Pianist / composer Amina Figarova hails from Azerbaijan's capital city

of Baku. Despite growing up on the Russian side of the Iron Curtain,

Figarova's early musical experiences included plenty of American jazz.

Both of her parents were music fans, but her mother particularly enjoyed

the music of Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Louis Armstrong, and Ella

Fitzgerald.

As a child in the Soviet Union, Figarova loved the piano at first sight.

She would arrange her dolls around her as an audience, then play for

them. She told an interviewer on All About Jazz, "Nobody could stop me.

I would sit and play and play."

The music of Azerbaijan draws on rhythms and scales from Africa and

Arabia, and the folk musicians — working from the same scales —

improvise. Though classically trained Amina was also influenced by the

music of Herbie Hancock and this shows in her writing and playing.

Amina Figarova’s sextet includes a front line of sax, trumpet and flute.

This group has the feel and energy of a nuevo Jazz Messengers with a bit

of McCoy Tyner thrown in for good measure - high energy swingers and

contemplative ballads. Her CD recorded in 2001 - September Suite - is

her statement and impressions of the events of September 11th.

Amina Figarova website