939, he was, however, very soon branded a "Westerner" and hit with ever-recurring performance bans. Under all manner of harassment he mastered his artist's path on the stages of Moscow, Minsk and Magadan until 1971.
His contemporaries and fellow sufferers, the "founding fathers" of the Russian big bands, also stand in the spotlight here. The contributors to this project, brought to life by the International Society for Multimedia Culture and European Communication e.V., feel committed to preserving the memory of the great old masters of the Russian swing- and tango-oriented musical tradition. A tradition that is carried on today with new artistic inspiration.
A fine opportunity for listeners not merely to learn something, but to immerse themselves in a world of Russian swing that stands on a par with the best evergreens from the European treasure chest and the most popular jazz standards of the Great American Songbook. Experience original compositions and unjustly forgotten earworms that outshine many a Broadway vintage. Even the most rustic foxtrots - in which one senses less the lure of the big-city lights than the daring harmonies of the suburbs and the sly rhythms of the backyards - are invariably ennobled by a romantic, contemplative, relaxed and thoughtful mood, balladesque and typical of the Russian classics.
This is the only project in Germany - and across borders - that presents, in various line-ups, a music once unwanted or even forbidden, which for that very reason is still something of an insider tip even in Russia today. The project has been engaged with the subject for years and has dug long enough through this hard-to-access repertoire to conclude again and again: swing fascinates, whichever kind - Russian or American, up-tempo or elegiac. Above all it is timeless and fits any setting. It helps us through life's situations and lifts the spirits; it makes for exclusivity and for a creative, elegant way of handling it - far from kitschy compromise and tedious routine, without crashing cheap effects, overloaded noodling or elitist, stress-laden formulas. After all, the idea is first and foremost to tell a fascinating story. And to tell it in many ways: professionally, unconventionally, non-commercially, with heart and expertise. For us, for the old masters, for everyone. The music once declared lost is sounding again.
As soon as you click HERE ↓ on this record
or on the pictures and banners, you will get to the music. Among it are also our own compositions & songs ®©.
Contact: strock-rosner-society@radioakzent.de or swingfrequenz@gmail.com
WORKING WITH THIS THEME EVEN MORE COMPREHENSIVELY IS
THE OSKAR STROCK & EDDIE ROSNER ORCHESTRA
This project of the association was conceived in the spirit of § 2.11 c of its statutes, to cultivate the culture of remembrance of Eddie Rosner and Oskar Strock, two musicians of the century who had to flee Nazi Germany in 1933 and were subjected to various repressions in the USSR. Get in touch with us if you would like to support our projects; besides the music programmes there are many more plans and building sites: the first memorial plaque for Eddie Rosner in Berlin was unveiled at the house of his birth on 27 May 2018, but a monument for Oskar Strock in Riga or a museum remain a vision for now; the archives are scattered to the four winds, and the heirs are struggling to publish a complete collection of recordings and scores. Through performances, lectures and the like we try to gather resources, join forces and do awareness-raising work; the externally engaged musicians do so as circumstances currently permit.