  The emergence of a so-called sredny klass or
middle class in Moscow during the 1990s has fostered a new listening base for jazz and a
surge in venues where the music can be heard live.
The scene has been evolving in accordance with the new audience's preferences. And for
musicians willing to stray from straightahead standards in favor of lyrics in English with
American melodies incorporating jazz elements, the potential to survive in recent years
solely by performing has been unprecedented.
A festival launched Tuesday should serve as a sort of gut check, or barometer of the
status of jazz in the city post-August: Does its popularity run parallel to the economy, or has jazz in Moscow set
down deeper roots?
Sponsored by the fledgling music label, Boheme, the festival should also provide musicians
with a more appreciative audience. As jazz historian Vladimir Kaushansky says, it will
draw them out of the hotel lounges, away from the casinos and into the fold of "true
jazz listeners."
"I am trying to play jazz - not some commercial compromise - and still survive. I am
a guardian of jazz," said Vladimir Danilin, an accordionist slated to perform during
the five-day event, which will stage 26 concerts through Saturday.
Danilin has the lean, lined face of an aging cowhand. He virtually leaks soul on Sundays
at the club Krisis Zhanra, where his black Weltmeister elicits the tone and depth that
conveys his consummate aim: to swing, or svingovat.
His latest recording, which carries the title of an Antonio Carlos Jobim song, "Once
I Loved," was recently released on Boheme and
features electric bass player Alex Rostotsky, who holds forth regularly at the club Zemlya
Ptits, or Birdland, and is also  scheduled to play during the festival.
Boheme, or Bogema, was christened last fall to promote Russian jazz, classical, religious
and folk music. In a market where pirated CDs can be had for as little as 40 rubles at
open-air markets, such as Gorbushka, the label's music costs more, but guarantees higher
recording standards and, in theory, some royalties for the musicians.
Its stable of recordings can be found at better record stores, such as Purple Legion, and
the majority of this week's performers are, not surprisingly, signed to record with
Boheme.
The label's showcase festival kicked off Tuesday at the Central House of Artists, where a
trio fronted by Arkady Shilkloper - who straddles jazz and classical genres on the French
horn - split time with the band led by Anatole Gerasimov, a sax and flute player who made
his bones with Duke Ellington's orchestra.
Gerasimov's band will also appear Wednesday at Krisis Zhanra, while down the street the
U.S. vocalist Denise Perrier will take the stage at the Rhythm & Blues Cafe and, just
off Tverskaya Ulitsa, Dutch
trumpeter Saskia Laroo will perform at Territoria.
Also Wednesday evening Sergei Manukyan, the ebullient scat vocalist and keyboardist, will
head the Manukyan-Kondakov-Avaliani Trio at Petrovich.
The act with the most potential is likely to be the most disappointing: the legendary
saxophonist, Alexei "Big Cat" Kozlov - who made his name with the jazz rock
ensemble, Arsenal - with the Shostakovich String Quartet on Thursday at the Central House
of Writers. 
Cellist Alexander Korchagina dominates in innovative arrangements of jazz standards
co-mingled with classical music - such as "Kind of Blue" and "So
what?" by Miles Davis, and "Take Five" by Paul Desmond - taking on bass
lines with agility and leaping up to gel with violins led by Andrei Shishlov.
The bedazzling work of the four bowmen incites the listener to get out of his chair, to
whoop and holler - while tradition tells him to remain seated and hold a reverential
silence.
 The string-players' great work is undone,
though, by Kozlov's aimless fluttering like a lethargic Kenny G, always threatening but
never dropping into the mix. Utimately, the effect is like drinking warm, sour beer under
a hot sun. Charlie Parker with Strings it isn't.
A more sure bet Thursday is American R&B vocalist Tim Strong in likely his last
appearance after a sporadic tenure in Moscow. He teams up with the accomplished
saxophonist Igor Butman, easily the top jazzman in Russia, at the stylish Le Club.
The deepening roots of the jazz scene, and its future, are more accessible at jam sessions
like the one slated for Friday evening at Bunker Stalina. If the playing is anything like that on weekends
at the Jazz Art Cafe, a classical clarinetist will flirt with the music closer to his
heart while a lean teen with close-cropped hair and nationalist garb will exhibit racing,
Coltrane-esque fingerwork on a tarnished silver soprano sax.
The festival will be staged across at least 17 different venues, reeling in acts such as
Orbit Experience from Germany, as well as standout artists from Estonia and, domestically,
St. Petersburg.
Call clubs directly to inquire about tickets.
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