Valery Ponomarev

Valery Ponomarev, Russian: Вале́рий Миха́йлович Пономарёв, Valery Mikhaylovich Ponomaryov, (born 1943) is a Russian-born jazz trumpeter.[1] He has lived in the United States since 1973.

Ponomarev became interested in jazz after hearing it on Voice of America, and felt a particular affinity for Clifford Brown. He dedicated countless hours to transcribing, studying and memorizing legendary jazz trumpet solos. In time he decided to flee the then Soviet Union and ended up joining Art Blakey's group The Jazz Messengers. After leaving, he formed his own band, Universal Language.

On September 9, 2006, his arm was broken in an altercation with security at Charles de Gaulle Airport.[2] The altercation involved his intention of carrying his trumpet with him onto the plane.

Ponomarev tours with his tribute big band, playing both originals and music from the Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers repertoire. He teaches privately, and released his autobiographical book On The Flip Side of Sound in 2009. He teaches as part of the Wells Fargo Jazz for Teens program in Newark, New Jersey.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Art Blakey

References

  1. Валерий Пономарёв (in Russian). Jazz.Ru. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  2. Carvajal,Doreen. "A Trumpet, a Struggle, and a Musician’s Broken Arm", The New York Times, October 10, 2006.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 14, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.