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| Raivo Tafenau |
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Raivo Tafenau - sax
Meelis Vind - cl
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| Meelis Vind |
In
Raivo Tafenau’s music, there is one source of inspiration that cannot be passed over
unmentioned – Miles Davis. Certainly, the shadow of the late great trumpeter has
touched innumerable musicians, from elderly to tender-aged, and the young Estonian
saxophonist is no exception. Thus, on one of the tracks on the present album, «My Shoes
are Miles Too Long», Tafenau & Co take deft dive into a funky sound-swirl reminiscent
of Miles’ electric period. This is not an over-urgent copy of the late master,
though; rather, it is Tafenau’s sincere acknowledgement of the refreshing emotional
impact obtained from his initial brush with Miles’ music in the 70s.
Raivo Tafenau’s lasting love affair with jazz, however,
did not start with Miles. Tafenau was born and bred in Mustla, a little far-off place of
Estonia’s countryside. At the age of eleven Raivo took to studying the accordion at
Pärnu Music School. Only six years later did he start on the instrument he is much better
known for at present, the saxophone. It was around that time that the young musician,
already moderately experienced in playing dixieland, for the first time attended a concert
by Arvo Pilliroog, the legendary Estonian sax-man admired for his fine jazz re-workings of
Estonian folk melodies. Tafenau was staggered by the experience, he definitely wished to
learn to improvise with similar fluency and inventiveness. He proceeded to study at the G.
Ots Music School in Tallinn, honing his player’s craft on both the saxophone and the
accordion. On the latter instrument, he studied with Villu Veski, a saxophone-colleague a
mere few years older than him.
On completing the period of military service, Tafenau played
in various Estonian pop groups for a couple of seasons, constantly touring across the
vastness of the late Soviet Union. Despite the routine, he recalls those years with
certain gratitude — as a time of profuse practice, of gaining experience and of
listening to a lot of jazz on the side.
The year 1991 marked the beginnings of Raivo Tafenau’s
professional engagement with the Estonian Radio Big Band, of regular jazz recordings and
concert appearances. Also, he got the gig with the pianist Urmas Lattikas’ ensemble.
In 1992 Tafenau performed as soloist with the EBU Big Band in Barcelona. The same year, as
a member of Urmas Lattikas’ band, Tafenau was TV-witnessed by the thousands of
European viewers of the live transmission of the EBU Jazz Night. In 1994, Estonian Radio
granted Tafenau the title of The Musician of the Year. From then on, the talented young
saxophonist has stepped out on varisize jazz stages of Europe: in Germany, Denmark,
Sweden, Finland and Faroe Islands. In Estonia he has appeared, live and in studio, with
numerous and multifarious line-ups, often in the company of guitarist Ain Agan and bassist
Raul Vaigla — the core-members of Tafenau’s backing band also on these
recordings. Since 1996 Raivo Tafenau has led his own quintet; he has played several duo
concerts with bass-clarinettist Meelis Vind. Last spring Tafenau participated in the
founding of the Estonian Dream Big Band.
All the above-mentioned does not yet comprise a complete list
of Tafenau’s activities up to now. And «Alone Together» should better be viewed as
a musical midway-point, an interim report on the young saxman’s promising career.
«It’s still a search», says Tafenau himself, implying that this collection does not
aspire to an all-embracing, perfectly rounded artistic statement. In its stead, this is a
representation of a few of the Tafenau Quintet’s collective sympathies in jazz: the
harmonic flavour of Bill Evans, the particular melodiousness of Horace Silver, different
aspects of the electric Miles.
The final piece on the album, «The Nearness of You», was
recorded live in Yväskylä, Finland, where Tafenau’s music already has admirers in
abundance. «Alone Together» is very likely to win over new fans further from home.
Immo Mihkelson
English interpretation: Tiit Kusnets
Raivo Tafenau's album «Alone
Together» linernotes
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