Jazz from
Kyrgyzstan

Russian prodigy brings youth
and maturity to his music

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By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

It wouldn't matter if Eldar Djangirov were 15 or 50 -- he would still be a formidable jazz pianist at any age. It just so happens that the diminutive Russian prodigy is still a teenager, living with his parents in the idyllic-sounding Prairie Village, just a mile or so outside of Kansas City, Kan.

COURTESY PHOTO Eldar Djangirov

While his interpretive, compositional and arranging skills behind the keyboard is startling in its command, Djangirov still sounds very much like a teenager on the phone. He spoke last week from his home with hesitancy at times, searching for the right words to succinctly express himself -- which is a good analogy to his piano playing.

(Djangirov will be joined by local backup musicians Bob Harrison and Paul Markette in a trio performance tomorrow night at Orvis Auditorium.)

Originally from Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union, he was born to a musicologist mom and a mechanical engineer dad. At 5, Djangirov started classical piano lessons at his mother's prompting before moving on to jazz soon after.

"It was my dad who loved jazz and introduced it to me," Djangirov said. "The first player I liked to listen and learn from was Oscar Peterson.

"I also like the harmonic approach of other piano players like Marian McPartland, Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck." (Djangirov, at 12, was McPartland's youngest guest on her popular public radio series, and played with her as a duet partner at a concert at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.)

In 1996, a traveling American jazz enthusiast and benefactor, Charles McWhorter, discovered the then-9-year-old Djangirov at a national Russian jazz festival in Siberia, and brought the boy and his family as a trustee to the United States, where Djangirov attended summer camp for four years at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

McWhorter has since passed away, and Djangirov wrote a quiet, ruminative solo composition in honor of him, titled "Meetings and Partings," on his debut album, "Eldar."

"I take solo piano seriously," he said "I think it's fun because you don't have to wonder how to respond to other musicians. But I do love playing in a trio setting, too."

Djangirov's choice of cover material from the album is impressive, with solo and trio interpretations of McPartland's light and dancing "Afterglow," a wonderful interpretation of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints," a sharply punctuated "Well You Needn't" from the Thelonious Monk book, and a fresh, vibrant take on Ornette Coleman's "Turnaround."

The album is bookended with powerhouse renditions of Todd Dameron's "Lady Bird" and Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From the Apple."

Djangirov's own material can be mature-sounding, as in the aforementioned "Meetings," a lovely Latin number called "Recollection" and the lyrical and mysterious "In the Haze."

Other songs show a younger, more energetic side to his music. "Rhododendron" is a rhythmically strong and assured trio workout, and "Strollin' " is one tune the teenager has fun with, filled with quickly shifting moods.

Even though he's slowly building a national reputation, Djangirov says he doesn't play outside of the Kansas City and the Midwest much because of his school requirements. And, between attending private school and playing the piano, he doesn't seem to have much time for other pastimes, besides chess.

Still, he says "I've always dreamed to go to Hawaii," and local jazz fans should be taken by this young man's musical demeanor on stage.

Eldar Djangirov Place: Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawaii at Manoa In concert: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow Tickets: $20 general; $15 students, military, seniors, UH faculty and staff Call: 956-3836

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