Born in 1945

A trumpet and flugel-horn player, composer, teacher and leader of jazz ensembles. Valeriy was a graduate of Donetsk music secondary school (1964) and musical-pedagogical institute as a trumpet player (1974). He was one of the organisers of jazz the jazz festival in Donetsk and the most active performing trumpet player of the Soviet period. Valeriy got recognition in the middle of 1960s. He was a laureate of Prague competition of young jazz performers (1971) and collaborated with jazzmen from Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad, Novosibirsk. Valeriy was the soloist of the group “The golden Years of Jazz” (1977-1985) and a Moscow saxophonist Valeriy Katsnelson’s ensemble (1983-1985). Also he took part in recording of the first Ukrainian jazz vinyl “Lyrical Mood” (1978). He toured via Germany and the Netherlands a lot, and took part in prestigious European festivals as a soloist. In 1980 Valeriy was the leader of Donetsk Dixieland. In 1990s he was collaborating with Evgen Dergunov (piano) and Petro Nazaretov’s quartet. Valeriy is a brilliant performer of swing and bb-pop and masters singing in the “sket” style. Also he was a participant and leader of jazz festivals in Kiev, Kryviy Rig, Odesa, Donetsk, Berdyansk, Uzghorod, Yalta, and the author of famous pieces “Trad-Blues”, “Bonifazius’ Holidays”, “Forty Days”, etc.

Valeriy Kolesnikov is a docent of Donetsk Conservatory.

Discography:

Lyrical Mood	1978	Melodia LP
Jazz in Donetsk	1979	Melodia LP
Rothmans Jazz collection	1999	JRC CD
Jazz Inside, Vol. 1 collection	2000	JRC CD
"DoDz’" 2002 collection	2002	Rostok CD