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Kozlov Club
	; Logo of Kozlov Club;
Address	Maroseyka 9/2
Location	Moscow, Russia
Type	Jazz club
Capacity	354
Construction
Opened	2012
Renovated	2017
Expanded	2018
Website
	kozlovclub.ru

55°45′28″N 37°38′04″E / 55.7577°N 37.6344°E / 55.7577; 37.6344

Kozlov Club (Russian: Клýб Алексéя Козлóва) is a music club that has been operating in Moscow, Russia, since 2012. The club changed location in 2017 and works now in the central area of Moscow, at Maroseyka str. 9/2 (subway stations Kitay-Gorod and Lubyanka).

The biggest jazz club in Europe with its 3 independent stages. In 2019, named “World’s Top Jazz Venue” by the poll of AllAboutJazz readers^[1].

Provides a wide music range, with the main focus on contemporary jazz but also fusion, funk, soul, progressive and experimental rock, new age, world music, academic music, crossover etc.

History[edit]

At first, the club was opened in the basement of the former Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex in Moscow. The first concert took place on May 12, 2012, by Alexey Kozlov, the club's president. Official opening ceremony took place in the fall of 2012. The first club version had the single stage and allowed up to 300 attendants. In November 2014, the second stage was opened. In December 2016, the location was closed, and the building itself was later demolished.

The club relaunch at the new location was made in collaboration with Pub Life Group, a restaurant holding company. The club was provided with one of the floors of the "Left Bank" restaurant complex (which was in the reconstruction process at the time), located in a historical building (constructed in 1872). Today, the club occupies three upper floors of the building.The opening ceremony of the current club's location took place on May 31, 2017 with a concert of Scott Henderson Trio (US). The second club's stage, named "The Mansard", was launched on Sep.6, 2017. The third stage, "The Beat", was launched on Dec.13, 2018.

Founders and management[edit]

The club was created by the initiative of the Alexey Kozlov "ArtBeat" Fund, co-founded by a prominent jazz musician, People's Artist of Russia Alexey Kozlov, a music producer Igor Sandler and a businessman Sergey Khalin. During the first years of its existence the club was mostly supported by Khalin's donations.

Alexey Kozlov, whose name is given to the club in recognition of his personality's significance to Soviet and Russian jazz, is neither the club's owner nor manager. He stays the club's president and plays weekly gigs on the main stage, but makes no decision in programmation. Kozlov Club's art manager is Araik Hakobyan, a former professional guitar player and nowadays one of the top music managers in Russia. Club's technical manager is Nikita Belykh, and the club's chief sound engineer is Alexey Belov.

Infrastructure[edit]

Stages[edit]

Kozlov Club runs three stages. The Main Stage hosts club's residents and touring international guests. "The Mansard" is mostly devoted to innovative programs of different styles, and "The Beat" recreates the atmosphere of small chamber halls and private gigs. Main stage occupies the 3rd floor of the building and has 164 seats (allowing up to 200 attendants). The Mansard is on the 4th floor and has 106 seats. The Beat is on the 2nd floor (84 seats).

Equipment[edit]

Club's PA system, a Voice Acoustic (Germany), was provided by "Technologii Zvuka" company. The club varies its technical gear on a regular basis, being a testing site for assorted professional sound and light equipment of top level. On the main stage, there is a Kawai acoustic grand piano, on The Beat stage - a German upright piano manufactured in 1902. Club owns some vintage keyboard instruments like Hammond electric organ and Fender Rhodes.

Club's light system was engineered with the participation of David Misakian, the light engineer for the one of the most popular Russian rock groups Bi-2.

Design[edit]

The club's interior is designed with no computers' involvement by Irish architectural bureau. It features the classic Victorian style (expensive wooden parts, traditional English drapery, soft lights). In visuals, the illustrator Victor Melamed has participated; his production includes the design elements and posters.

Translations[edit]

The club runs daily internet translations of the gigs at the main stage, supported by the leading Russian social networks (Odnoklassniki, vKontakte) and the government-run web portal Culture.ru. That leads to average 200.000 views for each of the translated gigs. Club's video archive contains over 2600 recorded concerts.

Kitchen[edit]

The club's music program and kitchen are controlled by two independent management structures. Club's policy sets the higher priority on music, which led to the refusal of sports translations and private parties during the gigs and also requires a certain listener's behaviour code on the concerts. At certain occasions, the orders aren't being taken and the food isn't being served during the performance.

Other[edit]

The club's activities are tightly related with the record labels ArtBeat Music and Jazzist. There is a small shop located near the main stage with the label's productions, vinyl records, music souvenirs and audio equipment.

Activities[edit]

On the three stages ("The Main", "The Mansard" and "The Beat") the gigs of Russian and foreign musicians are taking place daily, and on certain days more with two (or more) different gigs at the same stage. There are master classes, educational events, contests, presentations, theater plays, charity events and other sort of activities on a regular basis.

On average, the club provides over 130 concerts per month.

Club runs a set of regular concert series with individual thematics, namely:

Admission-free regular events[edit]

Mondays weekly, on The Mansard - "Trane Zen Art" ("the laboratory of avant-garde jazz") hosted by Mikhail Sapozhnikov
Mondays weekly, on The Beat - "Happy Lab" hosted by the drummer Sasha Mashin, an interactive jazz jam session
Tuesdays weekly, on The Mansard - "Intelligent Jazz Guitar Band" program, led by the guitar player Alexey Kuznetsov
Tuesdays weekly, on The Beat - "Cool Tuesday" jam session led by the drummer Peter Ivshin, devoted to cool jazz
Wednesdays weekly on The Beat - "Hurricane Jam Session" led by the drummer Pavel Timofeyev
Thursdays each two weeks on The Beat - "Sound Dealer" program with Ksenia Kokhan with vinyl records being presented
Thursdays weekly on The Beat - "Big Jazz Jam" led by the trumpeter Peter Vostokov, with prearranged tunes for each of the days
Fridays weekly on The Main Stage - "GlavMosJam" (Main Moscow Jam) program, devoted to jazz vocals
Saturdays weekly on The Beat - "Family Jazz Brunch" program
Saturdays weekly on The Beat - "Swing & Gypsy" program led by the guitar player Dmitry Kuptsov, devoted to jazz manouche and early swing music
Saturdays each two weeks on The Main Stage - Bumbata project, a Cuban dance party
Saturdays weekly on The Main Stage - "Sticky Jam"

Paid regular events[edit]

Tuesday weekly on The Mansard - Guitar Club
Thursdays each two weeks on The Mansard - British Blues Invasion program with the mandatory participation of blues musicians from UK (program on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions)
Fridays weekly on The Main Stage - Alexey Kozlov & Arsenal

Outside the club's own stages[edit]

There are assorted production activities outside of the club itself which are being held by the club's team. From 2016, the Gorod Jazz festival is in progress (held in Apothecary Garden, the eldest Russian botanic garden owned by Moscow State University), with the "World's Top Jazz Venue" title celebrated at this venue on Aug.18, 2019.

In 2020, the independent Jazzist webzine was launched, tightly related with the Kozlov Club team and activities; in 2021, the so-called record label, whose catalogue was opened with the recording of the club's resident, Dmitry Ilugdin Trio.

In June 2021 the "Jazzist" documentary movie (Andrey Airapetov, director) was presented, being devoted to Alexey Kozlov and being made with the club's support and participation.

Artists[edit]

Russian artists who took the stage at Kozlov Club can be counted in hundreds if not thousands, including the internationally known persons and groups like Alexey Kozlov, Anna Buturlina, Inna Zhelannaya, Aleksey Kuznetsov, Pyotr Mamonov, Namgar, Valery Ponomarev, Ivan Smirnov, Arkady Shilkloper and others.

Foreign artists who were feaured at Kozlov Club are, among others, Jerry Bergonzi, Richard Bona, Chris Cain, Dennis Chambers, Avishai Cohen, Larry Coryell, Ezra Collective, Deitra Farr, Hadrien Feraud, Kekko Fornarelli, Frank Gambale, Gabriele Goodman, Guthrie Govan, Scott Henderson, Horacio Hernández, Alex Hutchings, Stanley Jordan, Scott Kinsey, Aubrey Logan, Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell, Dominique Di Piazza, Sainkho, Paco Sery, Arto Tunçboyacıyan, Kazumi Watanabe, Gary Willis etc. For some of them the performance at the Kozlov Club was the first appearance at Russian stage ever, namely, for Blicher/Hemmer/Gadd Trio, Burton Greene, Tom Ibarra, Frank McComb, Andreas Varady etc.

Live albums recorded at Kozlov Club[edit]

External links[edit]

^ Jazz, All About. "Top Jazz Venues 2019: Rankings". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2021-07-27.

[1] Jazz, All About. "Top Jazz Venues 2019: Rankings". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2021-07-27.

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