Penza, 12 May 2016. PenzaNews. Pushkina street in Penza now sports a small installation dedicated to Jazz May festival, as well as Victor Chekh and Valery Dmitriev – the two renown regional jazzmen who had passed away in 2015.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

A team of street artists led by Nikita Romanov painted a section of the concrete fence by the unfinished “Intourist” hotel in the colors of the festival, and decorated the impromptu “wall of jazz” with portraits of the musicians and piano keys.

The transformation was conducted with support from the Penza city administration.

“Thanks to the musical tradition set by Alexei Lvov-Belov, Valery Dmitriev’s big band in 2011 received a permanent place in the Jazz May schedule, and through it, an opportunity to play for the Penza public every year. The orchestra became the main feature of the festival. The upcoming Jazz May will be the first one without the Zarechny big band,” says the message published by the festival’s group on Facebook.

According to the organizers, Valery Dmitriev’s portrait on the wall was based on the photo made by Alexander Zabrin a year ago.

“Victor Chekh never played at the stage of Jazz May, but his participation was and will continue to be felt for a long time through the stunning performances of his students: Elena Osipova, Sergei Baulin, Victor Lushnikov, Yulia Cherushova, Roman Glazkov, Vitaly Astakhov, Natalya Klinova, Olga Sladkova,” it reads.

“Although the outlook of Pushkina street could have been different, we hope our change will nevertheless disappoint no one. And even if some issues arises, we still have a whole city to show how it needs to be done by painting another story – which is what we hope will happen,” says the Jazz May group.