— Hello, Serge. How do you like it here at the festival and what are your impressions?
I like it very much. The impressions are just incredible, really wonderful. I have played at this festival before, I took part in it twice — in 2007 and 2008. Everything is very positive and joyful.
— What did you like and remember especially at this year's festival?
— I really enjoyed Valery Ponomaryov's performance. I have known him for a long time, we are good friends. He is a fantastic musician. He's always up to the mark. He played with Art Blakey, a big league musician.
Tom Harrell gave an incredibly good performance. Tom Harrell is number one, a legendary musician!
I really liked Yakov Okun's international team a lot. There were musicians from different countries, and they are fabulous performers. This was one of the best performances.
I would like to single out Vahagn Hayrapetyan and Anna Buturlina — I enjoy what they do a lot, what they have done together. It's marvelous! It's a real galaxy merger here at the festival this year! All the stages are great.
As to the Open Stage, I would spotlight the performances of the Break Orchestra, Felix Lahuti and Yevgeny Revnyuk's Laber band. They are the people who deserve top marks, they are true artists.
— How did you feel about your own performance? How did it go? Did you do all you wanted to?
— Everything went fine, I managed to do everything.
JVL Big Band has Russia's leading musicians. Only the best have always played in JVL. It was like that ten years ago and it's the same today. Although some people passed away, but their places were taken by talented young musicians.
Everything went well, I have the best impressions of our band's performance.
— How did the audience respond?
— The audience was wonderful, amazing. You can tell that more sophisticated people have come this year. No one walked away, everyone was paying close attention — it was a pleasure. Generally speaking, I have the very-very best impressions!