Jazz musicians from Ukraine to play Philly bearing a message of hope

When Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, Kyiv-based jazz musician Dennis Adu put down his trumpet and turned to volunteer work, helping load medicine and supplies for frontline soldiers. “I didn’t play trumpet at all for one month,” Adu said. “I started playing at 7 years old and I’m 35 now, and it was the longest break in my life.”

Sitting in a New York Airbnb, Adu shook his head as he recalled the early days of the war. He’s currently enjoying a brief respite in the States along with his frequent collaborator and former student, saxophonist Boris Mogylevskiy. The pair will perform on Friday at the Ukrainian League of Philadelphia with the local rhythm section of pianist Tim Brey, bassist Sandy Eldred, and drummer Dan Monaghan. They’ll be joined by Ukrainian guitarist George Grydkovets, another former student of Adu’s, who is studying at New York’s New School.

Music gradually reentered Adu’s life when he and other musicians began playing for evacuees as they disembarked at the train station at Lviv, and at concerts in the city’s bomb shelters. By the summer, they were back in concert halls, playing fund-raisers for the Ukrainian military.

The American tour, which began with stops at the San Jose Jazz Winter Fest and SFJAZZ in California, is Adu’s first trip to the States since the war began, and Mogylevskiy’s first ever. They’ve already toured Europe, playing concerts to help raise awareness of the country’s ongoing struggle.

“I think for musicians like me, it’s so important to go outside the country and spread the news from Ukraine,” he explained. “I want to send a message to the world to show that Ukraine has a lot of culture and some good musicians, and to have a conversation with people so they understand what’s really happening right now in Ukraine.”

In better times, Adu described Ukraine’s jazz scene as, “not so big, but not so small.” Kyiv has a single club dedicated to jazz, and a few other clubs and concert halls where the music is presented more sporadically. Adu was born in Ghana to a Ukrainian mother and Ghanaian father and raised by his mother in Kyiv. He discovered jazz while attending a boarding school for orphans and children in need (“tough kids,” in his description) and was enlisted for the school’s brass band.

He went on to study at a local music school. “The leader of the big band showed us a poster of Louis Armstrong and said, ‘This is your grandfather.’” Adu, who didn’t know his father’s father, was gifted a Louis Armstrong cassette by a friend. “I didn’t have any other recordings, so I listened to that tape for a year.”

Adu is one of the country’s leading jazz musicians and an educator at the R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music. He released two albums, Influences and Sunlight Above the Sky, music from which he and Mogylevskiy will perform Friday. They’ll also premiere new music along with Adu’s jazz arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs and the country’s national anthem.

“All the people at our concerts have said so many kind words,” Adu said. “It’s so powerful and meaningful for us right now. I have big hopes that this will end soon and it will end with a Ukrainian victory.”

Dennis Adu (trumpet) and Boris Mogylevskiy (saxophone), March 3, 8 p.m., Ukrainian League of Philadelphia, 800 N. 23rd St., Phila. Tickets ($15-$20): https://ukrainianleague.com/event/ukrainian-jazz-concert/