A couple weeks ago, Bridgeport Conference Center hosted Winter Jazz Weekend as sponsored by the West Virginia Jazz Society.

 

For a number of years, the event – which features renowned artists from New York City and other jazz-infused cities - has created an American jazz crossroads right here in North Central West Virginia.

 

Now, it can be called a global crossroads.

 

On Jan. 31, two jazz musicians – both from the former Soviet Union – crossed paths in Bridgeport after not seeing each other for 25 years.

 

“When they saw each other in the (Bridgeport Conference Center) lobby, they could not believe their eyes,” said Eric Spelsberg, West Virginia Jazz Society president. 

 

Victor Dvoskin was playing as a guest bassist with Phil Wyatt and The Entertainers, the band which opened for Eddie Allen's PUSH.  Among musicians for the latter band is keyboard player, Misha Tsiganov.

 

It was Spelsberg who hooked Wyatt up with Dvoskin as the two had met through The Entertainers’ guitarist, Vince Lewis. The Russian musician has also taught at the Winter Jazz Academy, a student education opportunity hosted in conjunction with Winter Jazz Weekend.

 

Allen said Tsiganov is an excellent keyboard player and pianist and that he feels fortunate to have him in his band. Ironically, Tsiganov’s musical inspiration came, in part, from Dvoskin.

 

“Victor played in my favorite soviet jazz band ‘Allegro.’” Tsiganov said. “In the 80s, I just started my jazz career and Victor was already a superstar. I've never missed a single concert Victor played with Allegro in my home town.”

 

That was all two and a half decades ago. Since then, Dvoskin wound up in DC and Tsiganov in New York City.

 

“But they found each other in Bridgeport, in the lobby of the Conference Center,” Spelsberg said.

 

After the performances, the musicians caught up in the venue’s green room.

 

“It was a pleasant surprise to see Victor,” Tsiganov said.

 

The Russian musicians – and the cultural influences they brought along - added yet another element to Winter Jazz Weekend, Spelsberg said.  

 

“I have had the pleasure of knowing a number of Russian artists over the years - jazz to jewelry designers - and I love them all,” he said. They’re so full of passion, warmth, angst, fatalism tempered by hope, and perhaps because of the steeling effects of totalitarian government, their 'Russian-ness' became more and more refined – that, the cold weather and the best vodka.”