Where are they from/info

The first swingers in Russia

PIJONY were formed by Oleg Ousmanov of the musicians with serious experience in Moscow rockabilly and jazz outfits. The new band plays a hot mix of a jazz, rock-and-roll and boogie, as well red-hot jump-n-jive, fiery swing and stinging latina. Funky grooves, ska & reggae beats, disco vibe have also been tried by the cats on several occasions, but their love is with rock-n-roll and swing.  Oleg Ousmanov of MISTER TWISTER fame sings and plays the double bass.

The saxophone player Pavel Verentchikov used to be with the MISTER TWISTER and the Moscow CATS cast. Horn players used to be with the top Russian Big Bands. The guitar and the piano guys used to back top pop Russain stars. The class and skill of the musicians, extremely stylish costumes and high energy stage show, a large pool of songs - all this adds to the ensemble's success. There are dance swing, blues, twist, rock-and-roll, pop-jazz ballads, boogie songs and instrumentals in Russian, English, Italian, Spanish & French in the PIJONY repertoire, as well a bit of ska, funk, and reggae.

Oleg's upright basses are unique. He devised them himself and had it specially hand-made. In fact they're so fantastic that www.rockabillybass.com named one of them bass of the month. The other one wasn't awarded because it's probably too much for a single person to be featured so heavily. Now the 3rd generation bass is being slapped.

The band supported Chuck Berry at the 4000-seat Moscow club, appeared on Russian TV and radio. They produced a cool cartoon video. They play for large crowds, top the bill of the e Swing Boom Festival and other major festivals. No other local rockabilly nor swing acts have acheved this. 

The word PIJONY pronounced [pi'jo:ni] may be translated as dudes, slickers, majors.

You don't have to know Russian to listen to the music, watch the videos or look up the photos.