Alina Bzhezhinska makes BBE debut with Reflections and releases ‘Afro Blue’/‘Paris Sur Le Toit’ single

Reflections is an expansive and varied suite of music performed by her UK-based HipHarpCollective, whose horn section features altoist Tony Kofi and trumpeter Jay Phelps, and rhythm section of bass guitarist Mikele Montolli, drummer Adam Teixiera and percussionist Joel Prime, while the album also features vocalist Vimala Rowe (on a stirring take of Mongo Santamaria’s ‘Afro Blue’ – see video below) with additional strings performed on several cuts by Ying Xue (on violin and viola) plus additional double bass from Julie Walkington.  

Coming to prominence with her imaginative reworkings of Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby’s jazz harp explorations, Bzhezhinska salutes both on the new album with a psychedelic funk reworking of Ashby’s ‘Soul Vibrations’ and a percussion-heavy homage to Joe Henderson and Alice Coltrane’s ‘Fire’ with Kofi and Phelps blowing up a storm. Elsewhere, ‘Paris Sur Le Toit’ brings Alina’s harp into rippling hip hop territory with eloquent raps from SANITY and Tom TheyThem, before the closing electronica infused solo piece ‘Meditation’.

The Ukrainian-born harpist has been a prolific fund raiser to provide much needed equipment for those caught up in Russia’s war on Ukraine, organising and taking part in 20 events so far. The latest one is on 26 August at Symphony Hall, Birmingham as part of the B:Jazz Festival where she performs with her HipHarpCollective, while the album launch is at Kings Place, London on 25 September.

Further dates are: Jazz In The Round at Love Supreme Jazz Festival (1 July); Emma Smith Band ft Alina Bzhezhinska at Edinburgh Jazz Festival (24 July); The World Harp Congress, Cardiff (27 July); The Dome Stage, Snape Maltings (5 August); and HipHarpCollective at Birmingham Jazz (23 Sept).

See the 'Afro Blue' video below and for more info visit www.hipharpcollective.com