Vyacheslav Ganelin

Vyacheslav Ganelin is one of the founding fathers of Lithuanian jazz (which was then Soviet jazz). Born in Moscow in 1944, Ganelin's parents moved to Lithuania in 1948. He studied piano and composition at the State Conservatory. Although jazz was officially denounced by the Soviet Union due to its pedigree as a specifically American art form, Lithuania had a reputation as the jazziest of the Soviet Republics, and Ganelin studied jazz on his own, outside of the academic world. The birth of modern jazz in Lithuania came about in 1961, when the National Conservatory organized a conference on jazz theory and history. At this conference, a 17-year-old Vyacheslav Ganelin first rose to prominence, performing at the accompanying concert. This concert/conference was the start of a jazz scene in Vilnius that saw Ganelin leading a trio with drummer Vladimir Tarasov and sax player Vladimir Rizitsky by the mid-'60s, eventually playing an Estonian Jazz Festival with headliners Keith Jarrett and Charles Lloyd in 1968. Things really took off when Ganelin got together with Tarasov and reedman Vladimir Chekasin in 1971. The Ganelin Trio, as they became known, helped forge a uniquely informed jazz style, based, in part, on Russian and Lithuanian folk music, while eschewing the Western European tradition. Ganelin incorporated guitar, trombone, and trumpet with his keyboard skills in his years with the trio, and more recently has been using computers in both composition and improvisation. As Ganelin stated to Jurate Kucinskaite, "...I believe that creation (composition) and improvisation is the same process that just has a different speed." (From the article "Jazz, Jazz, Jazz: Despite Its Present Popularity, Jazz in Lithuania Has Often Had to Endure Difficult Times.")

Through his work with the trio, Ganelin not only established the template for Soviet jazz, but opened the door to Western Europe and the world through their concert appearances for all musicians who followed. In 1987, following the dissolution of the trio, Ganelin immigrated to Israel, where he continued to compose and teach while performing concerts around the world. Ear magazine says, "Freud is to psychology as Ganelin is to Soviet jazz."