Alina Zalozna
UKRAINIAN JAZZ VOCALIST AND COMPOSER
Alina was born in 1996, in Kherson (Ukraine) in an artistic family. Her childhood she spent attending a lyceum of arts - a public school with art classes integrated, where her major was choreography. However, at her teen years, she discovered her interest in music, firstly she started to play the guitar and sing at a local music studio, where she learned and performed pop, rock, and blues repertoire in ensemble classes.
At age 18, she decided to continue her music studies professionally. In Kherson Music College she was influenced by experienced and jazz-driven teachers, became a soloist in Kherson's big band, started to make her first jazz arrangements and compositions. As a part of a learning process, she took part in various national and international jazz vocal competitions as well as workshops. After graduation from college Alina moves to Kyiv to study in Kyiv R. Glier Music Academy, where she already earned her Master`s degree.
In 2020 her co-composed song “Alicia`s Song” was featured in an album by Hans Peter Salentin and Hans Fuecker - “Living Room”. In 2022 Alina releases her debut album of Ukrainian folk songs in her original jazz arrangements “Ukrainian Melodies” with well-known Ukrainian jazz musicians.
Nowadays Alina performs her original music, arrangements as well as a mainstream jazz repertoire. As a lead singer at the end of 2023, she had a mini-tour with the Land Forces jazz orchestra - a military big band based in Chernihiv.
A winner of Baku jazz competition 2019 (Azerbaijan), also she had a special recognition by jury at Blue note Poznan competition 2021 (Poland), and performed in Riga jazz stage 2022 (Latvia).
“...she had an individualist presence,
and a projecting, authoritative performance stance. “
Martin Longley - London jazz news
Artwork by Liudmyla Natsvlishvili
"Ukrainian Melodies" is a debut album by Alina Zalozna independently released on November 2nd 2022 in collaboration with well-known Ukrainian jazz musicians: Borys Mohylevskyi, Oleksandr Malyshev, Denys Dontsov, Valentyn Korniienko and Pavlo Halytskyi.
An album consists of 10 Ukrainian folk songs presented in Alina’s jazz arrangements. she worked on for the last 5 years. All authentic melodies are naturally blended with contemporary jazz and latin rhythms, combined with a common jazz harmonic and melodic language. Most of the songs she knew from her childhood or heard from the legendary singers like Nina Matvienko, Kvitka Cisyk, Trio Marenych, some of the songs became popular and important among Ukrainians since the beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
The main point of this project is to show the beauty of Ukrainian folk songs in a new contemporary way and to remind the world to support Ukraine in those difficult war-time.
Borys Mohylevskyi - sax
Oleksandr Malyshev - piano, vocals
Denys Dontsov - guitar
Valentyn Korniienko - bass
Pavlo Halytskyi - drums