Became known amazing facts from the life of Alexei Kozlov

The evening in the Kozlov Club in honor of the birthday of the main jazzman of the country Alexei Kozlov has always been musical, but on the first celestial birthday of the founder, the concert was filled with memories of him. So, one of the guests of the evening was a psychotherapist Alexei Sitnikov, who told few known stories. I want to keep them in memory of Alexei Semenovich. Sharing.

On the "galactic scale" of Alexei Kozlov:

- In 1994, three professors came to teach in Oklahoma, the city-capital of oil - they were Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Yegor Gaidar and me. There was no money, Gaidar went to premiership, Yevtushenko stayed there, I worked as a therapist in a Methodist church, and Alexei Semenovich came to visit me. We lived in the same room, there was no money. Where can I get a dollar? He's an obnoxious neighbor, I can tell you right away who knows him, understands what I mean. We came up with entertainment: we rented a room in a Methodist church and did very interesting concerts. The first part — he played the saxophone, the second — I did hypnosis. We made $100-$200 and it was illegal. At the end of his visit to America, the Russian Embassy decided to organize an event for oil workers and make a concert in honor of his departure, call the city hall, the governor of the state, and bought for insane money some leading jazz band from New Orleans to accompany him. They come, you have no idea what kind of pontiffs! Some Russian will play with them! Alexei Semenovich went to wear a white jacket, and I stayed with the team, their leader nervously smoked and, addressing his musicians, said: “This Russian now taught us jazz more than we have known in a lifetime.”.

On Kozlov's skill:

- I'm a former musician, too. He learned to play the sitar in the family of Shankar (Ravi Shankar is an Indian musician, composer, sitar virtuoso - M.B.), they have more than three hundred musicians in the family. When I left, they said to me: “Do you know such a Kozlov?” Say hello, please.”.

I fulfilled the request, to which Alexei Semenovich said that he had a lot of ties with India, and told the story: I did yoga. And when I was asked to write the music for a documentary about India, I demanded that I be sent there for two months - I wanted to study culture and do yoga with a normal teacher. I came, found a yoga school, there was a woman, very good. I came to class, introduced myself, said that I was from the Soviet Union, began to study, and after the second class she comes up to me and says: “Russian, you probably don’t come again, stop crooking.” I was terribly upset, it hit my ego.” But on the eve of his departure, the embassy staged his concert again, and he sent her a ticket to rehabilitate himself. After the concert, she approached him and said

Alexey, can I ask you a question? Why did you come to my class?

- I wanted to learn yoga from a professional.

- What's yoga for you?

- The development of mentality, memory, breathing practices, mastering your body, said Alexey Semenovich. She took him by the hand and said, “Alexei, you have now controlled your body in a way that no yogi can, breathed in a way that no pranayama master can, you played without scores for three hours on stage – will you tell me about memory, body ownership and breathing practices?” Why do you need my yoga? You have your own