Heiti Kruusmaa

Kruglov - Sooäär Quartet

"Capturing well something of the high spirits and passion inherent in the original works, it's a recording what really hits the spot." (Selwyn Harris, JazzWise Magazine)

  • Alexey Kruglov

    saxophones

  • Jaak Sooäär

    guitar

  • Mihkel Mälgand

    double bass

  • Tanel Ruben

    drums

The quartet was established in April 2010. The final concert of their first tour in Estonia was recorded and became an album “Karate” released by renowned British label Leo Records. Since then the quartet has performed numerously in the Russia, USA, China, France, Estonia and Finland (also at Jazzkaar Festival, IDee Jazz Festival, Arkhangelsk Jazz Festival, Yaroslavl Jazz Festival, Soru Jazz, OCT Loft Jazz Festival etc.). The last album of the quartet consists of masterpieces by legendary 19th century Russian composers Mussorgsky (three parts from “Pictures At An Exhibition”, Rimsky-Korsakov (“Scheherazade” and “Flight of The Bumblebee”, Borodin (two numbers from opera “Prince Igor”) and Balakirev (“Nocturne In F-sharp Minor”). The original harmonies and forms of this well-known music are very inspiring material for contemporary jazz improvisation and the strong melodies sound very good in modern sound context. The album was elected to European Jazz Chart in December 2014.

Alexey Kruglov is one of the most well-known jazz musicians on Moscow scene and so are Jaak Sooäär, Mihkel Mälgand and Tanel Ruben on Estonian scene. They are all very active on the international scene too. Kruglov and Sooäär have besides the albums with the quartet released three other discs with different musicians.

“Capturing well something of the high spirits and passion inherent in the original works, it's a recording what really hits the spot.”

Selwyn Harris, JazzWise Magazine, May 2015, rated four stars