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Saxophonist Oleg Kireyev and Pianist Keith Javors Debut New Project "Rhyme and Reason" with Striking CD

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AVAILABLE INTERNATIONALLY ON APRIL 13 ON INARHYME RECORDS

“Oleg Kireyev, Keith Javors, Boris Kozlov, and E.J. Strickland have created a memorable modern mainstream jazz set that also mixes together aspects of Oleg's Russian heritage, many adventurous moments, and subtle unpredictability. It is this type of forward-looking recording that grows in interest with each listen and is a perfect example of 21st century jazz." --Scott Yanow, author and jazz critic

Inarhyme Records is pleased to announce the April 13, 2010 release of “Rhyme & Reason," the extraordinary new CD featuring Russian saxophone player Oleg Kireyev and American pianist Keith Javors along with bassist Boris Kozlov (Charles Mingus Big Band) and drummer E. J. Strickland (Ravi Coltrane Band).

In September 2008, after a debut performance at the legendary “Blues Alley" in Washington D.C., Oleg and Keith formed a partnership that quickly inspired two American and two European tours. In addition to performances at numerous East Coast venues including “Chris Jazz Caf" in Philadelphia and the “Iridium" in New York, their project was successfully presented at the International House of Music, one of the premiere concert venues in Russia. Kireyev and Javors also headlined the Jazz Festival in the historic Russian city of Yaroslavl as well as performing in countless towns in Poland. Even though their musical and symbiotic relationship has been brief in time, it has been deep in spirit.

This all-original music is played by a fully integrated, forward thinking, democratic collective. Balance and an even-keeled approach are the norm here. While Kireyev's clean and lean tenor sax is the lead instrument on the cool Getz-like mainstream themes of the title selection and “Sierra Nicole's Bossa," he shows versatility stretching out in free form for the first half of “Springtime," while at other times recalling the more exploratory side of Joe Henderson. Generally, parts are proportioned equally between the co-leaders and their formidable, well-heeled band mates, and this is particularly true for extended cuts like the bluesy “What Is Love" and hip, funky “Chinatown." Kozlov and Strickland have played on several potent landmark sessions during their careers, and here they truly work together as one.

Then there's Keith Javors, whose recent critically-acclaimed projects have included “Coming Together" (a tribute to the late composer Brendan Romaneck) and the American Music Project's “On the Bright Side." You hear him in full bloom during the beautiful trio track “Happenstance," with a personal voice of depth, substance and wit. Javors can expertly comp on chords, play dazzling arpeggiated lines, or flawlessly mesh with Kireyev on silvery unison melodies that refract in mirror-like reflections of prismatic color. As Scott Yanow says in his liner notes, it's “a memorable modern mainstream jazz set... the type of forward-looking recording that grows in interest with each listen and is a perfect example of 21st century jazz."

Oleg Kireyev is an internationally recognized musician, frequently on tour and playing to appreciative audiences in Europe and the U.S. The Express and Star, UK, says Kireyev is “a Russian sax player with a reputation for hard swing and high excitement." Oleg has participated in many innovative and provocative international jazz projects in a recording/performing career spanning three decades. His creative ideas are vast, from mainstream and ethno to jazz rock and world music. “Incredibly good" “soft & enthusiastic" and “stylish and top notch" -- are phrases music critics write about the voice of his saxophone. He has performed at the London Jazz Festival, the New York Jazz Improv Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival, to name a few. As musician Bud Shank says: “Oleg's playing is a marvelous combination of styles, incorporating a whole lot of players. I hear echoes of the 1920's and John Coltrane combined with unstructured jazz."

Keith Javors is an iconoclastic figure in today's music scene. Known for his “technical virtuosity, a riveting compositional style, and constant creativity" (AllAboutJazz), Javors is a world-renowned educator as well as artist and producer. A true musicians' musician, he prides himself on innovation, bringing to the surface many revolutionary ideas. A fully dedicated live performer, Keith has the rare gift of sounding like he is playing for each individual listener alone. His performance credits include numerous records and tours, including leading bands at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and many more. Bill Milkowski writes in Jazz Times, “Javors distinguishes himself as a bandleader intent on collective envelope-pushing...it's full steam ahead."

Inarhyme Records was founded in 2009 by veteran producer/pianist Dr. Keith Javors as a global indie label and music production agency featuring some of today's greatest creative voices in music across genres from jazz to world to soul and rap. With a top-tier production staff impassioned by music's power to reach across cultural and societal divides, the label's mission is to produce creative projects that reach the everyday listener in a way that is artistic yet accessible.

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