LP / Black vinyl / 140 gr./ First press / "Old style" single sleeve cover / 4 page insert with photos and extended liner notes in ENG and LV / All-analog recording / A | A | A
 
 
Jersika Records are proud to present the third release in its Historical series - one of the most important Latvian jazz ensembles of the 1970s - quartet "2R + 2B".
 
These recordings have been made at the first Tbilisi Jazz Festival 1978 in Georgia. Bassist Boriss Bannih remembers this performance as the apogee of quartet "2R+2B". This concert caused a real storm in the audience and the newspaper "Soviet culture" (Советская культура), which was the main cultural publication at the time, wrote that the musicians Bannih and Boldirev stood out with the best rhythm at the festival.
 
The jazz quartet "2R+2B" was created in 1977 by the prominent Latvian jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger Gunārs Rozenbergs, and it featured one of the most important Latvian jazz saxophonists - Raimonds Raubiško, as well as the strongest rhythm group in Latvian jazz at the time - drummer Vladimirs Boldirevs and bassist Boriss Bannihs. The name "2R+2B" stands for each of the musicians and in their music you can hear bebop with elements of free jazz, an aggressive sense of swing and very expressive, long improvisations. In its conception, it was a kindred ensemble to Ornette Coleman's most famous 1960s free jazz quartet.
 
The very fact that such progressive music is created and performed in Latvia in the 1970s - during the stagnation of the Soviet occupation - is very remarkable and admirable. This recording also shows the already very high technical and artistic level of Latvian jazz musicians in the context of the world jazz of that time.  
 
 
Gunārs Rozenbergs - Flugelhorn
Raimonds Raubiško - Tenor and Soprano Saxophone
Boriss Bannihs - Double Bass
Vladimirs Boldirevs - Drums
 
Compositions Puspuda Sāls and Heopsa Piramīda composed by Raimonds Raubiško. Composition Girza composed by Boriss Bannihs.
Recorded on March / April 1978 at the Tbilisi Jazz Festival 1978, Tbilisi, Georgia.Recording Engineers: J. Yashvili, D. Demurov.
Tape copies for Latvian Radio archive recorded on April 18, 1978
Recording Engineer: Kārlis Rūtentāls.
Vinyl lacquers were cut directly from the analog first copy of original master tapes on a Neumann VMS70 cutting lathe using a Neumann SX74 cutting head. Lacquers cut at duophonic by Moritz Illner.
Analog first reel - to - reel tape copy from the original master tapes was made using two Studer A80 tape machines. Tape copy made and prepared for vinyl edition by Mareks Ameriks and Mārtiņš Krastiņš.
Original master tapes property of Latvian Radio Archive Recordings (Latvijas Radio arhīva ieraksti).
Front Cover Photos: Shots from the short video of 2R+2B concert at the Tbilisi Jazz Festival 1978. Filmed by 16mm movie camera. From Leonid Nidbalsky and Tālis Gžibovskis archives.
This compilation produced and supervised by Mareks Ameriks.
Sleeve Design: Edgars Ameriks.