Gwen Ansell
On Thursday March 19, the annual Windybrow Festival kicks off: the usual mix of dance, drama and music with a heavy emphasis on youth.
As far as the music goes, opening night features singer Ringo Madlingozi, with material from his latest album Sondelani: an indication that this festival is following a slightly different musical path from that of past years.
Despite the organisational glitches that seem to plague the venue, Windybrow was always worth catching for the original music projects it gave space to – last year, the stunning Our Music; Our Voices – and for showcasing the sounds of the rest of Africa. Not this year, when the emphasis is firmly on the locally well-known and popular. As well as Mandlingozi’s powerful vocals, the festival stage hosts kwaito-meisters Bongo Maffin, Isintombi Zesimanjemanje and Azumah. These last two are Jo’burg festival favourites: Azumah played Windybrow a few years back, Izintombi have graced the Arts Alive traditional stage.
In addition, the festival gives space to a number of young music and dance groups. Most interesting are likely to be Kutu, a Soweto-based band working with fusions of pop, jazz and traditional sounds. To their credit, these latest proponents of cultural music manage to sound original; their sound still an appealing work in progress. They’re definitely the freshest sound at the festival this year.
3. BACKPAGER MOSES MOLELEKWA (52ww)
With his new album (finally!) promised for April, pianist Taiwa Molelekwa will be showcasing material from it and from his next project, plus some more familiar material at the Bass Line this weekend. His band this time out also features Prince Lengoasa on trumpet and hot new 19-year old Soweto saxophonist Moses Khumalo.
4. ALBUM REVIEWS (50+50+250ww)
Chick Corea& Friends Remembering Bud Powell (Stretch) Another tribute album – the friends in this case include Roy Haynes, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, Joshua Redman and Wallace Roney. Masterly musicianship from all, but of the soloists only Garrett really catches the insouciant edginess which characterised Powell’s approach to a tune. For me, other solos were either too sweet or too scholastic. But Roy Haynes cooks, never forgetting how the spirit of bebop walked.
Roy Hargrove’s Crisol Habana (Verve)
Cuban albums are all the rage, but for too many jazzmen they’re an excuse for all the dumber cliches of strut, shake and smooch. Not for trumpeter Hargrove who, with a 9-man team including pianist Chucho Valdes and trombonist Frank Lacy, has produced an album both incendiary and smart. Tight arrangements, intricate percussion and fearless improvisation dance without a cliche in sight.
Album of the Week:
Henry Threadgill & Make A Move Where’s Your Cup? (Columbia) Reedman and composer Threadgill is a graduate of Chicago’s AACM, and his earlier work with bands Air and Very Very Circus married open arrangements and dense textures in a way which often subverted expectations – all brass ensembles, no-bass ensembles, Jelly Roll Morton-meets-Ornette Coleman structures.
Make a Move is a smaller group with a different texture, making generous use of both longtime partner Brandon Ross’ guitar and South African Tony Cedras’ accordion and harmonium. Threadgill’s compositions still favour the minor key, but the effect isn’t always doleful – sometimes it stirs an elegant irony reminiscent of Hannes Eisler and 1930s Berlin. And sometimes it’s downright joyous, as Cedras’ playing underlines World Music flavours from Argentinian bandoneon music to Sotho jive. Cedras’ playing here is a revelation to anyone who didn’t know him as a solo pianist in South Africa and Botswana in the early 1980s. Since then, he’s toured with Paul Simon, recorded with Cassandra Wilson, but worked live with a much wider range of artists including, most recently, Pharoah Sanders. Also fond of minor-key improvisations, Cedras is a perfect partner for Threadgill: the reedman’s bluesy asceticism perfectly balancing the sentiment and swing of the squeeze-box keys. Wonderfully comp! lex music which rewards careful listening, Where’s Your Cup is a great introduction to 1990s Threadgill – and reminds us that the South African jazz tradition can offer more than just dance tunes.
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