Can Jazz Influence The Weather?

A hot jazz week has ended in Kyiv, and not our traditional Fall Jazz Marathon. There are marathons and there are marathons, so it is for everyone to decide what is what. Kyiv was toured by two absolutely different musicians, but each of the world caliber: the gorgeous Polish vocalist, extrovert and artist Marek Balata with his jazz trio, and the excellent Finnish American New York pianist, introvert Mika Pohjola. But first things first.

MAREK BALATA, MAN OF FLESH AND BLOOD

We owed Marek Balata’s visit to Peter Kozakiewicz, director of the Polish Institute in Kyiv. The Polish vocalist has been unmatched in his country for the past decade, known internationally as the European Bobby McFerrin. A flattering comparison, of course, but it is just a tag which does not fully reveal Balata’s talent. His voice is a musical instrument with a range from rich tenor to muted bugle to whistling violin, from whisper to scream. In addition, his renditions can hardly be described as jazz technically; a graphics graduate of the Krakow Arts Academy, he regards music as his best means of self-expression. And we as listeners are to decide what all this looks like stylistically.

Marek Balata brought an extremely diverse repertoire to Kyiv. To begin with, he is an expert on scat. He also performs Chopin, jazz standards (with lyrics), and Polish songs.

“It’s my first visit, and I don’t know whether I’ll be back or not, so it’s best to show one’s repertoire in full versatility. I could not construct my concert on only one theme; I wanted to address the broadest possible Ukrainian audience. I often hear critical comments, especially in Poland,” says the musician. “Some Poles would rather I sang like an American. But when I was in the US they were glad I remained my old self. They have enough splendid domestic performers. When I performed in Bratislava, people would come over after the concert and say that I sang with my heart. And when my American friend musician Art Lande calls me a heart vocalist I feel pleased, I really do. I wish I could keep that way. I also use body language sometimes, so everyone in the audience knows I am a man of flesh and blood.”

The only bad thing was that the Buddy Guy Club accommodating one of Balata’s concerts proved too narrow for his voice. At times it seemed that the ceiling was going to burst and the walls would cave in. Fortunately, nothing happened, but on the night of the concert the ice outside the club melted.

MIKA POHJOLA: WATCH YOUR LEFT FOOT!

Once a female employee of the Finnish Embassy by the name of Kati Heiska approached Oleksiy Kohan and said she could bring a Finnish musician to Kyiv. She did, and he turned out to be Mika Pohjola, a 28-year-old pianist, now a resident of New York for the past four years, playing with one of the most prestigious local jazz clubs, with very convincing positive reviews in the best jazz publications.

Of course, we all wanted to know how a man from serene Finland felt in crazy New York. Just fine, he assured everybody, because he is a little crazy himself, considering that he left Helsinki at 15 to study music in Stockholm. At 22 he found himself in Boston, attending the Berkeley School. So he feels perfectly at home in New York. Moreover, he made his name among a multitude of matching musicians there. “I was lucky,” says Mika. But it must have been more than luck, for I had something to show them all. A prestigious periodical wrote that the man is making truly original, singular music which is a very meaning fact at this epoch of conformity.

In Kyiv, he played with two Kharkiv jazzmen, Denys Dudko (double bass) and Oleksandr Lebedenko (drums), both standing members of Volodymyr Shabaltas’s quartet. The two are perhaps the only Ukrainian performers matching the pianist. “The guys are just great, among the best musicians I’ve ever played with,” Mika is positive. “Denys has a very keen ear and sense of timing. Oleksandr has a singular sense of swing. I wish we could continue playing together.” Some of the numbers involved Vitaly Ivanov playing saxophone, and the addition proved a good blend. Mika Pohjola allowed his partners a lot of freedom, knowing that musicians of such caliber could contribute a lot to his own music and make him see it at a different angle. They did and sometimes the rhythm section sounded like a separate concert number.

Mika has on more than one occasion admitted that being original is not as important to him as being sincere. “When I try to figure out what music I should play I have to set up a solid barrier against all extraneous factors, like what they played before, and who plays what and how now. For example, I am fond of the tango (it’s very popular in Finland), and I’m willing to offer a few such compositions, even if they lack that Argentinean flair. It’s very important to keep an open door to everything interesting. I concentrate on expressing what I consider real, not the stuff that comes from habit, manner, or a situation like when they say and now, gentlemen, we’re going to play some jazz. That’s fake, you know, superficial make-believe, like when one’s trying to play tough jazzman and jams the audience with his blues. Like when you want to play Miles Davis and at the same time lay yourself out to show that you’re different, original. In pop and even in classical music you come across such things every now and then. For this reason being original does not interest me, because it means concentrating on one’s own ego and on being different from the rest. I am not that different from you. We breath the same air and eat the same food. Why should music be that different? When you are honest, originality comes automatically; it’s the result of your experience and outlook.”

Sitting at the piano, Mika Pohjola is rock steady and serious and only his left foot betrays emotion, tapping at the most important and successful moment. Sometimes he squints his eyes ironically and with mimic and accompaniment banters with his partners as they do their solos. Behind all his serious front is a lot of self-irony.

Strangely, his concert tour of Kyiv was again followed by a noticeable thaw.