Andrei Kondakov/ Igor Butman/ Eddie Gomez/ Lenny White "Blues for 4"

Butman Music Records releases a genuine rarity – “Blues for 4”, a never previously album recorded in 1996 by the project of the same name featuring pianist Andrey Kondakov, saxophone player Igor Butman, double bass player Eddie Gomez and drummer Lenny White.
Before creating the project its participants worked with each other a lot, Igor Butman and Eddie Gomez together toured in Russia and recorded Igor's debut album «Falling Out» (1994), Eddie Gomez and Lenny White worked in Chick Corea's bands.
«Blues for 4» is an amazing collaboration between the most versatile jazz musicians from Russia and USA which showcases not only their thorough mastery, but their outstanding lyrical talents also. The album consists of 8 pieces written by Andrey Kondakov.
«... it's hard to define the style in which this quartet works. Perhaps, it’s a cocktail made of all conceivable jazz schools, but “happy medium” – be bop – prevails. But it’s not that old style of 40s, it’s a new, rich with modern achievements in harmony, polyphony, rhythm… This music formally belongs to jazz. But with this depth of emotion, feelings, colors, ingenuity – how does it differ from classics? In no way absolutely. It’s Great Music in both ways”, said Ark Petrov, one of the most respected jazz critics in Eastern Europe.
Another album «Jazz 4x4» by this quartet was recorded in 1997 at Mosfilm Studios in Moscow and released by Soyuz Records. «Blues for 4» isn’t a studio project, the quartet frequently tours Russia and USA. Within next years musicians often played with each other, Kondakov worked with White in New York.
In 2005 other series of concerts in Russia followed and they gathered one more time in NY to write a new album, and in 2006 quartet made a new tour which started with a concert at Birdland. In 2007 Igor, Andrey, Lenny and Eddie played a series of concerts at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola.