What we did

Jazz journalist tells the kids about jazz clearly and with a smile

30 October 2009

Who told that jazz is music understandable only by adults? It is the second year the kids are grateful participants and listeners of a master class “Jazz for kids, clearly and with a smile” which is held by a famous Ukrainian jazz producer and journalist Aleksey Kogan.

On October 10, at the educational and entertainment O’Keshka Club on the threshold of the second International Festival Jazz in Kiev Aleksey Kogan explained the kids the jazz fundamentals.

It was not an ordinary musical lecture: a famous jazz expert invited with him a company of his friends – musicians and producers – to help him in this responsible affair. There was one of the leading jazz drummers Valeriy Volkov, a saxophonist Artem Mendelenko, a collector Leonid Goldstein on percussion and a keyboard player Vladimir Kaminskiy, the last one is an executive producer of the Jazz in Kiev Festival.

Aleksey, being an experienced narrator (more than 20 years of work on the radio), captivated the kids’ attention by a variety of different stories about musical instruments, nature sounds, improvisation and many other things. And of course, the kids were involved in the music creation: mostly everyone got some musical instrument – Cuban rattles, bongos, darbuka, flute etc.

As a result a unique orchestra, masterfully conducted by Aleksey Kogan, was created. The kids played for the adults and sang and danced.

As a keepsake about the funny lecture each of the young participants was given T-shirts and caps with O’Keshka Club’s symbolic and balloons.

Uncle Lesha’s lecture was appreciated not only by the kids. The parents and colleagues-musicians of the lector were also pleased. And he promised to hold such master class once again.