Dmitry Baevsky was born in St-Petersburg, Russia in 1976. He studied piano as a child, and discovered his passion and seriousness for music as a teenager, when he picked up an alto saxophone. In 1991, Baevsky entered the Mussorgsky College of Music in St-Petersburg where he studied with the legendary Russian jazz saxophonist and teacher, Gennady Goldstein. Throughout the early and mid nineties, Baevsky was consistently working in local venues and he made several appearances in various Russian cities and participated in several international jazz festivals throughout Russia. In addition, he participated in and was awarded prize places in several jazz competitions. Upon his arrival in New York in 1996, Baevsky was accepted in to the Jazz Department at the New School University and was given a full scholarship. Between 1996 and 1999 when he graduated, Baevsky studied with such musicians as Buster Williams, Benny Powell, Joe Chambers,  Arnie Lawrence, and Cecil McBee among others. After finishing college, Baevsky stayed in New York and remained busy working within the local New York jazz community, appearing in various jazz venues throughout the New York area. Over the last several years Baevsky performed and appeared with such musicians as Cedar Walton, Jimmy Cobb, Barry Harris, Lewis Hays, John Webber, Dennis Irvin, Joe Cohn, Peter Bernstein, Joe Magnarelli, Ryan Kisor and many others. In 2005 Baevsky released his first CD as a leader on the Lineage Records: “Introducing Dmitry Baevsky”. The record features such masters as Cedar Walton, Jimmy Cobb and John Webber. In 2006, Baevsky recorded for Joe Cohn’s CD on Arbors Records, to be released later this year. Other musicians on the CD include Dennis Irwin, Harry Allen, Hod O’Brien, and Chuck Riggs. ALL ABOUT JAZZ SEPTEMBER 2006 The young Russian guitarist Ilya Lushtak recently launched his own record label, called Lineage, with the aim of celebrating and further documenting living jazz legends and has been hosting a related series of shows at Smalls. Lushtak's fellow Russian Dmitry Baevsky is a phenomenal young alto saxophonist and though it would certainly be premature to call him a legend, he does appear alongside Jimmy Cobb and Cedar Walton on a Lineage CD due out in September. On Aug. 16, Lushtak offered the Smalls spotlight to Baevsky and the two were backed by a rhythm section of Steve Ash on piano, Neal Miner on bass and Tom Melito on drums. Those three have played together but the quintet seemed like it might have been hastily assembled and the five used a 12-bar blues in B-flat to warm up. Baevsky started off slowly and simply but soon was executing darting lines with precision. His playing was exciting and captivating: strong and fast, he followed long head-to-toe runs with impulsive, heated jabs, patiently carrying a melodic sequence to its logical end and, reminiscent of a favorite Paul Desmond device, mimicing statements from the lower register of the horn in the higher register and vice versa. Pianist Ash delivered his finest solo on "Stars Fell on Alabama", sprinkling long and fluid lines high up the keyboard with a great touch, while Lushtak seemed at ease on the breakneck bop numbers, such as the closing "Tea for Two". "Kasbah", from Baevsky's upcoming CD, was an attractive original. ~ Brian Lonergan ALL MUSIC GUIDE Over two years after advance copies teased the jazz press about the capabilities of teenaged alto saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky's surprising chops, the Lineage label finally came into being in early 2006, with Baevsky's debut as one of their inaugural releases. Well accompanied by veterans like pianist Cedar Walton and drummer Jimmy Cobb, along with bassist John Webber and guitarist Ilya Lushtak, the young Russian is still forming his own style, though he has obviously done his musical homework and was prepared for the recording session, which is sometimes a problem with young musicians prematurely given the opportunity to record as leaders. The set list covers a lot of ground, mixing standards and jazz compositions (both favorites and forgotten gems). He shows a bit of Phil Woods' influence in "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," while he easily negotiates the tricky changes of Charlie Parker's "Klactoveedsedstene" and displays a bit of playfulness. The young man also measures up in ballad settings such as the lush "Autumn Nocturne" and Kenny Dorham's down-and-dirty blues "Buffalo." While it is impossible to render a verdict on a newcomer based on his first CD, Dmitry Baevsky obviously has studied his craft and has a lot of potential to offer; this initial session likely provided him some terrific seasoning by getting the opportunity to work with Walton and Cobb. --Ken Dryden