For those unaware, Russian-born pianist and composer Arina Oludina proudly announces the release of her debut album Through Different Worlds, recorded in New York City with a stellar ensemble.

The recording documents Oludina’s journey from a classical foundation to a deeply personal voice in jazz, balancing structural elegance, harmonic sophistication, and a modern improvisational sensibility.

Trained from the age of five, Oludina grew up immersed in classical repertoire, performing widely across Russia and Europe before deciding to follow her growing urge to compose and improvise. That pursuit led her to Jazzcampus Basel, where she studied under Brad Mehldau, Aaron Parks, Jorge Rossy, and Larry Grenadier, and where her compositional voice took form — rooted in classical tradition yet open to jazz’s freedom and vitality.

Through Different Worlds begins with “Brooklyn Anytime,” a melancholic jazz waltz composed in Brooklyn and recorded in trio with bassist Charlie Lincoln and drummer David Sirkis. Here, Oludina captures the mingled lyricism and restless pulse of New York, setting the tone for an album in which place and memory continually inform the music.

From there, the mood shifts with “Waterfall,” composed during her studies in Basel. Featuring Azat Bayazitov on saxophone, the piece flows with a sense of inevitability, its cascading lines echoing the imagery of its title while opening the album’s sonic palette.

1. Brooklyn Anytime
2. Waterfall
3. Prelude
4. Shadows
5. When You See The Ocean
6. I Trust You
7. Where Is My Home
8. At the Old Orchard

With Oludina, here on Through Different Worlds, making a confident and eloquent statement, one that also establishes her as a singular new voice on the international jazz scene, she opens on the playfully flirtatious Brooklyn Anytime and the atmospherically charged Waterfall, and then we get brought forth the decadent swirls and twirls that drive Prelude (composed during her studies in Basel and featuring a friend of Exclusive Magazine, the supremely talented Azat Bayazitov on saxophone) and the sheer elegance of Shadows.

Along next is the flourishingly resonant When You See The Ocean which is in turn backed seamlessly by an aching yearn that threads throughout the absorbent, once again saxophone-fed I Trust You, the set rounding out on the sumptuous Where Is My Home, coming to a close on the exquisitely refined At the Old Orchard.

Arina Oludina - Brooklyn Anytime (feat. Сharlie Lincoln and David Sirkis) [Official Video]

Arina Oludina @ YouTube