Since the first days of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, we have felt the support and solidarity of the European music community, festival organizers, musicians and journalists. Citizen Jazz was among them.
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From the very first days, we felt support and solidarity from the European music community, festival organisers, musicians, and journalists. Citizen Jazz was among them. We were mentioned more and more often abroad - for example, as part of our cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute, we had the opportunity to represent the platform at the Jazzahead! showcase, review events and establish new contacts.
The idea of a special issue of Meloport in the French edition of Citizen Jazz was discussed during this year’s showcase. The work has been going on since the end of spring. This collaboration encourages us to hope that we are finally recovering and will soon be able to tell more about the improvisational scene during the war, both in Ukraine and abroad.
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And yet, art plays a key role in this struggle for survival, because it unites different people for the sake of one idea, and with the right support from the outside, it can blossom into a vibrant colour. This inspires not only artists to boldly express themselves in the world but also the world to accept and support them.
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Dennis Adu is a well-known Ukrainian jazz musician, trumpeter, composer, bandleader, senior lecturer at the Department of Jazz Music and director of the Glier Kyiv Music Academy Jazz Orchestra. Since the beginning of the war, Dennis Adu has become one of the jazz musicians with the strongest civic position.
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“Now every Ukrainian musician has a mission to show what is happening in Ukraine and who Ukrainians are. It's a very difficult process, but I think that the incentive alone makes our music much better”.
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“...here [in Ukraine] miracles happen only to people who want something. If you strive, you will find answers to your questions.”
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Maryna Kramarenko is a Ukrainian jazz pianist, composer and teacher currently based in Helsinki, Finland. At the beginning of the full-scale war, she had to leave for Finland with her son.
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June 2023, a village in northern Ukraine, the ruins of the House of Culture. Only the "skeleton" of the building survived the shelling. Young people scattered among the rubble, sorting through the debris, dismantling the remains of the walls, and throwing the garbage away. A group of people with hammers are cleaning the surviving bricks from glue residue. Recid and Vitalii Shevchenko are playing b2b on vinyl 20 metres away. The hammerers are trying to beat the clots of mortar to the rhythm of the set.
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24 and a half minutes - this is how much survives from the recording of Oleksandr Shapoval Sextet performance at the 1976 Donetsk Jazz Festival. However, shortness of the material is compensated for by its intensity, and the recorded composition is one of the most interesting achievements in the entire history of Ukrainian jazz.
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Ziabliuk does not renounce his Ukrainian roots in his artistic activity, directly drawing on them by the handful. At the same time, he does not allow himself to be tied down to just one point in the musical geography of the world. Without complexes, she brings her heritage to the European creative music scene, consciously refraining from closing herself within strictly defined boundaries.
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Ultramarine is an international quartet comprising vocalist Uliana Horbachevska and bassist Mark Tokar (both from Ukraine), Lithuanian saxophonist Petras Vysniauskas, and German drummer Klaus Kugel.
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„Asylum Search” represents very open and searching playing and it was recorded by great improvisers led by Ukrainian pianist, composer, and educator Yuri Seredin. He is accompanied by Dutch-born alto saxophonist Ben Van Gelder, two Ukrainian musicians - one of them living in Canada, Bogdan Gumenyuk (tenor saxophone, creator of the label LaberWhoAble), another one residing in Berlin, Igor Osypov (guitar) and also a bass player from Italy, Igor Spallati and American drummer, Nasheet Waits.
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The band KK4TET was brought into existence in Kyiv by the young double bassist Khrystyna Kirik. The quartet included her colleagues Mykola Ryshkov, Hryhorii Parshyn and Taras Kozak.
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Beautiful melodies full of melancholy and longing for the homeland, this is what the KINVA's album sounds like. The Ukrainian trio was formed in Poland right after Russia invided Ukraine. A couple of musicians – pianist Anastasija Litvinyuk and drummer Igor Hnydyn (creators of ethno-jazz group ChockolaD) formed a trio with Polish musician with Ukrainian roots, Roman Chraniuk.
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Seven original compositions by pianist Kseniya Slobodian are featured on her debut album, recorded with the quartet she leads. Ukrainian musicians took part in the recording, including trumpet and flugelhorn player Yakiv Tsvietinskyi, one of the project leader's teachers. The ensemble was completed by tenor saxophonist Danylo Vinarikov and the rhythm section formed by drummer Ihor Pozhidaiev and bass guitarist Danylo Parshykov.
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Ukrainian jazz has never been developing in a single direction. Each city is like a separate entity that has been independently promoting its own idea for years. It's a pleasure to watch how this divergence of ideas is growing and enriched with images that could be used to describe them.
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„Rise” is the debut album recorded by George Grydkovets, Ukrainian guitarist currently living in New York where he studies at the New School's School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. He is accompanied by three leading Ukrainian jazz musicians: Dennis Adu on trumpet (in three pieces), Valentin Korniyenko on bass and Pavel Galitsky on drums.
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'Berliner Suite' was recorded by two musicians living in Berlin: the Italian-born pianist Davide Incorvaia and the trumpeter Dima Bondareava from Donetsk, Ukraine. The minialbum is half of a project of duo recordings made by the Italian pianist.
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