Editor’s Note: This issue marks the start of an occasional new feature called “Night Owl,” for readers who love the nightlife. To contribute, contact chief editor Brian Bonner at [email protected]. This story and photos are by Dmytro Mossienko, a journalist who covers the oil and gas industry. In his spare time, he enjoys the nightlife and shooting photographs in cities all over the world.
Those who say they don’t quite get jazz remind me of this anecdote: “Can you play violin? I’m not sure, I never tried to.” In other words, they don’t quite know what they are talking about. To properly understand and appreciate jazz, people should attend a decent jazz show.
I was introduced to jazz many years ago in a radical way. After drinking several pints of Guinness, a London pal took me to the Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in Soho. What a shame it was then that I wasn’t allowed to take photographs at the show. All the patrons were kindly requested to leave their photo cameras in the cloak room.
My visit to club 44 on Khreshchatyk on June 6 was initially just an attempt to fight the boredom of a sleepy summer night. After several attempts to find scandalous models or drunk MPs in the downtown restaurants and nightclubs, I gave up these attempts to pump up the adrenalin until next time. I decided to turn my lens to the aesthetics of an event billed by the organizers as Drum Battle.
Drummer Oleksandr Murenko during the drum competition.
Two hours later, I walked out into the June night with a sense of shock, somewhat similar to what boxing fans might have experienced after Ray Sugar Robinson KOed Jack LaMotta during the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” in 1951 in Chicago.
Vlad Lebedev with his saxophone.
On a tiny stage in the 44 club, the two drummers – Russia’s Denis Popov (http://www.myspace.com/alkotrio)and Ukraine’s best, Oleksandr Murenko (http://www.myspace.com/murenko) – were flanked by the Lebedev brothers, armed with a sax and a bass guitar. They exchanged an unbelievable machine-gun series, to the sheer delight of all those in attendance. The persistent and stubborn Russian, in a way, reminded me of Jack “Raging Bull” LaMotta.
However, in drumming, pretty much like in boxing, too, the punching power is far from being the major element of success. Likewise, Murenko’s flying hands were not the only element of the brilliant show. His eyes were truly incredible, impossible to believe. They were like the eyes of Sugar Ray Robinson, who would smile to a lady in the second row from the ring before smacking a lightning-like left jab into LaMotta’s head.
After the drum battle with Russia’s Dennis Popov, Popov and Murenko exchange posters as the emcee looks on (bottom center). (Dmytro Mossienko)
Murenko’s eyes turned around with mesmerizing speed, promising, in an instant, a whole world to every girl watching his magic. He kept sending waves into the audience, driving the public to the verge of ecstasy. His tireless effort was full of elegance, reminding me of the great boxing champion’s style in the square ring. All of a sudden you could believe that you were sitting in Madison Square Garden, rather than in a small night club on a sleepy alley just off Khreshchatyk Street.
After the show was over, the public cheered both drummers and nodded in favor of Murenko. However, radio presenter Zhenya spoiled the spirit of sportive contention in the far from sober audience by announcing a draw in the contest. The two drumming champions hugged each other and exchanged the drummers’ battle posters with handwritten autographs.
Dmytro Mossienko is chief editor of OILMARKET magazine, found at http://www.oilmarket-magazine.com. He can be reached at [email protected].
