It was a special night - the night of slow jazz, romance and youth.
'Glenn Miller Orchestra' was playing in Odesa, Ukraine, at the end of November 2008.
The Musical Comedy Theatre hall was packed to the full - it was a soldout.
People of all walks of life, from long-time jazz aficionados to random students who wanted to try something new - all of them were present.
It was the time when trust was not outdated, when human touch was one of good rituals of neighborhood, amity and taste. Before a long string of crises to haunt our country, mature women and young ladies were lounging in the first floor of the theatre not only to vaunt their silky or shimmering dresses, but to retell the latest books they have read to their companions. The air reeked of humour, flirt, gossip - as well as new ideas and far-fetched predictions about the future of the city, science and art. Needless to say that several Odesa University trivia quiz show teams were also invited.
The orchestra was bright, talented, graceful - not only did it play famous classical tunes, but also come up with impromptus.
How deep can music touch you? That time the orchestra displayed a wide range of moods - nostalgic, dynamic, playful, dreamy, triumphant, mysterious.
Jazz went a long way to become popular. At first it was considered to be eccentric and scandalous, then, by the beginning of the 30s, this genre started its glorious pace all over the world.
Ukrainian audience, especially in Odesa, is generally picky about music, theatre and visual arts. It usually takes a band or an artists several years to become recognized, however not in this particular case.
Jazz still seems luxurious to people who were deprived of listening to it during the Soviet era. For years numerous Soviet citizens were artificially fuelled with contempt for 'music of traitors', although in fact it was music of wisdom, romance, optimism, elegance and high intellect.
Scientists and art researchers still wonder whether choice of favourite music is an important marker of human talent and personality. This question is as vague and dubious as the link between traits of human character and horoscopes - the correlation comes to light only after the researcher has been delving for years through huge streams of clear, verifiable data which is put into a complicated mathematical model.
In other words, let's not deny the irrational even if we mostly follow the rationalistic approach to seeing events.
Once you have touched upon a wonderful waterfall of live classical jazz music, your mood might become slightly alterated. If you are sensitive enough, you start walking slower than before, paying attention to artistic details around you, drifting away from the reality in your hazy yet inspired new state. This is how the orchestra's musical mastery affects people who look for new experiences and finally find them in luxurious rhythms and melodies of complicated, picturesque, epic and meaningful jazz.
After that long-awaited and tremendously successful concert the interest for jazz stars in Odesa started to increase dramatically, and this means the right notes were in the right place.
NB! This chronicle is created in July, 2021 in the honour of Odesa Musical Comedy theatre and Odesa Nezhdanova music academy.
© Maryna Tchianova, Ukraine - text
© Ariadna De Raadt, the Hague, the Netherlands - illustration from online stock