Favorite Recordings presents its new collaboration with Finland based band Andre Solomko & Vinyl Jam. These guys are spreading love like in old glorious times! An incredible jazzy vibe comes out of their authentic analog studio, lost in the middle of the peaceful snow.

Vinyl Jam is a former record label / studio / band project based in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded and is kept rolling by Andre Solomko, independent producer, composer and saxophonist. With a great early career in his native Russia and in Eastern Europe, Andre then immigrated to Finland. After a few difficult years he quickly launched the Vinyl Jam studio. It resulted in 2 albums self-released between 2006 and 2009, and which quickly caught the attention of international soul diggers, with amongst them Favorite’s founder, Pascal Rioux.

Continuing the “obscure movie soundtrack’ theme” developed and introduced with the “Kino” LP, Favorite Recordings is also very proud to announce the release of “Où es-tu maintenant ?”, by Andre Solomko!

ANDRE SOLOMKO FULL BIOG

Born in Ukraine in 1965 and now based in Finland, Andre Solomko is primarily a rich and endearing personality. Above all, he’s a brilliant saxophonist and a true musical esthete, whose contagious passion cannot leave anyone indifferent.

It is in the footsteps of his father, respected trumpeter in classical music, that Andre starts a musical career. It is also in opposition to the latter that he will build his artistic identity. Indeed, faced with a father figure who only recognizes the great classical music, despite some short-lived participation in Jazz, Andre quickly develops an unbridled passion for Jazz-Rock, Pop and all the music that fed the legendary 70s of his teenage years. At that time, the magnitude of the USSR still resonates, and in this atmosphere, art and music take a prominent place, supported by a particularly generous cultural policy. Andre remembers with bright eyes all these clubs and venues of all kinds from the late 70s, where concerts abounded, « every single restaurants had its own Jazz band sponsored by the government » he recalls.

This explains how the former USSR and Eastern Europe in general have provided so many great Jazz and Jazz-Rock acts to the international musical landscape. For Andre, this environment will also be the perfect playground to develop an insatiable artistic curiosity and a musical culture without borders. Today it even allows him to say with modesty: « I do think I know music. » Andre will make his first steps as a musician behind a clarinet and still retains fond memories: « I wanted to play the sax, but first I had to master this fucking clarinet.” In 1987 he entered the University of Omsk (Russia) and began playing the saxophone. He quickly found his first paid jobs to play in semi-professional bands, lighting up clubs and dancefloors of the city.

Still strongly supported by the country at that time, the music industry was continuously flourishing and the opportunities were not lacking for Andre to show his talent. He also left the university with a degree in History and Sociology and foremost, he was keener than ever to make his way into music. As he says with a smile, « music was here to impress girls. And I’ve got so much involved that I got impatient. » Thus in 1989, Andre built a first group named « Equinox » and very quickly things accelerated. Success was immediate and the band toured intensively, skimming the biggest radio stations, TV shows and Jazz festivals of the Soviet Union. Equinox had emerged as one of the finest Jazz-Rock act of the era and as a consequence, the objectives of Andre and his partners inflated at the same time without any constraints or hang-ups.

Certain that they would keep getting support from the government, the band imagined their future as a philharmonic Jazz-Rock orchestra. Andre says about it, « you need to understand that it was a different period… » It was therefore even more difficult for him and all the members of the group when everything collapsed around them between 1991 and 1992. With the end of the Soviet regime will be the end of the dream: « Hard to describe what we lived. All our plans were dead and no one needed music anymore. » Facing this brutal disappointment, Andre will take a radical decision: migrate. For no particular reason, he settled in Finland, « circumstances happened so that it was Finland » he explains. Then paths diverged, as all his ex-partners decided to stay in Russia. But Andre will keep contact with some of them, like Evgen Malinovskiy, bassist, who at that time had also chosen to migrate to Poland, where he is now a successful actor. And in 2010, nearly 20 years after the end of Equinox, Evgen and Andre reunited on the radiant « I Recall », which is part of this new album.

Meanwhile, life for Andre in Finland will not always be merciful, as he explains quite explicitly: « the first two years were horrible! » He then survived by playing his sax on the streets and subways. But not one to complain or give up, Andre later decided to leave his instrument aside for almost two years, and returned studying studio & recording techniques. He perfected his knowledge and requirements of equipment and recording material and, in 2005, he opened his own professional studio under the name « Vinyl Jam. » Unfortunately once again, the picture is not all rosy: « I could not go on recording crap, being forced besides to work nights as a postman… I even lost health. » If he decided not to continue the adventure, Andre will not leave empty handed. Fully in control of his own requirements in an entirely analogic technical environment, he therefore recorded a number of old compositions that became the self-titled first album of the band Vinyl Jam, and, consecutively, last album of Vinyl Jam studio.

Back to what he does best; Andre quickly follows-up by recording a second album named “Kino”, this time made of old and new compositions. Both projects will be published on vinyl and in 2008, Andre also released the single « Test of Wind », one of his earliest compositions. In 2009 it was recorded again to be included in “Kino” tracklisting and during the recording, Andre was followed and filmed by young German film-maker Johannes Östergård, who achieved a superb documentary now available online. Although released in certain anonymity, these records will resonate quickly to a small circle of collectors and rare groove lovers. Among them Pascal Rioux, founder of Favorite Recordings, who immediately fell in love with Andre’s Smooth Jazz and analog sound, and who also offered him to produce a third album. Living up to everybody’s expectations and more, “Où es-tu maintenant ?” is also brought to life today on the French imprint.

For Andre, the creation of this new album will pick up where he left his last baby, « it is the continuity of things experimented on Kino« , he says, meaning a music composed as an obscure movie soundtrack. An approach that is in line with Andre’s influences, where many soundtrack composers have a solid place: « I like a lot of French, Russian or Italian composers as Michel Legrand, Cosma, Morricone or Pallaviccini. In the 80s, I also listened a lot to acts like Grover Washington, The Crusaders, Jean-Luc Ponty or Michal Urbaniak, who is a Polish Jazz-Rock composer, violinist and saxophonist. » With a reworked team of musicians, “Où es-tu maintenant ?” is also an opportunity for Andre to assert himself as the centerpiece of the band and release the album on his behalf. It is often said that music is like those who make it … Courageous, passionate, demanding, exciting, authentic, these are all adjectives that come naturally when thinking of Andre Solomko so, if one believes the saying, this dazzling new album should surprise you.