WINTER FEST'S UKRAINIAN CONNECTION
San Jose Jazz schedules several musicians from war-torn nation
There is no silver lining to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has displaced millions and killed many thousands of combatants and Ukrainian civilians while threatening to spiral into a wider conflagration. But as the world's attention has turned to a nation fighting for its survival, the war has created surprising opportunities for Ukrainian musicians.
In an unprecedented collaboration, San Jose Jazz has teamed with Olga Bekenshtein, a young Ukrainian producer who founded Kyiv's Am I Jazz? festival in 2016. Providing a wide window into a lively but little known Eastern European scene, this year's San Jose Jazz Winter Fest is billed as “Counterpoint with Ukraine.”
With about half the Winter Fest concerts featuring Ukrainian musicians, often sharing stages with their American peers, the festival runs today through March 3 at venues throughout downtown San Jose's South First Street arts district. San Jose Jazz is also partnering with 3Below Theaters and San Jose Playhouse on a film series at 3Below focusing on Ukrainian cinema.
The organization's connection with Bekenshtein emerged out of the European Jazz Network conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, last September, where San Jose Jazz executive director Brendan Rawson caught the Ukrainian duo of trumpeter Dennis Adu and keyboardist Dmytro Avksentiev performing a piece commissioned by Am I Jazz? Bekenshtein wasn't at the conference, but Rawson made a point of reaching out to her via LinkedIn and they quickly put a plan into action.
“When we started chatting she told me about all these concerts and commissions she'd planned for her festival in 2020 that were postponed due to the pandemic, and then of course the war, so she was never able to present them in Kyiv,” Rawson said.
Among the projects she mentioned were Montreal drummer/composer John Hollenbeck working with several Ukrainian artists, and a new work by Berkeley trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire with Son Lux guitarist/composer Rafiq Bhatia.
“I thought, Ambrose is right here, and presenting John Hollenbeck would be a cool thing,” Rawson said. “We have our Winter Fest coming up. We have this event that could be a really interesting platform to turn over to her.”
Ghana-born Kyiv trumpeter Dennis Adu, a leading force on the Ukraine creative music scene who's worked widely around Europe, makes his U.S. debut Feb. 18 at the San Jose Jazz Break Room with a quintet featuring saxophonist Borys Mohylevskyi, another acclaimed Kyiv improviser, with a Bay Area rhythm section featuring bassist Marcus Shelby, pianist Luis Peralta and drummer Ben Espocito.
In addition to the intimate Break Room, Winter Fest presents shows at San Jose's Mama Kin Bar & Restaurant, The Continental and Tabard Theatre, where Akinmusire and Bhatia premiere their Am I Jazz? commission on Feb. 26. Shows will also be presented at Santa Clara University's Mayer Theatre.
Tabard also presents Hollenbeck's quartet GEORGE, which joins forces on Feb. 24 with special guest Ukrainian artists Igor Osypov on guitar, as well as vocalist Olesya Zdorovetska and renowned Kyiv dancer/choreographer Alina Sokulska.
A pandemic-convened project that combines elements of experimental jazz, ambient electronica, and chamber music, GEORGE features flutist/ tenor saxophonist Anna Webber, Chiquita Magic on keys and voice, and Aurora Nealand on voice, saxophone and keys. The San Jose Jazz High School All Stars play an opening set performing Ukrainian folk music arranged by Hollenbeck and All-Star composers Ryota Sato and Jeremy Darrow.
Beyond introducing Bay Area audiences to Ukrainian artists, San Jose Jazz is offering Winter Fest patrons a vehicle to support Ukraine through a special general admission ticket that includes a $10 donation benefiting Nova Ukraine, a nonprofit that provides direct humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
But it wasn't only support for a beleaguered people that sparked Rawson's interest in working with Bekenshtein. In talking with her about Am I Jazz? he realized she was a kindred spirit whose curatorial vision complimented his organization's Jazz Beyond programming.
In founding the Am I Jazz? festival, she “wanted to show the interconnection of music, and how originally Black music inspired and was appropriated in different places,” said Bekenshtein, 35, on a recent video call from Poznan, Poland. “I've focused mostly on a big definition of Black music, including techno, house, and hip-hop.”
Not every Ukrainian artist fits under the jazz beyond umbrella. Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, the most prominent Ukrainian-born jazz artist in the U.S., gained widespread notice in the mid-aughts as part of vibraphonist Gary Burton's Next Generation Band, a quintet designed to showcase a brilliant cadre of young musicians including North Bay guitar star Julian Lage.
In 2019, Neselovskyi's manager suggested that he consider working on a solo piano suite drawing explicitly on his Ukrainian roots and upbringing. The timing and concept struck a chord with the pianist, who was “craving a project that would allow me to create a larger arc, an uninterrupted experience,” he said.
Neselovskyi performs the Bay Area premiere of “Odesa” on Sunday at the Break Room, a five-part reflection on his hometown that has evolved and deepened since he released it last year. He set out to create a highly personal montage of the historic Black Sea port, “not necessarily quoting some songs, though I do that, but drawing on my family history,” he said.
“My father was dying while I was working on the project, which gave it another emotional layer. He was Odesa, a mixture of Jewish, Ukrainian and Russian bittersweet humor. It became a dedication to him as well.”
The suite gracefully carries the weight of history, both familial and national, and in many ways all of the Ukrainian artists are in the same boat, whether they still live in the war-torn country or moved abroad years ago in search of more career opportunities.
War has a way of reconfiguring one's identity, and Bekenshtein is still trying to wrap her head around the seismic shift.
“As a festival organizer you think about how you represent musicians, but not the whole culture,” she said. “Now sometimes I feel this victory depends on this specific festival. I wouldn't say it's a very comfortable situation.”