Vadim Neselovskyi had many great opportunities throughout his life, from attending a Ukrainian music conservatory at a young age to touring with world-famous vibraphone player Gary Burton. For the next two years as a part of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Neselovskyi will experience another great opportunity.
Neselovskyi is originally from Odessa, Ukraine, a city he says is a lot like New Orleans. Odessa is a port city on the Black Sea, and, like our own port city, is exposed to and influenced by many different cultures and people.
The jazz scene, however, is a lot smaller.
“In my time in Odessa,” Neselovskyi said, “There was a small jazz scene, but not much. You would have probably two double bass players and maybe ten or twelve (jazz) piano players.” However, he says jazz’s popularity has been growing, and there have been more and more jazz festivals in Ukraine in recent years.
Still, it wasn’t until he came to the U.S. that he attended school for jazz. While he was still in Ukraine, he graduated high school early and studied classical composition at the Odessa Conservatory. One of his professors tutored Neselovskyi outside of school, so while it was a strange case to admit a 15-year-old into the conservatory, he gained acceptance and became the youngest student there.
“I just went out, partied and went crazy like everyone else who was older than me. So that was kind of dangerous, but (it was) a great year,” he said with a laugh.
His first active experience with freestyle music was during his time at the conservatory. “After classes, we’d just get together and we’d start improvising,” Neselovskyi said. “And we didn’t even call it jazz. Everybody – tubas, trombones, piano – was playing. We were just doing something free, something crazy.”
Two years later, he moved to Germany with his family and spent his time between conservatories in Essen and Detmold to study classical piano. Even though he was an active jazz musician at that point, Neselovskyi was still only studying classical music. After five years in Germany, he received a scholarship to study jazz piano at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he met Gary Burton.
Burton, the former executive vice president at Berklee, is a five-time Grammy-award-winning vibraphone musician. Neselovskyi had been listening to his records since he was a kid. In 2003, Burton invited him to play piano for one of his recording projects, and Neselovskyi also composed three of the eight selections on Burton’s album “Next Generation.”
After he graduated, Neselovskyi was invited to perform with Burton at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. “It was the most exciting day of my life,” he said.
Neselovskyi then began touring with Burton’s quintet, “Generations.” For two years they played at all the clubs Neselovskyi dreamed about, such as Blue Note in New York City.
“Vadim is a real find,” said Burton in the liner notes of “Next Generation.” “He has really come into his own as a pianist and is an exceptional composer.”
Neselovskyi is still deeply influenced by his classical background, which accounts for his expert composing. His biggest role models are classical composers, such as Sergei Prokofiev, Johann Sebastian Bach and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
“Jazz, classical, rock – these are all shelves in a store,” Neselovskyi said. “Salespeople need to categorize this … But I’m not a salesperson. I just care about music. It’s just music.”
After he finished the tour, Neselovskyi moved to New York and didn’t plan on ever returning to school. “I was just freelancing for the audition,” he said. “I just thought, ‘I’ll see what happens. I might get a free flight to New Orleans.'”
Neselovskyi said he felt completely free for the first time during the evaluations for the Monk Institute audition.
“I went into the audition (with the idea that) I just want to make music. I didn’t care if I’d be selected or what people thought of my playing.”
For the next two years, Neselovskyi will be studying intensively with top jazz musicians while working towards a master’s degree in performing arts. An average day at Loyola for the Thelonious Monk students can sometimes start at 9 a.m. and end at 10:30 p.m. They spend their time rehearsing, composing and taking class. Neselovskyi, and other students in the Institute working towards a master’s, take an Introduction to Graduate Studies class as well.
“I knew that I would get out of Ukraine at some point, I knew being in Boston that I would get to New York, but New Orleans wasn’t on the map,” he said. “I love it. I’m very happy to be here.”
Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at
