Renowned jazz musician, one of the founders of the International Jazz Festival Odessa JazzFest Yuri Kuznetsov, died on Monday night after a long illness, said his wife Natalia Ertnova in the social network Facebook.

Recent months Kuznetsov undergoing treatment, underwent a complicated operation in December 2015.

"City will never hear him live music, his voice, and shall not see his hands, are creating a miracle right before our eyes ... are the words of memory, memorial concert is expected to remain a lot of video and audio recordings ...

All this will stay with us forever, but live music masters, his precise and wise words, we no longer hear ... Now Jura talking with God, and plays in other worlds. And here it is already said everything ... "- says one musician Nathan Gonopolsky.

Kuznetsov was born July 11, 1953 in Odessa. He has participated in major jazz festivals in Paris, Lyon, Munich, Rome, Hamburg, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Riga, St. Petersburg. He was President and one of the organizers of the high music Club and Jazz Festival in Odessa.