Li S. Jazz in the Ukrainian Musical Performance in the early 21st century

The thesis suggests a systematic interpretation of jazz performance and its adaptation in the contemporary Ukrainian culture. The orientation to music studies in the research has been ensured by studying the systemic features of jazz as a trend of professional musical art: musical text as an object of representation, musical instruments as the tools of text reproduction, performing techniques and expressive means as a way of text reproduction, musical theory as a form of creation, systematization, preservation and transmission of the texts, and aesthetics of performance. The main stages of jazz “system of norms of the representation of cultural traditions” have defined in the thesis: until the early 20th century – in the course of professionalization, solo and collective forms of music-making, and specific jazz norms evolved from African American folklore; the first half of the 20th century – the shaping of the style of traditional jazz determined by the constructive and expressive, aesthetic and communicative factors; the second half of 20th century – the transformation of jazz “vocabulary” as part of the modernization of the melodies, improvisation, rhythms, harmony, etc. The dynamics of treatment and comprehension of jazz vocabulary in the Ukrainian musical performance has been revealed. It has been proved that the “academization” of jazz performance as a process of entering the sphere of Ukrainian professional music art of an academic level became possible due to the formation of a jazz educational system. The forms and areas of the representation of jazz music in contemporary Ukrainian performance have been identified and systematized. The main forms are: big bands as a prerogative kind of the orchestral jazz performances in the world, two types of ensembles: Dixieland, where the interaction is ensured by a combination of 2 ~ 4 solo instruments and a functionally separated rhythm section, which determines the form-shaping prerogative of the metro rhythm which is the background for soloists co-creation; combo, where all performers are soloists-improvisers, who while reproducing the jazz text “mean” a metro-rhythmic basis. The treatment and comprehension of common for world practice jazz vocabulary in the contemporary Ukrainian jazz have been described. The duality of this process can be traced in the introduction of jazz representative norms of swing style in orchestral music-making, on the one hand, and the treatment of modern jazz styles in ensemble and solo performances. The stylistic features of Ukrainian jazz ensemble and solo performance have been revealed. Characteristics that influence the determination of the leading role of the individual in contemporary Ukrainian jazz performances have been given.