KGNU’s Joanne Cole chats with Ivan Strunin to discuss his new album, The First Day of December, featuring collaborations with Dirk Powell and Michael Doucet. Strunin shares his journey from classical violin to country and zydeco fiddle, inspired by legends like Stephane Grappelli, Sugar Cane Harris, and Django Reinhardt (Interview date: 10/22/2024)
Joanne Cole: That, my friends, is my good friend Ivan Strunin featuring Dirk Powell and Michael Doucette. And through the magic of radio, my good friend Ivan will be on the line. Hey, Ivan.
Ivan Strunin: Hey, Joanne. How are you?
Joanne Cole: Oh, my God, it worked! Not without help. I had to go call the engineer, my technical guy, to show me how to do it. Welcome to KGNU, Ivan.
Ivan Strunin: Nice to be here. Or there.
Joanne Cole: You’re right here in Colorado. Ivan and I haven’t seen each other in 45 years. I was doing the math.
Ivan Strunin: Has it been that long? Yeah.
Joanne Cole: 1979 maybe. ‘79, or 1980, anyways, neither here nor there. We met in Chicago, you were a young man, I was a young girl, and through the magic of Facebook, we’ve reconnected ourselves here. You have this fabulous CD, called The First of December. It’s really good, and it’s going to get great play here at KGNU, but Ivan, why don’t you tell the folks here how you came to music in the beginning.
Ivan Strunin: I was one of your typical orchestra kids, and I’d always wanted to play something other than classical music. I’d been playing in bands since high school, but I got to Chicago where we met, and started hanging out at a real seedy dive bar called Mr. Kiley’s. I got hired to play country fiddle, which I’d never done before, and I’ve been playing fiddle ever since. Was 1979, I think.
Joanne Cole: Were you trained on the violin initially?
Ivan Strunin: Yeah, I took violin lessons. They’d stick a piece of classical music in front of you. That’s all I knew how to do, but I had a set of ears and I could hear stuff and I would play along with records when I was younger. That’s how I learned the varieties of music I play now.
Joanne Cole: Who are some of the people that have influenced you along the way these past 45 years?
Ivan Strunin: Oh, Stephane Grappelli, the great partner of Django Reinhardt. Sugar Cane Harris. Recent vintage Casey Dreesen and Darol Anger who’ve also both been teachers of mine. Evan Price from the Hot Club of San Francisco.
So I’ve gotten to study and work with all these guys and Michael Doucet, of course. He and I have been friends for, oh, must be 20 odd years now. I’d met Derek Powell at Wintergrass and then he was teaching at the Swannanoa Gathering.
Joanne Cole: Which Wintergrass? Because we have one here in Colorado, but I’m assuming you’re talking about something else.
Ivan Strunin: I’m talking about the one in Seattle. Dirk and Cedric Watson were both playing together there. Fast forward to the summer, and I’m having lunch at the Swannanoa Gathering Fiddle Week. I’m sitting across the table from Dirk, and I said, didn’t I see you at Wintergrass? And he goes, oh yeah. So we started talking, and then we got together, Dirk and Katie Glassman, a great Western swing player, and Daryl. I said, let’s do a tune together for the closing concert. Dirk, after we played together, said, I got this studio in Bayou Teche. I always wanted to see Bayou Teche because I’d read all the James Lee Burke novels.
Joanne Cole: Did it match up to your expectations? Because James Lee Burke paints a pretty awesome picture.
Ivan Strunin: I didn’t see any of the ghosts, and I didn’t find any of the miniballs, but the food and the musicians certainly matched up to my expectations.
And Michael, living right in the neighborhood, said he’d like to be on the album, and the rest is the album.
Joanne Cole: It’s fabulous. It’s really good, Ivan. Our guest is Ivan Strunin. We’re talking about a new CD titled The First Day of December, available wherever fine CDs are sold. Ivan, do you have a website that we can direct people to?
Ivan Strunin: I do. It’s easy to remember. It’s IvanOnTheFiddle.com.
Joanne Cole: Very good. I want to play another cut and come back to say our goodbyes because I gotta get back to this show, Ivan, but I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to hear your voice and to be able to have the opportunity to play your fabulous music here on KGNU Radio.
What song shall I play on this? What’s your absolute fave?
Ivan Strunin: My absolute fave is, I think it’s the last song on the record, “Sitting on Top of the World.”
Joanne Cole: That’s the one we’ll play. Our guest is Ivan Strunin. And we’ll come back, Ivan. So think of something brilliant to say. I’m going to play this CD now for our listeners right here on KGNU. This is Ivan Strunin, Dirk Powell, and Michael Doucet.
Ivan Strunin: Yeah, it’s a little rock and roll. It’s my homage to Sugarcane and to Cream. And Doc Watson, of course.
Joanne Cole: Yeah, I started off with the Deep River Blues because I’m a huge fan of Doc Watson. Hey, Ivan, is that you singing?
Ivan Strunin: That’s me singing.
Joanne Cole: Dang, dude.
Ivan Strunin: Yeah, it’s a little hidden talent I’ve found late in life.
Joanne Cole: You’re a rock star, baby! 10 o’clock in the morning and we’re rocking it out. I’ve never heard of Sugar Cane Harris, so I’m going to look him up and play him. Our guest is Ivan Strunin. The CD is The First Day of December. He’s joined by Dirk Powell and Michael Doucette.
You know what I love the most about this CD, Ivan, is the diversity of song selection. I think we’re going to go out with “Zydeco Minor Swing”, which is by Django Reinhardt, who you mentioned earlier, arranged by you. Really lovely zydeco stuff here, obviously. You got some Mezz Mezzrow, you got Cyril Neville. You’ve got some really great stuff. So it’s really diverse. I just love it.
Ivan Strunin: It was my first solo album, or album in my name. So I had all this pent up, stuff that I wanted to play and I figured I’d try and get it all in one album.
Joanne Cole: You did a great job. It’s really diverse and yet all within that zydeco vein. I sometimes find zydeco repetitive, and I like this because that’s not the case with this CD. Hats off to you. You did a great job. I hope you’ll be touring the country with this CD and get you all out here to play. We’ve got some great venues here in Colorado. It’s cold as hell, what are you going to do? It’s cold.
Ivan Strunin: Hey, if somebody will have me. I’ll be there.
Joanne Cole: All right. Very good. Our guest is Ivan Strunin.. I wanna thank you again, Ivan. The name of your website again is IvanOnTheFiddle.com. We’re gonna get this into our bin so folks can hear that. Again, Ivan, great to hear your voice. I look forward to the day when we can chat and catch up on the next 45 years. Should we live so long.
Ivan Strunin: Thanks for having me.
Joanne Cole: You betcha. I’m going to go out with this “Zydeco Minor Swing” right here on KGNU. Thank you, Ivan.