Yakov Okun

Yakov Okun: I vividly remember my first jam session

— What did you think of your performance yesterday? Did you manage to tune in to the other musicians?

— You don't need much time for that, you just have to walk onto the stage with the musicians you want to see as your partners. Actually, you usually need three minutes to tune in to them.

— How do you select musicians for your bands?

— Everything happens following the call of my soul, my heart, and the perception of how close to me a certain esthetics presented by a musician is.

— Yesterday, a thesis was voiced repeatedly that the event's organization equals that of the world's best jazz festivals. Would you agree with that?

— That's the way it is.

— Do you remember the jazz star you first played with? When was that?

— I have a vivid memory of how my dad put me in my first jam session. I was already well into adulthood because I took up jazz late, at 16. I generally think that people should pursue jazz when they reach maturity. That is, a kid playing jazz in my perception is a child prodigy. Anyway, I remember the time, I was maybe 18 or 19, when my dad put me in a jam session with Viktor Dvoskin, a great musician. It was at a sort of a festival arranged by Yury Saulsky. And he apporached my dad and said, "Mikhail, Yakov is a great player, just put him in." I still remember how excited I was.