Igor Butman

Igor Butman is a brilliant jazz musician whose work is admired on both sides of the Atlantic. The talented artist has performed in front of presidents, traveled the world with his big band and collaborated with the world's best musicians, spreading the magic of his beloved jazz.

Igor Mikhailovich is the first child in the family of Mikhail Solomonovich and Mariula Nikolaevna Butman. Born October 27, 1961 in Leningrad. After 5 years, a younger brother appeared - Oleg, who also later connected his life with music.

My father worked as a civil engineer, but he loved creativity: he participated in amateur performances, sang, played the piano and drums. The charming Mikhail was even invited to the Variety Theater. Arkady Raikin, but did not dare to change his working profession. My father played at home, visiting friends, and performed at weddings.

The parents of Igor's mother, Mariula, are directly related to art. Grandfather was in the orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, played the violin, and his wife sang in the choir. By nationality, Butman is half Jewish (from his father's side), half Russian. In an interview he told about the origin:

And in 2005 he received the prize of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia "Person of the Year".

The boy loved sports, especially football and hockey, went to the section, but did not achieve great success. Music captivated the young man from childhood. Almost all the facts in the biography of the artist's early years are associated with her. At the age of 11 he entered a music school, where he began to play the clarinet.

Upon graduation, he began to study at the music school named after. MP Mussorgsky, where Dmitry Shostakovich and Gavriil Popov taught at one time, and Georgy Sviridov and Ivan Dzerzhinsky studied. At the school I entered the saxophone class of the great teacher Gennady Lvovich Holstein. In addition to Butman, Igor Timofeev, a member of the Aquarium group, Roman Kaporin, the leader of the Soviet rock group Deti, and Batyrkhan Shukenov, a member of the A-Studio group, studied under his patronage.

At the age of 17, Igor received an invitation from the jazz multi-instrumentalist David Goloshchekin to play in his ensemble. In the same year, he organized the first jazz quartet from his colleagues at the music school. The Big Band made a splash at a concert in the Leningrad club "Kvadrat", then located in the building of the Palace of Culture. Kirov.

In 1981, several significant events took place at once. The saxophonist joined the quintet of the already famous Sergei Kuryokhin and performed at the Spring Concerts of New Jazz. In the same year he graduated from college, and also received a laudatory review and favorable reviews from critics in the newspaper "Soviet Youth", where Butman was named "Discovery of the Year", which, given the 300 million population of the USSR, is honorable, especially at 20.

In 1981-1983, the Butman graduate collaborated with famous orchestras in Moscow. He continued to work with David Goloschekin, who had previously invited Igor to the ensemble when he was still a student at the school. A year later, he joined the orchestra of Oleg Lundstrem, the former luminary of Soviet jazz, as the first alto saxophonist.

In 1983 he returned to Leningrad, where he collected a new group - initially a quartet, which later grew into a quintet. As a member of the big band he took part in festivals in Moscow, Leningrad and Riga. As a soloist he collaborated with the groups "Aquarium" and "Kino". Participated in the recordings of the albums Tabu and Radio Africa and recorded a solo for the song "Head of Kamchatka" by Viktor Tsoi.

Since 1984 he has resumed cooperation with Kuryokhin, regularly playing at concerts of the unusual project "Pop Mechanics". Its distinctive feature was the inconsistent composition of the group, in which musicians of all styles and trends could take part. Over the years, Pop Mechanics has featured artists from AuktsYon, Aquarium, Kino and others. In 1996, with the death of Kuryokhin, the musical "potpourri" ended.

Then Butman changes his alto saxophone to tenor and becomes a member of the Moscow ensemble "Allegro". The leader Nikolai Levinovsky in different years attracted famous artists to work: vocalist Vyacheslav Nazarov, drummers Yuri Genbachev and Yevgeny Guberman.

In 1987, Butman ended his collaboration with Allegro and moved to America to continue his musical studies. Becomes a student at the Berkeley College of Music in Boston. Igor Mikhailovich recalled the education and experience he received:

Subsequently, among the goals of the artist there was an "import" of this level and style of teaching to Russia. In the States, he met with the country's leading jazzmen: Grover Washington, Pat Metheny, Archie Shepp, went on tour with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. Several American colleagues participated in the recording of Butman's solo album.

The artist's career in the United States developed rapidly. He took part in the recording of Washington's album, participated in his orchestra at festivals in New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and performed on the prestigious stage of the legendary jazz club Blue Note. For his performance with Dave Brubeck's quartet, he received accolades in The Boston Globe:

He performed solo and in big bands, appeared on the cult American TV shows The Today Show and Good Morning America, and received the status of an international jazz star. After returning to Russia, Butman managed to become a mediator of the jazz community of the two countries: he encouraged cultural exchange, invited foreign colleagues, and participated in joint festivals.

He spoke twice in the Kremlin before the heads of Russia and the United States: first in 1995, and then in 2000. At both meetings, America was represented by Bill Clinton, who is known to be a big saxophone fan. The American president was so impressed with Butman's performance that he named him one of the greatest saxophonists of the day.

Also in an interview with Express Gazeta, Igor Mikhailovich said that Clinton had sent a parcel of spices from Louisiana, which he had to personally pick up at customs - the border guards were very interested in the “vegetable contents” of the parcel. In 2005, the tireless Bill included Butman's Nostalgie in his compilation CD "The Bill Clinton Collection: Selections from the Clinton Music Room".

In 1996, the artist returned to Russia and settled in Moscow. In subsequent years he assembled his own orchestra “Igor Butman Big Band” (“Igor Butman's Big Band”), to which the leading musicians from Russia and abroad are invited. In 1999 he opened the legendary jazz club Le Club, which he headed until it was closed in 2006. "Reincarnation" Le Club - "Igor Butman's Jazz Club" opened on Chistye Prudy in 2007, and later moved Taganka again, returning "to the origins". The institution is included in the list of the best jazz clubs in the world.

Since 1998, he has hosted the author's musical program "Jazophrenia" on the "Culture" channel. He finished cooperation with the TV channel in 2005. At the same time, the artist recorded solo albums and compositions as part of various groups. The discography grew steadily. He became the first Russian jazz musician to record an album at Universal Music Russia.

Participated in projects with singer Elena Obraztsova, actor Mikhail Kozakov. The most famous collaboration took place with the artist Larisa Dolina in 2002. With the joint program "Carnival of Jazz" the musicians visited Russian and foreign cities.

In 2003, Butman performed on the legendary Lincoln Center stage at the opening of the jazz season with Winton Marsalis, artistic director of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, which was one of the peak events in the saxophonist's career. At the same time, he collaborated with living legends of music: Ray Charles, George Benson, Al Jerro.

In 2009, he presented the Butman Music record label. Since 2014, together with Arkady Ukupnik, he has been organizing the annual World Jazz Festival in Riga, Latvia. In total, Butman is a co-producer of over 10 jazz events.

The artist participated in the television project "Ice Age" in tandem with the world champion Albena Denkova, where he had to put aside his usual musical instrument and start skating. In 2018, he again appeared in an unusual role, becoming a participant in the filming of the popular TV series "Real Boys" on TNT. True, this time the saxophone did not have to be parted. On the contrary, the artist played a melody from the show's intro.

The artist shares his personal life with the press. For example, in an interview with "Express Gazeta" he spoke about his illegitimate son Mikhail, with whom he did not communicate for a long time. The musician's first wife, Eileen, was from the United States. In 1987, the couple got married, and already in 1990 the union broke up.

Then the artist became interested in a girl named Donne, who gave birth to a son Misha in 1991. The mother deprived Butman of the rights to the child and did not get in touch. It was only when the boy grew up that Donne allowed her biological father to help with her education at the university. Then the first meeting took place.

In 1995, the musician married the model Oksana, who gave birth to two children: Daniel and Mark. The couple divorced in 2013.

Now the artist tours a lot and performs at various venues, appears on television. Together with the prodigy pianist Oleg Akkuratov he played on the show "Evening Urgant" on Channel One.

The official website presents Butman's concerts that will take place all over the country: from Moscow to Vladivostok are scheduled for the year ahead. The latest photos and videos of the People's Artist of Russia and members of the big band are also available there.

1988 - "Then and now" 1994 - "Falling Out" 1997 - "First Night Swing" 1997 - "Nostalgie" 2002 - "Once In Summer Weekend" 2003 - "Prophecy" 2007 - "Funny Stories" 2008 - "Moondance "2011 -" Sheherazade's tales "2013 -" Special opinion "2014 -" Igor Butman and friends "2016 -" Reflections "2017 -" Winter's Tale "

Igor Butman 's estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.

Let's check, How Rich is Igor Butman in 2020 ?

Igor Butman Net Worth 2021

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.5M in 2021. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $620.5K - $1M.

Igor Butman Net Worth 2020

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.7M in 2020. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $711.7K - $1.9M.

Igor Butman Net Worth 2019

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.8M in 2019. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $909K - $1.7M.

Igor Butman Net Worth 2018

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.7M in 2018. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $590.9K - $1.3M.

Igor Butman Net Worth 2017

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.8M in 2017. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $506.8K - $1.6M.

Igor Butman Net Worth 2016

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.5M in 2016. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $989.5K - $1.8M.

Igor Butman Net Worth 2015

Igor Butman 's revenue is $1.3M in 2015. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Igor Butman and could vary in the range between $978.8K - $1.2M.

It is an overall forecast for the net worth of Igor Butman. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does Igor Butman make a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from Igor Butman' projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.