Ruben Tolmachev - bass

Born
July 16, 1973

Education
GLIER KIEV STATE MUSIC COLLEGE
State Conservatory of Ukraine graduate student; conservatory teacher; conductor; head of a capella choir “Dzvinochok”

In ManSound since
1994

How did you join ManSound?
It was a fortuitous time; I entered the Conservatory, and two days later two great offers were made, one as choirmaster of the a capella group “Dzvinochok”, and the other was membership in Vladimir Mikhnovetsky’s new band. By this time “Jazz Expromt” was considered to be one of the most outstanding bands around, and I was astonished by this call. “Will I really be offered a place in Jazz Expromt?!” And I was even more surprised when they started talking of a brand new group! And that’s how we started working, without any marketing direction, financial goals, or business plan. We just wanted to sing good music, which is what we are still doing today.


Your role in ManSound
I’m the bass. I am also the author of some of the song arrangements. When the need arises, I can be the choirmaster and concertmaster. I feel like a regular singer and performer here, since I have enough activities in which I can be a leader. I’m just a singer here and I like that.

About the group
It’s my life. I’ll be 30 soon, 10 of these years I’ve been singing in ManSound. That’s a lot.

Your Favorite music
Everything I know about jazz music I’ve learned in MS. I started listening to jazz purposefully and actively. First of all, obviously, vocal music - Manhattan Transfer, Take 6, Boys2Men, New York Voices, Bobby McFerrin, Ella Fitzgerald. I also gladly listen to “good” pop– Michael Jackson, George Benson, Stevie Wonder, and I also enjoy Queen and George Michael. This kind of music appeals to me just as a listener. And, of course, I like classical music.

Your occupation outside of ManSound
My biggest problem is harmonizing my two kinds of activities so that concerts and touring don’t get in each other’s way. So far, for the last ten years, I’ve been successful in doing this, and I hope I will be in the future, too.

About work
I prefer stage work because it differs totally from recording in the studio; a concert is interaction with people, real emotions, which are shown (or not) on stage. If you create a fascinating atmosphere and if you touch the audience energetically, then you can see the result. Studio work depends a lot on technical stuff and contact with the listener is lost, that’s why this work is “dead” for me.

Your best concert
I hope, our best performance is in the future, but I can’t remember any gig where we didn’t have this moment of fusion with the audience. Sometimes it’s more vivid, sometimes less, but we always arrive at this, kind of…orgasm. You just reach the audience or you don’t; you feel it or you don’t, that’s why I like the stage so much.

Your ambitions
It’s ridiculous – figures, packed houses, numbers of concerts and albums produced. I have only one ambition – to utilize the talent I’ve been given from above.

About the other members
We weren’t manufactured like a ‘boy band”, - nobody chose one boy who’d sing, two boys who’d dance, and a pretty boy who would just be pretty. And so, our group has a heart. Its “face”, that is the people, change and new members join organically, but all of them match the original matrix. We all love singing, we love music and that is much more important for us that commercial success.

The other members of the group about Ruben
«Ruben is a remarkable musician, he is a strong-willed person, but I really respect him. He is the best bass. A man you can rely on”

«He has an active lifestyle, he also doesn’t have time free from music. As a professional he puts music and improving his skills in the first place.”

«He is just the best bass singer in Ukraine and that’s not an overstatement. He is a fundamental part of our machine and an interesting person to talk to, or listen to, when he’s describing a book he’s recently read; it’s also interesting to just exchange ideas with him. He’s a kind, sensitive and good man”».
«Ruben is a very serious, responsible and professional musician”