Janet Smith: Community jazz
Trombones are polished to a shimmering golden glow. A beloved saxophone is fingered to tone perfection so smooth it shivers. Drums collect noise in tune with the mischievous guitar. And soon the players are ready. The venue may be charmingly tatty, a tad hot, but they’re going to perform till they bust. Gig for gig, the Sibikwa Jazz Ensemble is rehearsing how to be great, with musical snapshots of legends John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Chris McGregor framed in their mind.
Under the enthusiastic baton of young music trainers Bheki Mbatha and Vuyisile Sidongo, the ensemble has emerged from lessons in musicianship (classical and jazz) held at the Total Sibikwa Community Theatre since October last year. Free of charge and open to amateurs and novices, the lessons have become increasingly popular and Mbatha – a Fuba and BMus graduate from the University of Natal – hopes his students will stay on for three years to earn a qualification.
Yet, even if they don’t, he’s satisfied they are gathering points in a vigorous love of music. Plucked from the cacophony of students, the ensemble players are still pitched with a little rawness, still composed a bit rough, but their sound is soaring through, powered by a passion for jazz and a love of live performance.
The ensemble is now envisioned as the drawcard for a new venture by the brave community theatre whose artists continue to travel the world with their rave stage shows Uhambo, Kwela Bafana and Isizwe Sethu. Sibikwa’s Weekend Jazz Joint – held on Sundays from 3pm at the warehouse in Liverpool Road, Benoni – is both an attempt to expand the theatre’s repertoire in order to sustain its long-term viability and to offer East-Randers a homely musical mecca in their own territory.
With admission pegged at R10 a head and refreshments on sale, patrons can regard their contribution as an investment in community jazz – one of this country’s most cherished homegrown pursuits. Every weekend, from Mamelodi to Manenburg, jazz enthusiasts take off their suits and overalls to gather in garages, sitting-rooms and smoky kitchens to spin music, share philosophies and revel in the hobby they all adore.
Sibikwa hopes the Weekend Jazz Joint will become an essential stopover for a well-informed crowd who knows how to have a damn good party. If the project succeeds, the entire courtyard could soon jump with joyful noise unto the lords of jazz. The bigger the bop, the better.