In 1973, Leonid Samuilovich flees the USSR and lands a job at the BBC in London. Five years later, radio host Alexei Leonidov starts releasing clandestine recordings smuggled from totalitarian countries via intricate cloak-and-dagger operations. Today, 86-year-old music producer Leo Feigin sits on top of over 30.000 LPs, contemplating on the meaning of his work amidst the grim outlook of new Iron Curtains. Leo Records is a symbol of musical resistance against authoritarian regimes and a pioneer of what we now know as avant-garde.
Photos and interviews by Livio Minafra, carried out between Ruvo di Puglia and Paris between 2000 and 2002. Interview Renato Geremia, Guido Mazzon, Martin Mayes, Marcello Lorrai and Francesco Martinelli. Taylor and Instabile video concert commissioned to Giovanni Visaggio, Video Art Studio by Pino Minafra during Talos Festival 2000 in Ruvo di Puglia.
Cecil Percival Taylor was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex improvisation often involving tone clusters and intricate polyrhythms.