Tamara Lukasheva - Gleichung (2021)

Odessa-born, Cologne-based vocalist and composer Tamara Lukasheva has been making her mark on the German scene for her musicianship, her vocal range, her natural dynamism and her sense of fun as a live performer. January 2021 looks set to be the month when her name becomes more widely known as she releases her new solo album Gleichung (meaning ‘equation’) on 31 January and will formally receive one of Germany’s most significant jazz prizes, the 2021 WDR Jazz Prize for Composition. She talked to Izzy Blankfield.

Speaking with Lukasheva, it is impossible to ignore the different cultural influences that have shaped her music. “What I do comes to me intuitively. I collect everything that inspires me and touches me, and I try to express what I’m carrying inside me in my own way. I wouldn’t say I have a double identity as such, but rather that I’m a true jazz soul – always a symbiosis, a mixture of different cultures. And in everything I do, I try as much as I can to mix them further in my own way.”

Inspiration comes to Lukasheva from all directions. Since she was a child, she has admired Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, and she is also influenced by classical composers, including Mahler and Tchaikovsky. “I’m always open to many different musical genres, and I love listening to music that is totally new. That’s where my inspiration comes from – and then I try to transform it into my own style.” That said, Lukasheva acknowledges the danger of attaching herself too much to any role models: “I want to go my own way!”

As Martin Laurentius of JazzThing, a seasoned observer of the Cologne scene, remarked to us: “Although Tamara is still quite young in her early 30s, she knows pretty well what she wants as a singer and artist.”

Last autumn, she played a series of well received concerts with pianist/composer Vadim Neselovskyi (like Lukasheva originally from Odessa) and horn player Arkadi Shilkloper. She also continues to perform across the country with her Quartet, and recently formed Duo Lit with its drummer Dominik Mahnig.