Igor Butman, now Russia's top jazz personality, is not only the artistic director of the country's best jazz club, president of Butman Music Records or leader of the Igor Butman Big Band. He also leads the Igor Butman Quartet, unity of four Russia's topmost jazz soloists. Working together since 1999, the band has evolved into Russia's best touring hardcore jazz unit.

The rhythm section is the strongest in Russian straight-ahead jazz, and consists of acoustic bass player Sergey Korchagin and drummer Eduard Zizak.

At the time when Edward Zizak joined Igor, he was already an experienced and reliable player who has worked for one of the Russia's most popular big bands, the MKS Big Band led by Anatoly Kroll. The work for the Igor Butman Quartet allowed Zizak to find new expressive means and to reach new steps of jazz drumming mastery.

Sergey Korchagin is a new member of the Quartet, alumni of the finest Russian jazz school - Gnesin Academy of Music and one the brightest musicians of young generation. Before joining the quartet Sergey collaborated with the best Russian jazz groups and was performing with Billy Cobham, Mark Whitfield, Chick Corea, Alex Sipiagin, Bobby Watson, and Seamus Blake during their Russian tours.
The creator of Allegro band, legendary pianist and composer Nick Levinovsky has played with Igor Butman since 1983, when the saxophonist joined Allegro. Levinovsky moved to New York in 1990, and Butman moved back to Moscow in 1995, but this fact doesn’t prevent the musicians from successful collaboration lasting for nearly 30 years!

In 2000, the Igor Butman Quartet performed at the Moscow Kremlin in front of the U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since 1999 the quartet has performed at the festivals in Germany, Italy, France, Bulgaria and Turkey and toured Israel, Belgium and Finland, as well as the U.S.A.

Igor Butman Quartet also toured Russia and other countries with such special guest soloists as Joe Locke and Randy Brecker. They also appeared at several festivals in Europe as Randy Brecker Quintet.

It’s been 11 years since the release of the latest album “Prophecy”by Igor Butman Quartet at Universal Music Russia, and now Butman Music Records comes up with a sensational work by the Quartet “Igor Butman & Friends”, recorded long time ago but never released before!

In 2002 Igor Butman gathered his friends, internationally acclaimed jazz masters, for a recording session at Avatar Studios in New York. The line up of the date is just overwhelming: saxophonists Michael Brecker and Bill Evans, trumpeters Alex Sipyagin and Vitaly Golovnev, vocalists Kevin Mahogany and Carla Cook, guitarist Adam Rogers and bassist Eddie Gomez are playing along with mighty Igor Butman Quartet swinging hard and delivering high-octane jazz groove!

Jazz classics, music of Antonio Jobim and Luiz Bonfa, post bop masterpieces, and even soul jazz - Igor Butman & Friends shines with all colors of straight ahead jazz and mastery of the major league of today’s jazz mainstream. (Pressetext)