The 1960s marked the beginning of a golden age for Azerbaijani jazz, during which it developed into a distinctive and innovative movement within the Soviet jazz landscape. The decade provided a unique environment that fostered the emergence of a wide variety of styles in the country’s jazz scene. The innovations of the period included both “Free Flight” and more intense forms of musical expression, while a number of exceptional talents also came to prominence. One of these discoveries was the jazz musician Rafig Babayev (1936–1994), who achieved his international breakthrough already at the Tallinn Jazz Festival in 1967.
Rafig Babayev was a highly intelligent and versatile pianist, bandleader and arranger. He captured the new pulse of the Azerbaijani nation and succeeded in bringing its emerging nuances and accents to the fore. History entrusted him with yet another mission: he was the first to establish a school from which several generations of talented musicians would emerge. Among them were Jamil Amirov, Siyavush Kerimi, Alesker Abbasov, Gennady Stepanishev, Tofig Jabbarov and Aziza Mustafa Zadeh. Aziza, in particular, received significant artistic guidance and support from Rafig Babayev following the premature death of her father, Vagif Mustafazade. Yet Rafig Babayev’s own life was also tragically short. On 17 March 1994, he was killed in a terrorist attack on the Baku Metro. This year, he would have celebrated his 90th birthday.

The percussionist Tofig Jabbarov was a close musical companion of Rafig Babayev for many years and performed alongside him in several ensembles. Following Babayev’s death, Tofig Jabbarov collaborated with almost all of the country’s leading jazz musicians before eventually founding his own band, Bakuba. The group is distinguished by its multifaceted sound, combining the improvisational tradition of Azerbaijani music with a range of jazz styles, from Afro-Cuban and Latin American rhythms to jazz-rock.

With its stylistically diverse programme, Bakuba seeks to pay fitting tribute to Rafig Babayev on the occasion of his 90th birthday, while bringing to life the musical openness and versatility that defined his work.