Vagif Mustafazadeh
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Vagif Mustafazadeh ( az, Vaqif Mustafazadə; March 16, 1940 – December 16, 1979), also known as Vaqif Mustafa-Zadeh, was a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
- Azerbaijani
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
pianist and composer, acclaimed for fusing jazz and the traditional Azerbaijani folk music known as
mugham Mugham ( az, Muğam) or Mughamat ( az, Muğamat) is one of the many classical compositions from Azerbaijan, contrasting with tasnif and ashik. It is a highly complex art form that weds classical poetry and musical improvisation in specific l ...
. According to many world famous jazz musicians,В Баку представлена Всемирная энциклопедия джаза, в которую вошли имена Вагифа и Азизы Мустафазаде
/ref>Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world Mustafazadeh is one of the pioneers and "the architect of jazz in Azerbaijan".


Early life

Mustafazadeh was born in Old City, the historic core of
Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
, on March 16, 1940. His name was chosen by the renowned poet,
Samed Vurgun Samad Vurgun ( az, Səməd Vurğun ; born Samad Yusif oghlu Vekilov;, . March 21, 1906 – May 27, 1956) was an Azerbaijani and Soviet poet, dramatist, public figure, first People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR (1943), academician of Azerbaijan Nat ...
, on the request of his mother, who was a piano teacher in local music school and played very influential and immeasurable role in his success. In 1963, he graduated from Baku State Musical School named after
Asaf Zeynally Asaf Zeynalabdin oglu Zeynally ( az, Asəf Zeynallı), also spelled Zeynalli (5 April 1909, Derbent – 27 October 1932, Baku), was an Azerbaijani composer. Early life Asaf Zeynally was the third child of the gardener Zeynalabdin and his wife ...
and a year later accepted to
Azerbaijan State Conservatoire The Hajibeyov Baku Academy of Music (Azeri: ''Hacıbəyov adına Bakı Musiqi Akademiyası'') is a music school in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was established in 1920 in Baku and was previously known as the Hajibeyov Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. H ...
. He first achieved fame at the Music School where he studied by giving concerts there, later on performing at the parties and evenings held at the universities and clubs, shortly after he became one of the most influential musical performers in Azerbaijan. While performing at the clubs, he mainly played
classical jazz 20th-century classical music describes art music that was written nominally from 1901 to 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously. So this century was without a dominant style. Modernism, impressio ...
, as well as
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and dance music.


Soviet prohibition

Musical prohibitions during the 1940s and 1950s during
Stalinist era Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
meant that the playing of jazz was banned in the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, including Azerbaijan. Since there was no opportunity to get jazz records from anywhere, Mustafazade listened to jazz pieces, learning from movies where he heard jazz music and
BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
and sang
Meykhana Meykhana ( az, Meyxana) is a distinctive Azerbaijani literary and folk rap tradition, consisting of an unaccompanied song performed by one or more people improvising on a particular subject. Meykhana is distinct from spoken word poetry in that ...
, rhythmic poetry, which had also been banned. After listening on the radio, he and his friend Vagif Samadoglu attempted to recreate the music on the piano.


Popularity and recognition

From the 1960s, prohibitions put on jazz music were gradually lifted and thus the late 1960s and 70s became a time when Baku was a real center of locally inspired jazz. By this time, Mustafazade was making his way to his audience and his popularity grew. His name was often mentioned among other jazz musicians and he participated in festivals held in his native land, as well as in and outside the Soviet countries. Since making a strong impression in his early years at college, his music progressed and popularity grew; he appeared in many festivals. In 1966,
Willis Conover Willis Clark Conover, Jr. (December 18, 1920 – May 17, 1996) was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and televisi ...
, conductor of the "Jazz Time" radio program, even went as far as to say, "Vagif Mustafazadeh is an extraordinary pianist. It is impossible to identify his equal. He is the most lyrical pianist I have ever known. In 1965, he quit the conservatoire and went to
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
to lead the "Orero" musical ensemble. Later he created the "Qafqaz" jazz trio at Georgian State Philarmony. In 1970 the "Leyli" women's quartet and in 1971 "Sevil" vocal-instrumental ensemble were assembled by him. Until 1977 he guided the groups. Between 1977 and 1979 until his death he led the "Mugham" instrumental ensemble which was also organized by him.Vagif attended "Tallinn-66" All-Soviet Union Jazz Festival and "Caz-69" Azerbaijani jazz festivals and was awarded as laureate there. Mustafazadeh was also elected as laureate at
Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
All-Soviet Union Jazz Festival held in 1977. He was elected as the best pianist in " Tbilisi-78". He won first prize at the 8th International Competition of Jazz Composers for his composition "Waiting for Aziza" in
Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
in 1978, and was awarded a white grand piano, but died the next year. Vagif Mustafazadeh was named Honored Artist of Azerbaijan SSR and after his death was honoured with an Azerbaijani State Prize.


Jazz mugham

Mustafazadeh is the founder of Azerbaijani jazz mugham movement that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s in Baku, as a result of the mixture of these two styles. He began searching for new ways to structure his improvisations by exploring modal music. More innovative approaches were taken by him and its influence stretched into later developments of this style.


Death

Mustafazadeh died of a heart attack shortly after a concert in
Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
and also shortly before the birthdays of his wife (December 17) and daughter (December 19).


Personal life

Mustafazadeh was married twice; from his first marriage he had a daughter named Lala, a talented classical pianist. She won the Grand Prize in the Epinal Piano Competition, France, in 1991. His second marriage was to Eliza, and from that union was born
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh Aziza Mustafa Zadeh ( az, Əzizə Mustafazadə; born December 19, 1969) is an Azerbaijani singer, pianist, and composer who plays a fusion of jazz and mugham (a traditional improvisational style of Azerbaijan) with classical and avant-garde i ...
, also a jazz musician.


Legacy

His works and performance were praised by internationally known leading world musicians, such as
Willis Conover Willis Clark Conover, Jr. (December 18, 1920 – May 17, 1996) was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and televisi ...
and
B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
. Once when King shared the same stage with Mustafazade, he heard him playing the blues piano and said nobody could play the blues like him and afterwards said to Vagif that "people call me the king of the blues, but if I could play the piano like you do, I would call myself God." More than three decades since Mustafazade's death, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available in stores than at any time during his lifetime.


House museum

With the initiative of Former Minister of Culture, Polad Bulbuloglu, Vagif Mustafazadeh's House museum was established. First, the museum was run by Jazzman's mother, Zivar khanum. Afterwards, she behested the museum to her niece, Afag. Afag Aliyeva has been head of the museum since 1997. In 2004, the expositions as well as the building of the museum was restored with her initiative. Beginning from 2004, the museum operates as a state museum under the control of Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.


References


External links


Vagif Mustafa Zadeh official website

vagif.musigi-dunya.az

musiqi.az (''in Azeri'')

Come closer to Vagif Mustafazadeh
, Vagif's page on jazz.az

* ttp://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/54_folder/54_articles/54_vmustafazade.html The Emergence of Jazz in Azerbaijan, Vagif Mustafazadeh: Fusing Jazz with Mugam. Azerbaijan International
Восточный Джаз Вагифа Мустафа-заде
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustafazadeh, Vagif 1940 births 1979 deaths Azerbaijani jazz musicians Azerbaijani jazz pianists Musicians from Baku Baku Academy of Music alumni Soviet pianists 20th-century pianists 20th-century jazz composers Burials in Azerbaijan