Music for thinking people

The festival was founded by well-known Ukrainian jazzman, bass guitarist Ihor ZAKUS (in the photo). The rhythm section includes virtuoso musicians: keyboard player Fima Chupakhin, drummer Oleksandr Lebedenko, and guitarist Denys Moroz. Three experienced jazz singers, lyrical Yulia Roma, bright Lana Merkulova, and passionate Olha Neka, were responsible for the singing part.

“Female voice is an instrument of jazz, like saxophone,” Ihor Zakus believes, “Although our program did not have a saxophonist this time, we had three wonderful voices. Each performer has a special manner of performance and a deeply individual timbre of voice. When I was inviting the girls to take part in the concert, my purpose was to show three images of Ukrainian jazz to the audience. And it’s up to the audience to choose what it likes the most.

Judging by the reaction of the audience (the hall was crowded), the people present liked all the three wonderful images. The audience tried to join in singing of even the author’s songs, which they heard for the first time. “I have seen only Olha before, she has performed in the Voice of Ukraine,” admitted one of the visitors, 29-year-old resident of Kyiv Olena. “I was outraged: how could they not turn round the chairs, when the singer has such a voice? I am thankful to Ihor: he presents us with a festival of real music and invites the performers who are worth of looking at and listening to. In autumn I will definitely come to the new program: I wanted to buy the tickets today.”

“They say jazz is music for elite,” Ihor Zakus contemplates, “but when you give such a definition, you must explain what elite is. This is not just well-off people with a certain social status, because my audience includes, for example, a lot of student youth who are only beginning their life path. I would say that jazz is music for the people who think. From time to time you need to think over the questions that would seem simple: who are you, what you want in this life, and what kind of world you want to see around you. Jazz encourages us to look for answers, to create something new, to improve, it makes us think, imagine, and dream.”

People who want to perform such music together with Ihor and his band stand in line – every time young performers come to the concert. All of them have one question to ask, “How to get to the team of the project Jazz Kolo?” “Of course, everyone who likes to sing and sings well stands all chances,” Ihor explains. “Actually every concert starts with an idea, and then, when it is well-formulated, I invite singers and musicians, who, as for me, will realize it in the best way.”

Sometimes the ideas are absolutely incredible. For example, at one of the concerts (there have been nine of them at the small stage of Ukraina Palace since September 2014) jazz was performed on trembita! “It can be played on drymba, why not?” Ihor smiles, “Any instruments we have can be used for playing jazz, the most important thing is the way you perform. You can go to the Carpathians and listen to Hutsuls performing jazz. I’m sure you have never heard anything about this. Our people are amazing and very talented.” Incidentally, a world-renowned jazz star Marcus Miller, when he heard Zakus and his band, was of the same opinion. “It happened at the festival DoDzh, which was held by well-known producer Oleksandr Siry,” Ihor recalls, “My band and I were playing as an opening band for Miller and he wanted to talk to me after the concert. He’s an easy-going man without a star fever. Maybe the more the person is given, the easier s/he is in communication.” After that Markus, a real legend and an orchestra man, admitted to mass media: there are ten musicians of Zakus’s scale in the world.

The new season of Jazz Kolo will begin in autumn and it promises many pleasant surprises for music lovers.