Sheep Music, a show by and with Carsten Schäfer, classic rock, progressive rock, pop, singer-songwriter music.

Sheep Music Interview mit der Russisch-Amerikanischen Pianistin Yelena-Eckemoff

 Hello and herzlich willkommen. Es begrüßt euch wieder einmal euer Karsten Schäfer. Heute habe ich einen ganz besonderen Gast und zwar die russisch-amerikanische Pianistin, Komponistin und noch so viel mehr, Jelena Ekkemoff, die gerade eine neue LP veröffentlicht hat. Eine Frau mit einer sehr interessanten Lebens- und Musikgeschichte und über all das wollen wir sprechen. Hallo Yelena, wie geht’s dir?  Hallo.

Yelena: I’m fine. I’m very glad to do this interview with you.

Well, I’m also very grateful that you to this interview because your life and your music career are very interesting. Normally I ask my guests first if they musical families. I can’t ask you because I already know that your mother was a very good and famous piano teacher. So, I want to ask. You started playing the piano when and your mother taught you from the age of seven. Did you her playing and fall in love with the instrument?

Yelena: Of course. I heard the music from the time mother’s womb. But I didn’t listen just to my mother, who played but also her students. Other members of my family also played the piano, even my father. When he met my mother, he fell in love not only with her, but also to the piano. He played some pieces by Chopin. I remember that he Mozart’s Turkish March when I was very little. So yes, music was surrounding me, of course, from the very beginning. I guess I can’t remember exactly how it was, but whatever they suggested to play I played both hands everything that they gave me. And my mother started to write down what I played. And I have it. Well, I have it, but not here. I mean the notebook, where she wrote my little pieces. It was definitely my destiny to become a musician. The music is everything for me. How I express, how I feel the world. I love to music. I am happy because no matter what happens, I can just do my music and be happy.

Yes, I know what you mean.  Music is the eternal healer, I always and I think that’s what is. You say you this notebook with your early compositions. Did you later just looked at it to see what you did at that age of whatever it was?

Yelena: Yes, definitely. Since I’m an immigrant, I couldn’t take a lot of stuff with us. But this notebook, this notebook, yes. I think my parents brought it with them when they came. We brought them to the USA and luckily, they were allowed to come. They both already dead now. I think they brought notebook with them and I was so happy to have it again. I remember one funny story. I read it and I remembered these songs that were like ‘birds in the garden’ or ‘fish in the pond’. And there was a melody that I actually used on my album ‘Lonely Man and His Fish’. Of course, I changed things. But the main melody is from that time. I think I was five years old when I wrote it, I liked it and I decided to a piece that had the title ‘Man and His Fish’. It worked so I do have it.

That’s really sweet. And what you just said is true. Your father loved your mother, so how he love the piano. Isn’t that a wonderful love story? Now, the listeners know that I’m talking a very talented pianist. You visited some very good schools. Tell us something about your school and piano training, because you studied in Moscow.

Yelena: Yeah, I had the great luck to study in the Gnessin School for Musically Talented Children under Anna Pavlovna Kantor, a world famous teacher who taught some famous pianists like Evgeny Kissin. He was her adopted son, he had Kantor lived with him in Europe, where she then died. She had a lot of other students, like Nikolai Demidenko. So, she was my kind of like school. Then I continued from another great teacher who was really incredibly good. When she played, there usually two wings in her classroom in the conservatory. I played on one wing when she was the other. And when she played, I could not breathe, she was so good. She inspired me and further taught excellent Galina Nikolaevna Egeazarová, my teacher at the university, because of them I am a real musician. Yes, I am very grateful that these teachers equipped everything I needed to play piano to actually play piano as well as I could. But I never wanted to be a concert pianist, although I was trained for, I played some classical piano concerts. But since I composed it simply wasn’t what I wanted with my own music. But I just to compose because I always heard other instruments. So, the piano wasn’t for me like for Chopin, for example, who was only for this instrument and he didn’t like anything else. There are composers who just compose for the piano and that’s totally fine. But I worked with many bands and musicians, although I could have composed have composed for piano. But anyway.

Well, that’s all very much my next question. We know your records, there are classic and similarly stored albums, but of course also the jazz and jazz rock records. But in your biography, it that some your musical heroes came rock music, such as Deep Purple and others. I would have thought that all your musical heroes were classical. Tell us a little more about your heroes.

Yelena: Well, of course, I grew with classical music. Bach, for like the Bible Bach influenced me a lot, because his music is like a direct conversation with God. So, his music was always divine Everyone knows that he was a very masculine guy, but his music is divine. I love Bach very early. His preludes and fugues were probably the important basis for me. Of course, Chopin is one my absolute favorites, as well Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. I wasn’t exposed to like classical music. When I was teenager, my friends were talking about all those Beatles stuff and I said, that? I can still the first Beatles record I bought with three or four songs. We had a record player and I played the record on when I home. When I heard the drums and all the other instruments, I had to leave and heard the rest from the hallway. I thought, oh God, what is that? So basically… I was very curious and started to listen more and more and listen to other. Of course, my favorite was Mahavishnu Orchestra and all this music that I really liked. It opened a whole new world.  Of course, Pink Floyd is my favorites and also the Beatles.

Before we go into jazz, jazz rock and fusion records, we have to talk about something else. In 1991 you emigrated from Russia to the USA. Why this step?

Yelena: That was the time when people in Russia and the entire former Soviet Union found the truth about our history. We all grew with the history and not with the truth. When the people, the truth about the government and what happened, people recognized this truth and heard things we didn’t know. That was the main reason. We already three sons. Well, we did the emigration, we only two. We very afraid to leave our boys in this country. But that’s was important to leave them. We just couldn’t stay. Not even for our boys. It was simply impossible. We worked on our emigration plans. That was really hard. Because of all the things we had we didn’t want in this country. My mother didn’t live with us It was a success, but also tragedy. Every immigration is difficult and my parents sacrificed lot until they finally with us. My eldest son had played already a bit, but we separated by a year and two months. We came as tourists and stayed. My mother brought our children along year and two months later. When they were in Moscow, they started eldest son’s piano. And he still could play even difficult pieces much later, but he never not as good as he was would have been probably would have been a pianist. And the other two, they play guitars and cello. Okay. Not good enough for my records. I won’t hire them.

But if they were good enough, would you hire them?

Yelena: Yeah, if they good enough – Okay.

Now, between 1991 when you the US and 1997 when you started recording, you took your musical career back. You raised up your kids and had a life in the US, but I read that you got new technologies like MIDI and synthesizer. Tell us something about it.

Yelena: The thing is that my husband is very supportive. He has always believed in as a and that made all the difference. After our move to America, we had big problems. We had neither sponsors nor money. We started from the scratch, but my husband realized that it was very important for me to continue making music. It was not easy. We took a loan and bought some studio equipment. As a mother I was always at home and the children went to school, youngest not yet. So, I couldn’t leave home. But since I had my little studio, I could work. And I had a sequencer that very helpful, a Kurzweil K2000. It’s good when you have all the instruments and then start to work.  For my later work with Pro Tools, was a very good training. Like I’m using Pro Tools not for mixing and mastering but for putting together all my stuff.  That Kurzweil experience was very helpful in this. Also of course, I played MIDI drums and it sounded okay, like the whole sound, but somehow real musicians who drums and guitars were lacking. Yes, that was all quite interesting. Some of my MIDI tracks you could find on streaming streaming. Who wants it, find it there. Some of the songs I recorded live and I will probably keep do that because they are like money on the bank that I then take out. I made music in MIDI, but solo works were limited. Now I can record live, with modifications. Even the synthesizer for my new The Dark Ages project I recorded in my studio. But now everything is so much better and everyone can the difference and compare. With a live band everything is much nicer.

Let’s talk about your own record company. You have your own record company, L & H Production. When and why did you it and how did you manage financially to get it off the ground?

Yelena: I don’t know how we it. I think it was only possible with God’s help. We give our best and work hard. We always think that it’s a miracle what we did. When we choose studio, a sound engineer or a musician, the question whether we can but whether it is the right decision for the music. Somehow God ensures that it works. Yes, it has been like that my whole life. Only recently I quit teaching when virus epidemic started. I did teach for a long time, but privately. And I worked as a church musician. I had many performances to earn money and my husband worked hard. No one is giving us money, but I guess that’s how it is: L & H Production is a way for us to our own music. Everyone says the records are self-produced. Yes, they are, but we still a record company, a GmbH. Our output is not yet high, but it is a real record company. And when I’m much older, and my fingers are not as flexible anymore, then we will probably hire someone.

Stupid question, what does L & H stands for?

Yelena: It stands for Lena and Harry.

Okay. Let’s talk about your career which is divided into stages. At first you with classical music and then from 2009 on to jazz, jazz rock, fusion and similar things. Why did the style change from 2009 to the Cold Sun?

Yelena: Well, I started to record in my little studio, it wasn’t just jazz, but rather progressive rock and fusion. I recorded with MIDI. But since I did also classical concerts, I recorded some classical things. I even have a Christmas piano CD. I did that on the side, otherwise I went on my own music. Then I worked here in North Carolina, where I live, with a regional band, live musicians as a band leader. We rehearsed and played some gigs and I even some albums that are on CDs. One of them, titled ‘The Call’, is still available. I some the songs for other record, but one CD I did I did, sound quality didn’t really agree with me. But somehow the regional band did not work out because it was so limited. I wanted to do more jazz, but I didn’t any musicians. The drummer was okay, but he wasn’t a jazz musician. Then I met the Danish Mads Vinding, who was really good. He was like a great teacher to me. We did on the Internet our two albums and I learned a lot, practically everything I needed, because Mads Winding is a great jazz bassist. This year, so 2025, it the 15th anniversary of the two records I did with Mads Vinding and then later same year I followed by a live recording that I did in California together with Peter Erskine and Darek Oles. These three records all came out in 2010. I don’t even know why I was in a hurry. In any case, I had so much enthusiasm that it hardly ever faded. I just thought, oh man, that’s great. When I sent my piano and bass tracks to Peter Erskine, he said it sounds good, we can do it, it’s good music. And suddenly he called me during the recording session in California and said, Yelena, that’s all really great, I’m very satisfied. And I thought, my goodness, Peter is satisfied and it sounds great. Peter is excited, and it’s coming out so great and then in the same evening the sound engineer sent me a rough mix of the songs. I listened to and cried, because that was exactly what I wanted. That’s how my music sounds!

You spoke of how you got this little company on its feet. First you had regional musicians and suddenly on Cold Sun, Peter Erskine and Mats Winding. That’s pretty amazing. Did these two men bring you your satisfaction with what they played even further into the jazz, progressive rock and fusion area?

Yelena: Yeah, like I said, the work with Mats Winding was like school for because I what he to my piano and learned It was as if I was visiting a jazz school, similar to Moscow. But there I learned only the traditional jazz. About European jazz, for example, the ECM label, I had no idea. Only in 2005 I listened in this music when the local drummer told me about it. I listened to the music and thought, I had never heard something that was I am similar to myself. Everything came together. Our emigration, the kids, and I had so much music. I came across Mads Vinding on MySpace. He wrote, do you want to my bass on your songs? I saw and thought, what? He can put his bass to my songs? Oh, I definitely wanted that. And when it developed, it was great. It was all so beautiful. Because he is a great bass player, probably still my favorite bass player, although I worked a lot with the wonderful Arild Andersson. But Mads and I had something special in common. When we were shopping for the drummer, he told me about Danish drummer who he did also some recordings with. It did not work out, so I looked for another drummer and came across Peter Erskine. He was a big name and was even reachable. I looked around, found him and thought, oh, he’s available. He doesn’t act like many other musicians. So, I emailed and then my material with Mads Vinding. Very simple. Many people ask me, how did you get Peter Erskine?  And I answer, I don’t know. I sent him material and the had great feeling that he would agree.

Now I have to ask you, we talked about your discography already, which is huge. You already said that you’re working on more stuff, you have more records lined up. Are you a workaholic? Do you ever stop writing?

Yelena: I don’t call it work. It’s just not work for me. It’s my life. Like I said, I process everything through music and all not only music but I process through music the whole world. Like when I recorded every album, it’s represented the whole world. When I did ‘Lions’, I saw lions everywhere. I was looking for everything connected to lions and lions were in my mind. I was like a lioness who lives among lions. Before I finish record, that is my world. Now, the ‘Scenes from the Dark Ages’, the same thing. I always loved those fairy tale-ish medieval times, not necessarily I knew exactly how life was in Medieval times, but from the fairy tales you learn of these castles, all those princes, and kings, and carriages, and knights, and fights and all of that stuff like taverns. And that’s how it is in my mind, this is maybe imaginary, but that’s enough for me. I live in this.

So, we are in ‘Scenes from The Dark Ages’, your latest album. Since you talked about musicians before, tell us about the musicians you have on this record and how and why you chose them.

Yelena: I already knew that the music is not in same vein of my regular kind of contemporary European jazz. Some of my past records departed from that style here and there. For this record I knew that I needed progressive rock sound with a rock guitar, and electrical bass, and muscle drums that packed, you know, real punch. And that’s why I was looking for such musicians. Basically, I found Ricardo Bertuzzi actually by myself. I knew that I was going to record in Italy, because Trilok had his studio there. So, I was looking for Italian guitar players. And there were videos that I watched and I singled out, okay, well, this guy, and that guy. And it was crazy a little bit. But I did not know anybody. I knew a lot of guitar players, and worked with many, you know, but they didn’t work for that project. I knew that I needed a different one. I emailed him and said, you know, I’m interested in working with you. So, and then we started to work together. He even recorded his guitars for my tracks before the session. So, we kind of already were on the same page and, he was for me just kind of like, a bingo. Then of course I asked recommendations about who can play flute. And again, it was a bingo with Carlo Nicita. He’s the quiet genius who just lives there in Italy, and no one knows him outside. Yeah. So, I was really fortunate to find all of them. Carlo Nicita recommended Eloisa Maniera because they work together. It was perfect band and the bass player did an excellent job. And so, we had a lot of fun and no troublemakers on the session. Pure joy.

That’s very interesting indeed because then the musicians and the music can gel. Now, the style of the record is very interesting. It reminds me a lot of 70s jazz rock and jazz fusion, I have to say, with lots of experimental elements. But the topic is a medieval topic. You can see that in the track listing when you have battle and tournament and everything. So how did you marry these medieval topics with this modern music?

Yelena: Well, I don’t know, but that was my vision. All those tunes, some of them are more medieval-ish sounding, some maybe less, but they’re all mine. I did not have a goal to make the music sound medieval. It’s just because it came out this way. Because if I thought about the subject, that’s how my melody would come to me. Okay, well, say, ‘Legends of the castle’. What kind of music should be there? Or some other like tunes like ‘Masquerade’. It’s of course more medieval-ish sounding because it was how people danced at these times. But I got all those tunes, because I had that vision, but then definitely it did not occur to me to make the medieval music. I wanted to express my childhood fascination about those times. I don’t know why I wrote music that was very modern, very rock-ish sounding. It just kind of happened that I thought, well, this is cool. This is how it is going to be. And then of course, the musicians who I had on the session, they all could improvise really well. And I had those improvised sections in my record. When I recorded what I called it ‘Medieval Symphony’ – the predecessor of ‘Scenes from the dark ages’ – in my MIDI studio long time ago, I didn’t have many improvisations there. I had just kind of compositions with maybe just a few little improvisations, but not as much as we had on the live session. And I wanted that because I think improvisation is very important means of developing the music. Of course, Bach improvised a lot too. So, improvisation was always a part of music development, but these improvisations were like not jazz improvisations. They were kind of in-between the rock improvisations and jazz.

Well, I have to ask you this. When it comes to improvisations, it’s a double-edged sword. Sometimes composers, like yourself, might say, well, you know, I’d like an improvisation. Just improvise the hell out of it. And some composers say, well, improvise, but I want to have the final say. How did it work in your case?

Yelena: I never tell my musicians how to improvise. When I decide to work with that musician, I will be trust that musician. I can never say, okay, well, you improvise some kind of something else. I’d never, never do that. It’s like, it’s never, I never have a problem with how musicians I worked with improvise.

Well, that’s wonderful. Now let’s talk about the title of the record. You didn’t call it ‘Scenes from the Middle Ages’, ‘Scenes from the Night Ages’. You called it ‘Scenes from the Dark Ages’. Why Dark Ages?

Yelena: It’s more romantic, is it not? I think so. I think it’s a, well, it’s, Dark ages is just, wow, you know, they were, of course, not Dark ages. For people who lived at these times, they were just normal. Well, I don’t know, maybe we live in a Dark ages now. I don’t know, but I don’t think people ever can call their, whatever time they live in ‘Sark’. Right? It’s just the life. But it’s romantic title for the record and it’s like what sometimes those medieval times called. So, I thought this would be, it would be more poetic, I would say.

I have to get into your songwriting a little bit more because the record is almost two hours long. It’s very long record. Did you set out wanting to write long songs or did they just turn into long songs, you know, combining compositions with improvisations?

Yelena: Yeah, I never have a goal about how long or short the song is going to be. I know that sometimes people prefer shorter songs. But like you said, it just comes out longer because we decide to open it up and have longer free solo, say. I like free solos, not structured. Like when there’s a structured solo, you can kind of predict how long it’s going to be. And then I have Ukrainian blood. My father is Ukrainian, and I have also 25 % from my mother’s side of Ukrainian blood. So, I’m very much Ukrainian. Ukrainians, they like to make sure that everything that is good is not wasted. If it’s a good free solo, I’m not going to cut it. It’s going to go all the way, you know, because why should I cut it?

Yeah, I know when it comes to solos, I’m a guitarist myself, but when I see people play solos, I love solos that come from the heart. You sometimes leave scales, you play bum notes, odd notes that don’t really fit into a particular scale much more than people who just play the scales. You know, the blues scale or the rock scale or a sharp scale or whatever. Is that, do you feel the same way? Do you want people to go out on a limb and just improvise their feelings out of their instruments?

Yelena: Yes, yes, but somehow, I say, of course I do have a choice what to select. It’s rarely when there is just one take. Most of times it’s at least two takes, so I can choose from two solos or maybe even three solos. When I put music together, I do consider that, okay, I like this better in this solo, but I like the ending in that solo, so let me combine them. Because as a composer, I think I have a right to say, okay, let me choose. Not too much. I’m not creating Frankensteins. Sometimes I would say, okay, well, that’s something that didn’t work. Okay, let me fix it. I do fix it, because I cannot stand if I listen later and it’s something like that I did not fix. I should have fixed that. So, basically, I work very hard to make sure that it the best material that goes to the record, and that I’m not losing anything that is really great.

No, you did not create Frankenstein’s monster. You created a very organic record, which, as I said, reminds me very much of the music of the late 70s, know, 78, 79, 80 and stuff. Now, I have to ask you, since you already talked about working on other stuff, we just got this record, but I’m a glutton. So, what’s next?

Yelena: Well, actually I’m recording in Italy again later this year. Last year, I recorded in Sweden, ‘Rosendals Garden’, with Svante Henryson and Morgen Agren. It is like a trio, but actually not trio, but quartet because Svante plays cello, and elliptical bass, and a double bass. He is great cellist. And I also have some synthesizers there. So, it’s kind of wide music. I’m going to release it next year, in 2026.

I have to ask you of course, since you know how to do business, tell us a little bit where people can find you on the net, where people can get your music and so on and so forth. Do a little promotion for us, please.

Yelena: Well, gladly, but yes, I’m very accessible. My music is very, very accessible. I distribute digitally through the Orchard. The Orchard distributes music everywhere. And also, I have physical distribution in Germany and EU. So, my physical CDs actually are available in Germany through in-akustik, and in German and EU online stores. And of course, in America I distribute through Bandcamp, I used to sell through Amazon, but with ridiculous changes Amazon applies now, I stopped even shipping to Amazon. And of course, on Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, whatever streaming services people use, they can stream my music through those services. And I have my website, yelenamusic.com and I have my landhproduction.com. I’m on Facebook and Instagram and TickTock. If people want to connect with me, look me up. You’re welcome. I answer even the emails from fans and people who are interested. Thank you for letting me promote myself.

Absolutely, of course. And I have to say that being on in-akustik is really quite something. I’ve known this distribution since the late 70s and they are extremely careful with their releases and they only do high quality stuff. So, congratulations on being with in-akustik and congratulations to akustik for having you. Now I have to ask you two more questions that don’t really have anything to do with your own music. The first one is this, if at this very moment, right now, I know it’s going to change, you could only take one record to the desert island with you, which one would it be?

Yelena: It’s almost like you asking me which son you gonna save if all three of my sons are drowning. Yes, it’s pretty much impossible to say. I think it’s always kind of natural thing that my last record is always my favorite. You are excited with the last record more than with the rest. Yes, I think, yeah, I mean, probably at this point I would take with me ‘Scenes from the Dark Ages’. Because I think it’s not only fulfillment, realization of my childhood dreams. It’s also a departure, more definite departure from the path that I’ve been on for many years. And it’s feels liberating to realize I’m departing my previous musical style and I’m excited and thrilled to get somewhere else. And I don’t even know where I’m going, but I’m going there.

Well, it’s definitely a departure. I was just about to say this, but it’s a very pleasant departure, I have to say. And another thing, well, you talked about your own records, but if you had to take somebody else’s record to the desert island with you, which one would you take? Just one, at this moment.

Yelena: I always come back to Bob Stenson’s records. Somehow, you know, he’s most perfect representation of good piano playing for me. I think I will probably take one of his records.

And another thing: you said that when you left Russia you couldn’t really take all that many things with you. Is there something from your early childhood that you still have that has survived everything and that you’re very happy that you still have it?

Yelena: Yeah, I have brought with me a few things that I cherish. This is one of the things that was before my eyes from the very beginning of my life. I cannot reach it now with my hand, but I have over there on the shelf in my studio. It is a little statue of the ballerina, made out of maybe plastic or something. It belonged to my grandmother. My grandmother, she wasn’t a ballerina, but she took some ballet, you know, and she always kept the posture. That little ballerina always reminded me of my grandmother. And when we were immigrating, I asked her, can I have this to take it with me? And I brought it with me. Every time I look at it, I remember my grandmother. I really loved her.

That is very lovely indeed. And the very last question I have for you. We’ve talked about personal things, music and whatnot, but is there something else which is very important to you, very dear to your heart that you would like to tell our listeners?

Yelena: Well, you asked me about the one record that I would take and I’m kind of changing my mind, because I kind of, well, I think, maybe the one record I would take to desert island would be ‘Animals’ by Pink Floyd. Because that was the first rock record that I have heard.  It influenced me greatly. ‘Animals’, is not like other records, that was very special kind of record for me, because it was my earliest musical experience. Bob Stenson came much later in, well, there is another record – ‘Apocalypses’ by Mahavishnu Orchestra that influenced me when I was young. Maybe that’s another candidate.

Yeah, some sort of message or something that you would like to tell to listeners.

Yelena: I would just say that I’m very grateful to all my listeners. And I know that people listen to my music all over the world because I can see the cities that they listen from. I’m grateful and I would like to encourage people who like my music to kind of dig through my other stuff, because every record of mine is different. You can listen to one song and then another will be quite different. And take another record, and it will be quite a surprising departure from one before. Dig into my music, and you will find something you like.

Absolutely, yes. My dear Yelena Eckemoff, it was a real pleasure talking to you. Thank you so very, very much indeed. Not just for the music, but also for your life story, your views on life and people and everything. And I hope we can do this again when your next record comes out. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you very, very much for this lovely interview and for taking so much time out to do it. Thank you.

Yelena: No, the pleasure is mine, Thank you.

Thank you very much. Bye.

Yelena: Bye.