John Hollenbeck & The Hot Club Jazz Orchestra - Peace and Justice мир і справедливість PAZ E JUSTIÇA

Olha Bekenshtein  - "At the end of 2021, I commissioned John to write arrangements of Ukrainian music for a large ensemble. I love how he does that — how he deconstructs the body of the song, but preserves what it embodies, creates the spaces of total fission, and gathers sounds into swarms. It always surprises me, it always awes me, and yet it always feels natural. Due to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, that commission never happened, but, to exploit another metaphor, a grain has sprouted.

The song “Red Shades”, recorded for this album, is an arrangement of the Ukrainian song “Oi u luzi chervona kalyna” ("Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow"). I didn’t commission this one. It found the way on its own when history created the thematic loop.

The song was written around 1914 by Ukrainian theatre director and composer Stepan Charnetskyi, based on an old folk tune. During World War I, it became popular among soldiers of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, a volunteer military formation that fought for the liberation of Ukrainian lands from Russian rule. In 2022, the Ukrainian singer and volunteer enlistee Andriy Khlyvnyuk recorded a short video of himself singing the song, making it popular once again, once again when Ukraine is fighting for freedom from Russia.

If “history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes”, then it also rhythmizes. But the nature of the rhythm of rhymes is that when you translate the text into another language, it is very hard to save its original tempo. I assume the same is true with the interpretation of others’ experiences. Here, I hope that the encoding of this verse through the abstract language of music will much better serve to spread the word.

“Red Shades” manifests resilience with “Peace and Justice” emerging both as an album and an aspiration. Holding onto it, hoping for it, is something we must all actively practice. Eventually, it should lead to tangible changes - emancipation for those who seek it, retribution for those who deserve it, peace and justice for all". 

personnel - 
Tomás Marques – alto/soprano sax, flute
Mateja Dolsak – alto sax
César Cardoso – tenor sax, clarinet
João Capinha – tenor sax, clarinet, flute
Paulo Gaspar – baritone sax, bass clarinet

Lars Arens – trombone
Xavier Ribeiro – trombone
Rui Ferreira – trombone
Rui Bandeira – bass trombone

Micael Pereira – trumpet, flugelhorn
Gonçalo Marques – trumpet, flugelhorn
Tomás Pimentel – trumpet, flugelhorn
Johannes Krieger – trumpet, flugelhorn

Nuno Costa – guitar
Óscar Graça – piano, keyboards
Demian Cabaud – bass
Pedro Felgar – drums (on 2, 3, 4, 5,9)
John Hollenbeck – drums

Luís Cunha – conductor