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FEB 2005 - PREVIEW OF PIANO SOLO CONCERT AT ZEITGEIST
- BY BILL BEUTTLER


Vardan Ovsepian is among the most promising young talents on the local jazz scene, having moved here eight years ago from his native Armenia to study music at Berklee. The pianist-composer has put out three CDs to date on Barcelona's Fresh Sound - New Talent label. His solo-piano debut disc, "Abandoned Wheel," was followed by "Sketch Book" and last year's "Akunc"; the latter two feature Ovsepian in quartet mode, with help from bassist Joshua Davis, drummer Take Toriyama, and vocalist Monica Yngvesson.

All three CDs demonstrate Ovsepian's fondness for bringing European classical and other outside influences to jazz improvisation to create music both elegant and uniquely his own. Brad Mehldau has praised Ovsepian's work, as have George Garzone and Frank Carlberg. "He is a singular musician that is developing a highly personal and sophisticated expression," says New England Conservatory professor and pianist-composer Carlberg, "and is one of the few musicians of his generation that will help define the future course of jazz." On Sunday, Ovsepian sets his quartet aside for a solo show.

FEB 2005 - REVIEW OF 'AKUNC' & 'SKETCH BOOK'
- BY GREG BUIUM

Armenia-born pianist Vardan Ovsepian puts a premium on design, subordinating his own not inconsiderable skill to group storytelling. With a bass–drum axis at the heart of these songs, melodies often arrive in large, looping intervals, rendered by voice, piano and a single-string instrument, Mick Goodrick's guitar or Agnieszka Dziubak's cello. Anyone with an allegiance to the ECM sound will find a great deal to like on these two quartet albums - the windblown pastels, the serious dramas and the clear thematic arcs.

Sketch Book benefits enormously from Goodrick's swift, puzzling lines. Ovsepian often seems stuck in a single dimension, as if he's still working through things as a composer; some pieces feel like leftovers from an early Return to Forever date. When things sputter, the wordless vocals intrude, the energy flags and the colors are too precious.

On Akunc, however, Ovsepian shows what he can do. The title piece is something of real substances, reminding me of passages in Marilyn Crispell's Amoryllis or Geri Allen's Etudes. The cello pushes the voice into the background, creating something more nuanced emotionally. And Ovsepian seems happier drawing on a thicker set of materials, from "Stiltje," a taut twist on a tango, on "Residue," a three-minute improvisation that turns a series of fleeting microscopic gestures into a fully realized moment of beauty.

JAN 2005 - REVIEW OF 'AKUNC'
- BY ROMAN ST. JAMES


'Akunc' is an adventurous, well-executed project bound to find a spot in the collections of many jazz and classical fans, alike... What this album does, very successfully, is integrate jazz and classical into a form of music that is simultaneously cerebral and soothing. I was also impressed with the way he employed Yngvesson's vocals - having her sing tones instead of words and therefore making her sound more like a non-vocal instrument. Read more

MAR 2004 - BEAUTY OF 'SKETCH BOOK' DRAWS ATTENTION TO LOCAL PIANIST OVSEPIAN'
- BY BILL BEUTTLER

A few months ago, Brad Mehldau told jazzreview.com that there is a fellow pianist out of Boston who had made a beautiful record. "His name is Vardan Ovsepian," the Grammy-nominated artist said.

The record is 'Sketch Book,' and Mehldau isn't the only established musician to become an admirer. Ovsepian, who will bring his quartet (bassist Joshua Davis, drummer Take Toriyama, and vocalist Monica Yngvesson) to the Regattabar on Wednesday for sets with guest classical cellist Agnieszka Dziubak, is drawing notice from many performers for the way he blends vocals with improvisation and classically influenced compositions. Read more

KEYBOARD MAGAZINE JAN 2004 - MR. GOODCHORD GOES KEYBOARD, PART 2
- BY MIITCH HAUPERS


Vardan Ovsepian hails from Armenia and has applied his classical training to his composing, improvising, and jazz playing. His first record, Abandoned Wheel (Fresh Sound), explores the contrapuntal possibilities of solo piano; keeping both hands in motion, he avoids the cliche sound by a comping left hand under a soloing right hand. He delves into this more traiditional approach to the keyboard on his second record with quartet, Sketch Book (Fresh Sound) - but he applies his own interpretation to the Mr. Goodchord materials. Read more



OCT 2003 - INTERVIEW WITH BRAD MEHLDAU
- BY MIKE BRANNON


JAZZREVIEW: What do you tend to listen to when you've got time?
BRAD MEHLDAU: I listen to a lot of stuff people give me on the road. Everybody has a CD now, so there's always a lot of stuff. One out of every ten records is good, one out of 20 is really good, and once a year or so, I hear someone new and I think, 'This person will have a life in music that will affect other musicians and touch a lot of people.' I've heard several pianists on recordings that I really dig lately, ones who are for now as of yet off the radar. I really dig this pianist Orrin Evans who has a few albums on the Criss Cross label. There's a pianist out of Boston who made a beautiful record for the Fresh Sound label called 'Sketch Book'; his name is Vardan Ovsepian. Read more

CADENCE BUILDING JULY 2003 - REVIEW OF 'SKETCH BOOK'

'Sketch Book' is an interesting recital that is warm and intelligent in more of a classical than a Jazz sense, mostly impressionistic textures with wordless female vocals. If you're looking for something based on the Blues, you won't find it here. This is a well recorded sound world based on Take Toriyama's cymbal sizzle, Monica Yngvesson's ethereal vocals, and Vardan Ovsepian's probing piano. There is a chilly feel to this, broken by rare splashes of fires like Mick Goodricks' sustain-heavy guitar on 'V Baby' and Toriyama's break into rock drumming on 'Rooms'. It's eerie but compelling work.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD DEC 2002 - CONCERT REVIEW AT THE CENTER FOR CULTURAL EXCHANGE, PORTLAND, ME, 11/30/02
- BY STEVE FEENEY

At the surface, there's a chamber like quality to his work, particularly when vocalist Monica Yngvesson wordlessly doubles the melodic lines of the leader and/or guitarist Mick Goodrick, as she did for much of the two-hour concert. Her cool soprano added immeasurably to the delicate, refined beauty of Ovsepian's carefully arranged compositions. Underneath these emphatic thematic statements, bassist Josh Davis added plucked counterpoint and bowed tones to flesh out the music, while drummer Take Toriyama rattled and rumbled, providing a busy rhythmic engine to the quintet's balanced but flexible sound.

When Ovsepian improvises on keyboard, his style has the sort of precise expansiveness of players such as Keith Jarrett, who rides upon uneven tempos, searching for moments to burst the bubble of form. Ovsepian's music shifts easily between passages that reveal his classical technique and those that showcase his obvious affection for the interpretive opportunities of jazz. Read more