Tenor Saxophonist – The Jazzaar Festival Big Band

In 1993 Igor recorded in New York, his first solo album of original compositions in the U.S., Falling Out, with Eddie Gomez, Lyle Mays, and Marvin Smitty Smith. He also played with Joe Locke in 1993 and then toured Europe with Lionel Hampton’s band in 1994.

In the following years, he frequently commuted between Moscow and New York and worked with Gary Burton, Eddie Gomez, Lenny White, and John Abercrombie, among others. In 1997 his album Nostalgie was released. In 1998 he participated in the album Method to the Madness of the musician collaborative New York Jazz Guerrilla around Torsten de Winkel; Wynton Marsalis brought him as a guest soloist to the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In 2003, Jazz at Lincoln Center featured a collaboration between the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Igor Butman Big Band. In 2006, Butman recorded a new album thematically based on old Soviet cartoons and movies; it featured Chick Corea, John Patitucci, Randy Brecker, Stefon Harris, and Jack DeJohnette.