In "Nothing But Illusion", flutist-bandleader Ilona Kudina brings together five great jazz players spanning two generations and two continents. Legendary drummer Billy Hart, Berklee faculty member Greg Hopkins on trumpet, together with two bright lights of the younger generation of jazz players, pianist Vardan Ovsepian and bassist Akili Jamal Haynes join Kudina. Playing their own tunes and arrangements in a sensual, cosmopolitan hybrid of American and European jazz styles, this band’s sound is imaginative and fresh.

On a warm summer day in 2006 I went down to the Cornelia Street Cafe to catch a rare (and my first) Jeremy Steig performance. I have been an admirer of Steig’s music since the early seventies. I made sure I was there early at the first table, practically on the stage. After the first set the place emptied out and I settled in for the second set. Sitting at my tiny round table was Ilona Kudina who had come down from Boston to also see Steig for the first time. She asked me if I would buy a copy of her "Chamber Music For Flute" CD so she could buy her glass of wine for the second set. We struck up a conversation about our experiences in the music business and I learned that Steig’s music had made a huge impression on her since first hearing "Flute Fever". She told me that it was her dream to one day record her first jazz flute album and she even had the title for it too, "Nothing But Illusion". After the second set I had to catch a train so she invited me to contact her via her website. Since then we have had the opportunity to not only meet Jeremy Steig personally, but also record the Amber Flute Quartet album and now her dream project "Nothing But Illusion" with the Ilona Kudina Quintet.

Don Hunerberg: Recording / Mixing Producer