By Azernews

Laman Ismayilova

Wonderful jazz music has immersed Heydar Aliyev Center in a truly warm atmosphere.

A trio of Ruslan Agababayev, who is a renowned pianist and composer and laureate of international competitions, Ruslan Huseynov (bass guitarist) and Elvin Bashirov (drummer) thrilled the audience with their magnificent performance, Azernews reports.

The concert was organized to celebrate International Jazz Day.

Declared in 2011 by UNESCO, Jazz Day brings together communities, schools, artists, historians, academics, and jazz enthusiasts all over the world to celebrate and learn about jazz and its roots, future and impact; raise awareness of the need for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding; and reinforce international cooperation and communication.

At the opening ceremony, jazz expert, radio and TV presenter, Honored Cultural Worker Rahib Azeri spoke about the musician's creative path, which started in his native Baku.

Ruslan Agababayev grew up in a musical family. All relatives on the maternal side are musicians who instilled in him a love of musical art. His first teacher was his uncle Robson Efraimov.

After graduating from the Baku Music Academy's Piano Department, he continued his studies at the Department of Classical Composition of New York New School University.

Over the past years, Ruslan Agababayev have successfully performed concerts all over the world. He collaborated with famous jazz and ethno-musical artists.

The pianist has won many prizes at international festivals and has been accepted into American Society of Composers, Authors, Publishers (ASCAP). He often comes from New York to Baku to visit relatives and perform concerts.

"I adore Azerbaijan a lot and always feel special happiness when performing in my homeland. Since early childhood, music has become a part of my life. By the age of six, I started to play the piano and study music seriously. After a couple of years, I began to improvise, so this world became a part of my life. We have performed the most diverse music at home from classical, folk music to mugham, songs by Rashid Beybutov, Muslim Magomayev and jazz. My idols were Vagif Mustafazade, Bill Evans, Chick Corea and others," Agababayev said.

Agababayev constantly gets acquainted with new authors, but at the same time never forgets about classical music.

"I listen to a lot of different genres. I am inspired by music, especially ethnic music. In my creative work I always try to find new talented musicians, who create unknown compositions, and such music becomes one of the sources of my inspiration. Improvisational music is something incredible, especially when you're on stage with wonderful musicians. Real works appear only when the music comes from the soul," he added.

A concert program consisting of ethnic, jazz and classical music left no one indifferent.

Anvar Sadigov (accordion), Tunzala Agayeva (vocals), Honored Artists Jeyla Seidova (violin), Sevda Alakbarzade (vocals), Elnur Mikayilov (kamancha), Cuban musician Yanssel Castellon and many others also delighted jazz lovers with compositions.

The musicians were accompanied by the Ruslan Agababayev Trio.