Artists are always looking for challenges that spark their creativity. When one combines it with a long-standing partnership, as in this case, exceptional and surprising music happens. The quartet’s drummer and saxophonist have been playing together in various ensembles for four decades, Vladimir Tarasov’s tandem with the electronic music virtuoso Tim Perkis is long-standing as well. And the band’s pianist, Sten Sandell, is equal to them in talent and creativity.

The members of the quartet admit that it is a dream come true to play with partners of such calibre and sensitivity. It is an intriguing and inspiring experience for both the improvisers and the audience.

Jon Raskin, expert of various saxophones, electronics and concertina, is best known as a co-founder of the famous Rova Saxophone Quartet in which he plays baritone and alto saxophones. Rova has released more than 40 albums and toured many countries. At Rova’s invitation, the legendary trio of Vyacheslav Ganelin, Vladimir Chekasin and Vladimir Tarasov made its historic US tour. In 2007, the quartet performed with Tarasov and Swiss percussionist Fritz Hauser at the Vilnius Jazz festival.

Raskin studied composition and saxophone, and at the beginning of his career played in the new music ensembles directed by John Adams and Barney Childs. In the 1970s, he served as music director of the Tumbleweed Dance Company and helped found the Blue Dolphin Alternative Music Space and Farm project in San Francisco.

The saxophonist is active as a composer, has received commissions from various organisations and ensembles, and has composed music for theatre, film and dance companies.

He has recorded with the Anthony Braxton Quintet, Tim Berne, Phillip Gelb, Dana Reason and Pauline Oliveros, JR Quartet (with Liz Allbee, George Cremaschi, and Gino Robair), the FPR Trio (with Frank Gratkowski and Phillip Greenlief), and has released personal albums. Raskin’s other groups include The Out Of Bounds Trio (with Tim Bulkley and Safa Shokrai), a duo with drummer Jon Bafus, the projects 2+2 (with Ph. Greenlief) and The Long Table (with Ph. Greenlief, John Hanes, Dan Seamans and John Shiurba).

Sten Sandell is a prominent voice of Swedish improvised music: keyboardist, also playing piano, organ and electronic instruments, producer, Doctor of Philosophy. For his contributions in music, he was endowed with the Swedish Royal Academy of Music’s Jazz Award in 2012.

Sandell has collaborated with Scandinavia’s leading improvisers Emil Strandberg, Paal Nilssen-Love, Johan Berthling, Sven-Åke Johansson, Mats Persson, Sofia Jernberg, Carl-Axel Dominique, Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid, world celebrities Evan Parker, Chris Cutler, etc. He is involved in projects with visual artists, dancers, writers.

Tim Perkis is considered one of the most exciting masters of the live electronic and computer sound, and a prominent figure on the improvised and electronic music scene. Over a career spanning decades, he has collaborated with hundreds of musicians, including many of the leading figures in free improvisation from the US and Europe.

He has formed a number of ensembles, including FuzzyBunny, Splendor Generator, League of Automatic Music Composers, The Hub, Rotodoti and Natto Trio. He and The Hub were presented with the GigaHerz Award for excellence in electronic music by the Karlsruhe (Germany) Centre for Art and Media.

Improvisers are attracted by his intellectuality and openness to the ideas of his collaborators. Perkis has performed and recorded with pianist Chris Brown, saxophonist John Butcher, guitarist Fred Frith, percussionist Gino Robair, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and many other celebrities. His works have been performed in avant-garde venues in North America, Europe and Japan.

Perkis has designed displays for science and music museums in San Francisco, Toronto, Seattle, assisted various institutions as a media consultant. He is renowned as an inventive developer of video and audio equipment. His articles have appeared in The Computer Music Journal, Leonardo, and Electronic Musician. He is composer-in-residence at Mills College in Oakland.

Percussionist, composer and visual artist Vladimir Tarasov has left a strong imprint on jazz and academic music. He composes for orchestras, films, theatre, and has been a member of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union since 1991.

Tarasov came to Lithuania in 1968 from Arkhangelsk. In 1971, he became a member of the Ganelin Trio, recorded 34 albums with the Trio, and in 2017 was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art for the creation of the Lithuanian Jazz School.

The musician has collaborated with many performing arts representatives and institutions, including the Stuttgart State Theatre, the Majestic Theatre of the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, and the Josef Nadj Centre Choregraphique National in Orléans. In 1999-2002, he was the head of the Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania, directing productions there.

Since 1991, Tarasov has been participating in solo and group exhibitions of visual art, creating audiovisual installations, for which he often finds themes during his travels to exotic countries. He has shown his works at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Venice Biennale, EXPO-2008 in Zaragoza, Bass Museum of Art in Miami, Kulturhuset in Stockholm, major Lithuanian exhibition venues and other art centres.

He has taught and given seminars at the Bremen School of Music, the Podewil Art Centre in Berlin, the Orléans Academy of Fine Arts, the University of California, the University of the Pacific, the art academies of Düsseldorf and Vilnius, and other schools.

Tarasov regularly takes part in theatre, jazz and visual art projects in France, Italy, Germany, Russia, USA and other countries. He has organised numerous projects with Lithuanian and foreign literary artists.
The percussionist has collaborated with Andrew Cyrille, Rova Saxophone Quartet, Anthony Braxton, Lauren Newton, Butch Morris, Thomas Stanko, Didier Petit, Mark Dresser, Gyorgy Szabados, Masahiko Satoh, Kazutoki Umezu, Anatoly Vapirov, and other prominent improvisers and jazz musicians.

Tarasov’s talent as a composer and improviser is best revealed in his solo percussion projects. His discography includes dozens of solo albums. For his contribution to Lithuanian jazz, he has been honoured with the Vilnius Jazz Award and the Grand Prix of the Birštonas Jazz. He has shared his life and creative experiences in several books.