Soviet jazz-rock pioneer Alexey Kozlov dies at 90
Jazz saxophonist Alexey Kozlov has died in Moscow at 90.
His jazz club reported his death on its Telegram channel.
“Words with Music”
Kozlov was a pioneer of Soviet jazz rock. Born in Moscow on October 13, 1935, he founded Arsenal in 1973. The band became one of the Soviet Union’s best-known groups.
Arsenal released several records and CDs. One of its albums, “Svoimi Rukami” (“With Our Own Hands”), was reissued in the U.S. The band performed in France, Germany, and the U.S. over the years, including at Carnegie Hall in New York during a joint tour with Georgian singer Tamara Gverdtsiteli.
Kozlov also hosted jazz programs on Russian television and wrote a book on the history of rock music.
Kozlov’s music is mentioned in numerous books, jazz encyclopedias, and dictionaries. Vasily Aksyonov wrote about him in his novel “Ozhog” (“The Burn”), as did American journalist Hedrick Smith in “The Russians” and historian Frederick Starr in “Red and Hot,” a study of jazz in the Soviet Union.
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