Music doesn’t hold a great deal of nostalgia for me. Yet, I found nostalgia in some brand new, original music made half way around the world. I grew up in a time when lyrics in music was the coin of the realm. Bob Dylan was the high priest of these wordsmiths. It was often said that this music, “spoke to a generation.” Yet, it was instrumental music that spoke to me. Much of this music was labeled soul-jazz, cool-jazz or maybe even hard-bop. The fact of the matter was it was simply jazz that was hugely influenced by African-American rhythm & blues. Some sixty years later Konstantin Kolesnichenko, a Ukrainian harmonica player, leads a quartet right down that mostly forgotten road. Tenderly, features six instrumentals that are swinging, groove laden affairs that are dripping with the cool confidence of that bygone era. To complement Kolesnichenko’s soulful harp playing is the Hammond B3 of Mikhall Lyshenko and the marvelous guitar playing of Paul Seedorenko. Dymitriy Lytvynenko plays drums. On November 24^th and a few days later on the 30^th of that month in 2019, these like-minded individuals made music that is forward thinking in its approach, yet isn’t afraid to keep an eye in the rearview mirror. The results are timeless. That is something for which I can always muster up some nostalgia.

- David Mac