Living in Grahamstown’s Jazz Hotel is just like having a few=20 hundred people over for drinks, writes ALAN BOWEN I PICKED up a newspaper this morning to find that there is=20 indeed a world beyond the festival. However, it looked so bleak=20 and uninviting that I decided to re-enter the cocoon of jazz from=20 which few of us have managed to emerge over the past few days. =20 Quite frankly, there hasn’t been much reason to leave the Jazz=20 Hotel (the venue hosting almost all the jazz at this year’s=20 Smirnoff Jazz Festival): it’s all under one roof. The Jazz Hotel offers something of an aural immersion=20 experience: the swinging sounds of Johnny Cooper’s big band=20 echo through the draughty old corridors to meet the sizzling=20 freshness of Kusasa, distempered by the constant chatter of=20 colourful revellers and monosyllabic injunctions of over-stressed=20 organisers. The tight arrangements of the Cape Town Horns=20 squeeze through the rickety floorboards to wake the late sleepers=20 — it’s another day of jazz, jazz and more jazz, and the best place=20 to give the day its first glimpse of your aching head is in the=20
Sharing a table with last night’s heroes is an opportunity not=20 usually afforded to fans and critics; the wry wit of Nico Carstens,=20 the energetic natter of Dave Ledbetter, the quiet resolution of Bra=20 Ntemi Piliso … the people and their music are here to share and=20 be shared. It’s all about “unity” this year. Not a new concept, but one=20 which is delighting packed houses is boereqanga, a danceable=20 blend of boere musiek, played by Carstens, and the mbaqanga of=20 guitar-ace Jimmy Dludlu. To this unlikely marriage,=20 predominantly white audiences have danced on their seats; the=20 music of national unity is as popular as the Amabokkebokke. The unity thing has been further galvanised by a song written by=20 jazz festival producer Henry Shields and Morris Goldberg: Viva=20 Madiba, an eminently danceable African jive that’s going to be=20 more ubiquitous than Shosholoza. A lot of inspirational music has flowed at the Jazz Hotel, but none=20 as inspirational as that of the National Youth Jazz Band, a big=20 band of school pupils from around the country who walked off=20 with the audience’s heart. Under the musical direction of=20 trumpeter Johnny Mekoa, the kids tackled some difficult=20 arrangements with enthusiasm and skill, ending with a flawless=20 rendition of Chick Corea’s Spain. The musicians spend a lot of time listening to other bands’=20 shows, and if that’s a benchmark of success, then a couple of=20 groups have definitely captured the attention of those in the know.=20 The Blues Broers are always a well-populated experience: their=20 journey begins unplugged in the Delta … Frank Frost finally gets=20 a washboard stomach which he strums to mountain-man Big Bob=20 Nagel on a tea-box bass. Stepping off the steamer, it’s on to=20 R&B, jazz and bebop numbers from their latest album, Sharp=20 Street, with our very own Buddy Guy, Albert Frost, on guitar, the=20 gravel-voiced “Doctor” John Mostert and Agent Orange on a=20 Hammond B3. To the obvious appreciation of the audience, the=20 Bart Simpson of the trombone fraternity, Jannie van Tonder, is=20 * ow a permanent part of the band. Old King Louis would be raving in the treetops if he was here –=20 there’s swing a-plenty at this festival. The Johnny Cooper=20 orchestra is an 18-piece powerhouse whose gleaming instruments=20 and Cheshire-cat leader take you back to the grand old days when=20 swing was swung. On a smaller scale, vocalist Don Tshomela=20 captures the warmth and wit of Satchmo, backed by the=20 incorrigible Dave Lithins on piano, and the driving force of Basil=20 Moses on bass, with a touch of genius from Denver Furness on=20
When Kusasa or the African Jazz Pioneers are playing the=20 raunchy Beer Garden, there isn’t enough room to swing a dead=20 budgie. Jazz fans need no introduction to the AJP, Bra Ntemi=20 Piliso’s African answer to Western big band, and they cram=20 themselves into every conceivable nook, cranny and bar to raise a=20 glass in support of these gentlemen of South African jazz. Fans=20 will tell you, if it’s a cold night in Grahamstown, Bra Ntemi will=20 blow a sax mean enough to make the weather think twice. Kusasa, on the other hand, is a young band who’re fast garnering=20 fans of African fusion jazz. Their original music is mind-blowing,=20 vested in the unique talents of each band member: Marcus Wyatt=20 picking up where Miles Davis left off, Buddy Wells (on sax)=20 doing a “David Sanborne loosens up and visits Africa”, and=20 Graham Beyer taking the trombone to new lows. =20 They’re backed by the riveting drumming of Frank Paco, Lucas=20 Khumalo’s driving bass, and the delicate touch of percussionist=20 John “The Hat” Hassan. The keyboards are coaxed into a=20 myriad unusual permutations by Vusi Maseko, but it is the=20 beautiful anarchy of Allou April’s guitar on songs like Funky=20 Giraffe which leaves the audience breathless. This is a band to=20
Salsa group Como-No create a party every time they play, as do=20 the Truly Fully Hey Shoo Wow Band. Como-No is a dynamic=20 Latin-American-cum-Afro-Cuban act fronted by vocalist Zara and=20 a lot of dancing horn players, while the Truly Fully, under the=20 direction of Ledbetter, can take any old song, orchestrate it, throw=20 a twist in the musical tale, and have audiences screaming back at=20 the punchy horn section. Living in the hotel is rather like having a few hundred people=20 over for drinks: everyone feels at home; an eccentric fellow=20 journalist attending late-night sessions in his pyjamas will=20 confirm this. Musically, though, it’s a pity that some of our other=20 fine musicians, like Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, are=20 * ot here — they would enjoy the experience as much as we are.