Ukranian Jazz Media: Unwavering Service

Though the history of jazz in Ukraine dates back to the second decade of the 20th Century, jazz media in Ukraine was slower to develop. While this article's primary focus is on today's jazz journalists, independent proselytizers and advocates, it would be remiss not to mention some of those who paved the way.

Several figures have been key in developing Ukrainian jazz media and promoting jazz nationally and internationally. Prominent among these is Leonid Goldstein, who celebrated his 90th birthday on April 10th, 2025. A television journalist and jazz researcher, Goldstein has amassed an enormous jazz video collection believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe. From 1985, Goldstein hosted Monday-night jazz films at a Kyiv jazz club, his expertise soon winning him invitations to make similar presentations in Russia and throughout the Baltic states.

Since the times of the Soviet Union, Goldstein has presented jazz films at numerous festivals, including annual broadcasts at Leopolis Jazz Festival. Moreover, in 1992 Goldstein began presenting the television show 35 Minutes of Jazz on the TET TV channel. The legendary broadcast ran for 12 years, airing over 500 programs. From the outset, 35 Minutes of Jazz provided a platform for Ukrainian jazz musicians. Early editions were dedicated to jazz musicians born in the 1940s and '50s. They shone a light on the likes of Tatar tapping guitarist Enver Izmailov, pianist Kostiantyn Vilensky, pianist Vitalii Machulin, and guitarist Volodymyr Molotkov.

Another exceptionally influential jazz journalist and taste maker is Alexy Kogan (b. 1958), who grew up listening to Willis Conover's Voice of America jazz broadcasts. A turning point in Kogan's life came when Duke Ellington came to Kyiv in 1971. His uncle—the sort that everyone should have—took the young Alexy to all four concerts in three days. The seeds were sewn.

Since the early 1990s Kogan has hosted thousands of jazz programs on Ukrainian radio. His Jazz For Adults show presents live jazz and the stories behind the music venues across Kyiv. Kogan continues to fly the Ukrainian jazz flag today as director of Leopolis Jazz Festival. He was also part of the Ukrainian delegation at Jazzahead! 2025. That same year, Kogan curated the compilation album Jazz From Ukraine: Volume 1 (Ukrainian Institute, 2025), which is available on Spotify.

For those looking for an historical overview of jazz and its development in Ukraine, Kogan's country chapter in The History Of European Jazz: The Music, Musicians And Audience in Context (Equinox Publishing, 2018) is essential reading.

The enduring influence and importance of pioneers like Leonid Goldstein and Alexy Kogan on the Ukranian jazz scene cannot be overstated, but it is equally important to recognize a younger generation of jazz presenters, hosts, bloggers and journalists who carry on the necessary work of promoting Ukrainian jazz.

Meoloport: Kataryna Ziabliuk & Oleksi Karpovych

One of the main portals for jazz promotion since 2017 has been Meloport, a jazz blog/website that provides in-depth reviews, analysis and interviews. The drivers behind Meloport are pianist Kataryna Ziabliuk (see A Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz: Part 1) and photographer, editor and writer Oleksi Karpovych.

"From the start, we've never aimed to function like a regular music news outlet," explains Ziabliuk. "It's just been the two of us—me and Oleksii Karpovych—running everything. That was partly by choice, partly a result of circumstance: first the pandemic, then the full-scale Russian invasion. The idea behind Meloport was always to open a window between Ukrainian audiences and the world of European improvised music."

To this end, Ziabliuk and Karpovych travelled around Europe visiting festivals like Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Jazztopad Festival,Warsaw Summer Jazz Days Festival, Tauron Nowa Muzyka Katowice, Jazzahead! and Enjoy Jazz Festival. "We'd listen, take notes, speak with artists, and write—hoping to reflect something back that could inform, inspire, or simply connect."

In 2017 and 2018, Ziabliuk and Karpovych attended the Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa festival in Poland, where they interviewed Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and David Virelles. "Those became the first pieces published on what eventually became our site," Ziabliuk relates. "From there, the scope expanded—from jazz to experimental and classical music."

As the scope of the music covered expanded, Meloport welcomed additional contributors—Viachek Kryshtofovych Jr., Serhii Harahulya, Ivan Shelehov and Oleksandr Klochkov

Just prior to the first COVID lockdown the two co-founders launched Meloport Loft, a concert series inspired by Jazztopad's secret apartment concerts. Meloport Loft staged concerts in private apartments, bookshops and art galleries. The music ran the gamut from jazz and free-improvisation to punk and folk, sometimes with rehearsals, sometimes not. Then, as the pandemic worsened, lockdown seriously curtailed Meloport's activities. "Of course, we kept doing things like playlists, some interviews, but it wasn't easy to create the stories without the impact from the outside," says Ziabliuk.

In 2023 Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Meloport's activities all but froze, with Ziabliuk's attendance at Jazzahead!—as a media delegate of the Ukrainian Institute—a standout exception to the enforced inertia. There, Ziabliuk met Matthieu Jouan of the long-running French jazz website Citizen Jazz. Jouan suggested a collaboration between the two on-line platforms—a special edition focused on Ukrainian jazz. They called it WE INSIST!—a tribute to the spirit of Max Roach and his seminal 1960 album of the same name.

"This project gave me the chance to realize a long-standing dream—to have international writers speak about Ukrainian musicians. I invited several Polish colleagues—Tomasz Gregorczyk, Mery Zimny, Krzysztof Komorek, Rafał Zbrzeski—to contribute. From the Ukrainian side, there was me, Oleksii, trumpeter Dennis Adu, and journalist-activist Oleksandra Daruga."

The publication WE INSIST! was launched in December 2023 with an exhibition supported by the Ukrainian Institute and a concert in Paris featuring Ziabliuk, Polish drummer Patrycja Wybrańczyk and French saxophonist Sakina Abdou. Theis special Ukrainian jazz edition received widespread attention and was translated into French, German, Dutch and Polish by partners from across the European jazz press. The English version is available at Meloport.

For Ziabliuk and Karpovych—the latter who had joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces shortly after Jazzahead!—the concert in the French capital was the first time they had seen each other since the start of the war. "We met in Paris, sat with a bottle of wine on the stairs beneath the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, and tried to grasp what we'd managed to create while our country burned," says Ziabliuk. "I will never forget that moment."

For Meloport musical borders are fluid. "When we speak about improvised music, we mean jazz—yes—but also electroacoustic textures, techno, punk, folk traditions, anything that slips between labels," say Ziabliuk. "We've always believed that spontaneity and openness are what build a true artistic community. That was the dream in 2017, and after all the shifts and heartbreaks, it still is."

In spite of the war and the tremendous challenges and sacrifices it imposes, Ziabliuk remains defiantly optimistic. "Looking ahead, I hope to grow the platform—into print, into a larger writing team, into more concerts, residencies, and cross-border collaborations. The times are unstable and often disheartening. But we're still here!"

Radio Jazz: Yevheniya Stryzhevska

No medium promotes jazz just as directly, and to as wide an audience, as radio. Music journalist and radio presenter Yevheniya Stryzhevska has been a leading figure in Ukrainian radio, and in particular jazz broadcasts, since he began his own program on the Era FM radio station in 2002. What began as a 25-minute slot grew into a four-hour show. Thanks to this platform Stryzhevska was able to attend every jazz festival in Ukraine—and music festivals with jazz stages—as well as jazz festivals in neighboring countries. This show ran until 2014. Between 2006 and 2008 jazz was a mainstay of a show that Stryzhevska directed and hosted on the Renaissance radio station.

Other radio jazz advocates worthy of mention include Olena Shevchenko, who has been a prominent broadcaster in Odessa since the late '90s. Saxophonist Mykhailo Balog, a renowned teacher, experimenter and improvisor, hosts the program The Language Of Jazz on Radio Skovorada. This Lviv-based private radio station, launched in 2015, is named after the influential 18th-century Ukrainian philosopher, poet and composer Hryhorii Skovoroda.

A major development as far as jazz broadcasting in Ukraine goes came in In 2019 when the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting launched an official competition to create a jazz radio station. The winner was TAVR MEDIA—the largest radio holding in Ukraine. The director of Radio Jazz is Sonya Sotnyk, while Yevheniya Stryzhevska serves as music editor and brand manager.

Radio Jazz's reach is significant. Weekly audiences top several hundred thousand in over 120 cities throughout Ukraine. Additionally, thanks to the station's active promotion, around 40,000 listeners tune in from different corners of the world.

More than just a broadcasting concern, Radio Jazz actively works with the entire music industry of Ukraine and is a permanent partner of major music and business forums. A constant supporter of Ukrainian jazz artists, Radio jazz' collaborations with individual musicians and music labels results in special, thematic radio projects.

The global COVID-19 pandemic saw radio in general assume a more important role in the social fabric, as Stryzhevska explains: "Radio Jazz became more in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, because listeners were limited in their ability to listen to music in live venues. They needed communication and support. Therefore, many live concert performances were broadcast on the air and social networks were actively used."

Just as the pandemic was petering out Ukraine faced a more existential crisis with the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.

The beginning of the full-scale war in 2022 turned life in Ukraine upside down. As with every other walk of life the entire media market faced significant challenges. Radio Jazz has survived, however, keeping its staff and its loyal audience. For the first few months of the war the radio station's staff stayed in Kyiv providing information broadcasts and the most current news. From the outset of the conflict Radio Jazz has supported jazz musicians who have joined the Defence Forces. This support is unwavering.

In the face of all the crises and obstacles that the Ukrainian population faces on a daily basis—not the least of which are the frequent electricity blackouts—radio remains a constant and extremely popular source of information, support and—typically through its live broadcasts—entertainment. If Radio Jazz' continual growth and the positive feedback of its audiences are any indicator, then the station is fulfilling its mission and some.

Jazzography in UA: Aleksandr Zubko

A good place to start for an overview of the contemporary Ukrainian jazz scene and what is happening week in—week out is the jazz portal Jazzography in UA—co-founded in 2016 by Aleksandr Zubko, Dima Tuyon, Ihor Snisarenko, Fedor Lazarenko and Yuri Rudnev—photographers all. The Jazzography in UA website may have had a short life, but Jazzography in UA lives on via social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube channel) to deliver photo reports, events listings, news and features as well as concert videos. Jazzography in UA's focus is primarily, though not exclusively, on Ukrainian jazz artists.

A notable collaborative project brought Jazzography in UA and the Ukrainian Institute together in response to Russia's full-scale invasion. The photo essay "Ukranian Jazzmen At War" portrays the jazz musicians who have responded to Russian's full-scale invasion by joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Photos (mostly taken by soldiers) are accompanied by biographies and QR codes to access their music.

The "Ukrainian Jazzmen At War" exhibition premiered at WOMEX '22 and has since gone on to exhibit at jazz venues in Warsaw, at Budapest Ritmo and at jazzahead!—the world's largest jazz expo.

From its inception, Jazzography in UA was published in Russian. As Zubko explains, there was sound logic at play. Until 1990 Russia was the official language of Ukraine, when the country was still part of the USSR. The language is very widely spoken throughout Ukraine. It was not until Russia's occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the outbreak of fighting in Donbas that the use of Russian language assumed a political meaning. The reality is that a significant percentage of the Ukrainian population speaks Russian.

For Zubko—author, editor photographer and videographer—the choice is clear. "The current situation cannot be ignored. If we relaunch Jazzography in UA it will be in Ukrainian. I also advocate for a Russian version because abroad significantly more people speak Russian than Ukrainian. And English will also be necessary because if Jazzography in UA is to exist, its goal should be to spread information about Ukrainian jazz to the world."

Mister Jazz Magazine

Founded in 2023 as a jazz information channel on mobile/messaging app Telegram, Lviv-based Mister Jazz soon switched to Instagram. By 2024 Mister Jazz was also operating a You Tube channel, with a presence on Facebook, TikTok and Soundcloud to boot. Through these platforms Mister Jazz succeeds in reaching a young audience with news on the Ukrainian jazz scene. Album releases, interviews, photos, concert and festival news all feature in attractive posts that resemble magazine covers.

The aims of Mister Jazz are broader, as its founder—who prefers to remain incognito—explains. "The goal of our project is educational: to share knowledge about an art form that brings together various musical movements and national traditions, known as "jazz." To this end, a regular feature of Mister Jazz is the column Historical Features, which posts archival interviews with important figures, as well as highlighting historically significant albums.

Other posts highlight collaborations between Ukrainian jazz musicians-national organisations and international partners such as Europe Jazz Network, and the Nordnorsk Jazzsenter, Norway.

The spotlight is firmly on Ukrainian jazz talent in the Mister Jazz Hall of Fame, an annual poll where followers can vote for the best Ukrainian jazz—and cultural figures—of the year across multiple categories.

With over 3,500 followers on its Instagram page alone, Mister Jazz has a strong foundation for a potential leap to a dedicated jazz website.

They Also Served...

A number of other jazz resources—both online and print—have made important contributions to the documenting and promotion of jazz in Ukraine in the 21st century. The three mentioned below have all ceased to operate.

Between 2004 and 2010 the website uajazz.com was an significant reference point for the Ukrainian jazz community. Run chiefly by Tatyana Balakirskaya, uajazz.com's journalistic team included Alya Filippova, Denis Popov, Konstantin Ovsyannikov, Alexander Martynov, Vyacheslav Krishtofovich, Ivan Kondratov, Olga Kizlova, Vladislav Zhurba, Anna Vovk and Dima Tuyon.

This online jazz portal provided news, articles, musician profiles and reviews of both Ukrainian and international jazz events. In 2010 Balakirskaya moved to Moscow and the site took on a more Russian focus. The last news item posted on uajazz.com dates to 2019.

Another important Ukrainian jazz website was the Kiev-based Live Sound (live.kiev.ua). Active between 2002 and 2022, this portal was run by Sergey Troynikov and Igor Snisarenko. As well as posting articles, listings, interviews, album reviews and photo reports, Live Sound also profiled jazz and blues groups, as well as individual artists. Live Sound played an important role in documenting Kiev's live jazz scene.

Print magazine Jazz ran for around a decade from its inception in 2005. Its Editor-in-Chief was Valeriy Titarenko. Notable among the magazine's contributors was Olga Kizlova—a respected journalist, lecturer and music teacher who wrote hundreds of articles for a wide range of publications.

Looking To The Future

Healthy local and national jazz scenes need new musicians coming through on a regular basis to inject vitality. They also need jazz journalists to promote the musicians, the record labels, and the venues that program jazz year-round. The music drives everything, but it does not operate in a vacuum. A successful jazz scene is an ecosystem—only if the various players work together, can the music hope to thrive.

Hopefully, a new generation of Ukranian jazz journalists and advocates will emerge to bolster the existing jazz media in its support for Ukranian jazz.

This article was made possible with the help of the Ukranian Institute. Special thanks to Aleksandr Zubko for his invaluable insights and guidance.

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