Epic Power (Steeplechase)

Ivan Farmakovskiy

Released September 5, 2025

DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review

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About:

Renowned Russian jazz pianist Ivan Farmakovskiy makes his highly anticipated debut on SteepleChase Records with a stunning new album. Blending his signature hard-bop style with modern jazz sensibilities, Farmakovskiy delivers a masterful performance that bridges tradition and innovation with American rhythm section of Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette. Ivan won the 1994 bi-annual Russia Jazz Competition, the biggest contest for young Russian performers and he won another prize at the 1997 Europe Jazz Contest in Belgium.

Track Listing:

1. Soul Inside Out (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 05:55

2. The Day Before (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 06:53

3. Conciliation (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 06:25

4. My Beloved (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 08:02

5. Orange (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 06:05

6. And I Love Her (John Lennon / Paul McCartney) 05:35

7. Professor (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 06:14

8. Lazy Lady (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 06:14

9. Smile Toys (Ivan Farmakovskiy) 07:58

Personnel:

Ivan Farmakovskiy: piano

Christian McBride: bass

Jack DeJohnette: drums

Recorded March 2010, by James Farber

Edited by Sasha Mashin

Mixed, Mastered and Produced by Nils Winther

Photography by Anton Revnyuk

Review:

Embedded in a trio with Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette, Ivan Farmakovskiy would get credit merely for keeping his head above water. The Muscovite pianist does a hell of a lot more than that.

Recorded in 2010, Epic Power (his sophomore recording) offers up Farmakovskiy’s abilities as both pianist and composer: He wrote seven of the album’s eight tunes and arranged its one cover, a sexy rendition of Lennon & McCartney’s “And I Love Her.” The pianist maintains a hard-bop vibe throughout; between the vibe and the company he keeps, hard-driving swing is a must, and Farmakovskiy delivers. The opening “Soul Inside Out” is ablaze from the start, and he runs away with that fire in his solo. “Professor” gives him a funky (in the Horace Silver sense) workout that makes room for a bluesy, groovy solo. But mid-uptempo is more the pianist’s speed. “Conciliation,” a lithe, pretty waltz based on “The Lady Is A Tramp,” inspires perhaps his best improvisational work: Greased-keyboard chops yield a rhythmically inventive line whose melodic phrases turn in on themselves in brilliant curlicues and trotting syncopations.

But it’s not all about Farmakovskiy. He’s a highly interactive leader, letting DeJohnette, in particular, shape his solos on “The Day Before” and “Orange” at least as much as he shapes their comps. His lightning runs on the former seem directly in response to DeJohnette’s fluttering brushwork, with the two conversing on the latter. Although there’s less direct engagement with McBride (whose arco solo on “And I Love Her” is an album highlight), their empathy is crystal clear. What a splendid trio, and record, this is.

Michael J. West (DownBeat)