The official website ofAlexander
Simonovsky

Alexander Simonovsky was born in Tula on 14 January 1948 and initially studied violin. As a teenager he saw a jazz quartet on television and realised that the drums were the instrument that truly fascinated him. He began practising with homemade sticks, listened to Willis Conover’s jazz broadcasts and sought every opportunity to hear experienced musicians.

Early encounters with Igor Kantiukov and Vladimir Devyatkin, dance-hall jobs and the rehearsals of Anatoly Kroll’s orchestra became his real education. In those years, scores and exercises sometimes had to be copied by hand at night so they could be back on the music stand the next morning.

During military service Simonovsky played in the orchestra of the Tula Artillery School and used every free hour for jazz. Professional engagements followed, including Yuri Saulsky’s VIO-66 and Eddie Rosner’s big band. At the same time he developed into a sought-after studio and orchestral drummer.

Work in large ensembles, broadcasting and film-music environments demanded fast sight-reading, stylistic flexibility and absolute reliability — qualities that would define his recording career.

In 1973 Igor Kantiukov recommended Alexander Simonovsky for the newly formed Melodiya Ensemble. The decision was made within minutes of the audition. According to the extensive account in Барабанщики всея Руси, only the bassist and drummer were recruited from outside the core group — a telling indication of Simonovsky’s standing at the time.

His first engagement captured the professionalism of the era: arrival in the morning, departure on tour a few hours later, no rehearsal and no full knowledge of the programme. From then on, daily studio work became central to his profession. Melodiya recorded jazz, funk, fusion, popular music, accompaniment sessions and music for film and television; Simonovsky’s drumming became part of the soundtrack of an era.

The ensemble’s first LP reportedly sold four million copies. Simonovsky remained associated with Melodiya into the early 1990s.

International travel began in 1976 with Finland, followed by appearances in countries including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba and India. These tours represented Soviet culture abroad while giving the musicians rare contact with instruments, recordings and colleagues beyond the USSR.

India became a particularly important chapter: the ensemble appeared at Jazz Yatra, and Concert in Bombay became one of the best-known documents of that period. Simonovsky’s participation in the first Jakarta International Jazz Festival in 1988 is also preserved in an official certificate.

In 1984 Alexander Simonovsky received an official invitation to the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow for a concert by American jazz musicians. There he met legendary drummer Louie Bellson. Bellson praised his musicianship and later gave him a pair of gilded drumsticks, a keepsake that has survived to this day.

In 1988/89 Simonovsky was part of the Soviet orchestra for the American-Soviet Broadway production Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies. Its American premiere took place on 22 April 1989 at the Opera House of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Shortly afterwards, members of the delegation visited the White House.

In New York, Simonovsky continued working with fellow Melodiya musicians and entered the Hennessy Cognac Jazz Search with a quartet. From roughly 700 applicants, the group reached the final round of three ensembles; the jury included saxophonist Jimmy Heath.

After the return from the United States, the old studio world collapsed in the early 1990s. The structures of the state record company Melodiya were dismantled, studios and valuable equipment disappeared, and many musicians suddenly lost secure work.

Simonovsky began working in Germany. To obtain permission to work, he had to document his exceptional artistic career with record sleeves, press clippings, photographs and professional records. In 1996 he decided to move permanently to Germany with his family.

In Germany Alexander Simonovsky continued performing in orchestras, big bands and smaller ensembles while also teaching. His experience ranges from studio and film music to sophisticated ensemble work and direct musical coaching.

Today he lives in Meerbusch, teaches private drum lessons and continues to perform. As founder and initiator of Jazzy Mondays, he hosts a monthly live evening in Meerbusch together with his daughter, singer Juliette.