The Corners Five: Eric Alexander/Craig Handy - tenor sax, Jim Rotondi/Alex Sipiagin/Scott Wendholt - trumpet, Andrei Kondakov - piano, Dmitri Kolesnik - bass, Lenny White/Gene Jackson/Billy Drummond - drums
The HMK Trio: John Hart - guitar, Dmitri Kolesnik - bass, Jimmy Madison - drums
Sounds Like
DMITRI KOLESNIK: Five Corners (Challenge): "Fashions change, but classic cool never goes out of style: the second CD by Russian-born bassist Kolesnik feels right from the first note. Hipster shuffles, bop burners and dreamy ballads are all performed with urbane aplomb by a dynamite band. Eric Alexander’s silvery tenor sax and the flaring trumpet of Jim Rotondi provide cover while the leader’s rich, supple bass anchors Andrei Kondakov’s flights of piano fancy. And Lenny White is all over it on drums. Everything clicks." - Forrest Dylan Bryant/JAZZ TIMES
This new CD, "FIVE CORNERS," contains wonderful music
written by Dmitri Kolesnik (8 songs) and Andrei
Kondakov (2 songs), and played very well by my dear
friends, Lenny White, Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi and Alex Sipiagin (2 tracks), Andrei Kondakov, and longtime fellow bassist and dearest of friends, Dmitri Kolesnik.
I am still listening to this CD, and am sure that you
will want to hear it again and again... Ron Carter
Fans who consider 1959 the year jazz started to go wrong will line up for this hi-pro traditionalist disc by Russian bassist-composer Dmitri Kolesnik, a student and acolyte of Ron Carter...."Five Corners" swings, beautifies, blows tough & tender. Keep that time machine polished; we need it sometimes.
Metal Jazz Magazine
Russian bassist/composer Dmitri Kolesnik is a promising talent…
Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
This wonderful recording of ten straight-ahead original compositions (…) is a delight. Each of the tunes has a different vibe and, as a collection, strongly demonstrates how much these musicians enjoy playing with each other.
Kolesnik distinguishes himself with a full and round tone. His inventive walking lines work to embellish the soloist’s ideas (…). As a composer he is capable of writing music of great emotional content; from full out swingers to light and clever mid-tempo masterpieces and lush ballads, Kolesnik is obviously a musician who has spent great time in study of music of the masters. His ability to then filter that knowledge through his own prism to create wonderful masterpieces of form and harmony results in a truly enjoyable CD. You will find yourself listening to this disc again and again.
Thomas R. Erdmann/JAZZREVIEW.COM
Corners delivers up a distinctly dushevny (Russian for ‘soulful’) mix of original standards, notably Kolesnik’s “Song for Kenny” (Kirkland), “Aniuta” and “Russian Caravan”, a 7/4 Phrygian-cadenced piece of Slavic exotica. The album is a study in miniatures, a series of contemplative improvisatory haikus that, for lack of new rhyme schemes, nevertheless speak deeply and with consummate craftsmanship in the language of the elders.
Tom Greenland/ALL ABOUT JAZZ
If you don't know any better, you would think that every piece is a classic.
Slagwerkkrant (Drummers Magazine)
JVC Jazz Festival: The Corners Five Band at Smoke June 20-21, 2008
If you liked the melodic but muscular groups of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and so on from the 1960s and ‘70s, the The Corners Five is for you - those bands are their template. Bassist Dmitri Kolesnik, like Davis’s bassist Ron Carter, who encouraged him to come to America, has a deep, clean sound and good drive, and that, too, is part of the connection (…). It is a very solid and often exciting band and the crowd loved it. The Corners Five could do great things.
Jill McManus, Jazz Pianist and Journalist
The Corners Five IN ST.PETERSBURG
February 24, 2007
The group is called "The Corners Five," and it embodies the hopeful reality that jazz is a truly universal language as much as anything I have heard in the past 40 years. American tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander and drummer Gene Jackson flew in from New York and joined forces with the great Russian jazzmen Andrei Kondakov, Dmitri Kolesnik, and Alex Sipiagin to create one strong voice that touches the heart and moves the soul. Especially memorable were the intriguing and vivid compositions by bassist Dmitiri Kolesnik, especially "Anyuta" with an angular 5/4 meter, and the wistful and haunting ballad "White Nights, Gray Days”.
TODD BARKAN / Jazz at Lincoln Center
Group The Corners Five At Smoke
April 12, 2007
These hard-swinging, thoughtful players with a variety of fresh tunes brought back some of the excitement of the '˜70s and '˜80s.
Jill McManus, jazz reviewer for Newark Star-Ledger
Dmitri Kolesnik, bassist and composer,
is originally from Leningrad, USSR. Growing up during the times of the “Iron Curtain” he was steered towards jazz music by his father, a scientist, jazz fan and piano player. He taught himself to play bass by listening to Willis Conover’s Voice of America, Jazz Hour and transcribing from smuggled records.
In his twenty’s he was already touring and recording with top Soviet groups, jamming with visiting American and European musicians including Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, Jon Faddis and Pat Metheny. At the age of 24 he was voted “Discovery of the Year” by the Russian Jazz Federation and for the next several years was listed among the top bassists of the Soviet Union. He was featured on eight LPs on the state-owned Melodia label. His name is recognized in "Jazz. XX Century. First Russian Encyclopedia."
Dmitri’s love of American Jazz made it one of his life long dreams to come to New York and learn first hand from great musicians there. So he did in 1991. He became a freelance bassist while earning his Master's degree in Music from City College of New York in 1996 where he studied with a legendary bassist Ron Carter, who later wrote: "His sound is warm and big, and his choice of notes is truly inspirational. His playing continues to grow and make his presence on New York jazz scene necessary. His compositions also merit close attention."
Over the years in New York Kolesnik worked and recorded with many wonderful musicians: Mark Murphy, Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, Lenny White, Gene Jackson, Graig Handy, Paul Bollenback, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Peterson, Billy Drummond, Alex Sipiagin, Phillip Harper, Joe Cohn, Grant Stewart, Bob Mover, Valeri Ponomarev, Richie Cole, Woody Allen, Bill Ware, Johnny Colon, Joe Magnarelly, Harry Whitaker, Jimmy Madison, John Hart, Café, Bobby Purceli, Willard Dyson, Manny Duran, Duke Ellington Big Band, Papo Pepin and many others.
Dmitri recorded 3 CDs as a leader and composer. "Blues for Dad" (Boheme Music) and "Five Corners" (Challenge) are both featuring Eric Alexander on tenor, Alex Sipiagin/Jim Rotondi on trumpet, Andrei Kondakov on piano and Lenny White on drums. “Russian Caravan” (Bomba-Piter) is featuring John Hart on guitar and Jimmy Madison on drums. “He finds good notes, and his songs are very interesting. I enjoyed this project, and I'm sure that you will too." – Ron Carter.
Dmitri also co-leads and composes for a band called The Corners Five, featuring E.Alexander, A.Sipiagin/J.Rotondi, A. Kondakov, L.White/G.Jackson/B.Drummond which many times performed in New York clubs Smoke and Small’s as well as several international festivals. The band released a live album: “Live at the Hermitage Theater” and performed at the JVC Jazz Festival.
A new album of the group Meeting Point: "Quintessence" was just released on Challenge. The album features compositions of all members (E.Alexander, J.Rotondi, A.Kondakov, D.Kolesnik and L.White).
Dmitri’s academic activities include a book published by Hal Leonard Corporation: "Ron Carter Collection. Note-for-Note Solo Transcriptions to 19 Songs" which Jazz Times magazine called "an excellent study guide to the work of one of the pre-eminent bassists in jazz," as well as teaching bass at the University of Connecticut and private instructions.
You sound great, man! It..s a good feeling, to be one of your myspace friends. This is a great story about two guys from S. Petersburg who finally meet in New York! Keep in touch.
hi dmitri, i wish you joy, intuition, energy and creativity in 2009..i did not mention health, because the combination of the first four ingredients produces it as a byproduct. wolf
Hi Dmitri- It has really been a long time since the old days in berlin. You still sound great as usual. i really admire your determination to go to N.Y. and to "make it" there by sheer will power and hard work. Please stay in touch. A big "Bear Hug" to you..Reggie
hi dima, now that obama has won the election, let's have a look at his foreign policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski: Zbigniew Brzezinski's "The Grand Chessboard" is nothing less than a blueprint for U.S. global domination drawn up by an insider of the American foreign policy establishment.........!!!!! the only candidate that would have brought real change to america and the world, was dennis kucinich (democrat) but after tv-discussions with h. clinton and obama, where he made both of them look very pale indeed, he was denied access to further media appearences. he was not allowed to take part in the deception-game because he was pointing out the truth. .........on the other hand the american voters have shown what they want...but they are not going to get it. sorry wolf
halllloooooo !!!!! here u r at the www..... wonderful to hear u again ... great sounds ... as usual.... should i bring u another bass from berlin .... hihi
Hi Dmitri, thanks for being friends in space; again I enjoyed visiting your page! Wish you good luck and many wonderful musical moments; kind regards, Ruud.
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