Shaun de Waal CD of the week
The Bassline in Melville, Johannesburg, has proved itself to be one of the city’s most reliable jazz joints, perhaps even its best. Everyone who is anyone in South African jazz has played there, and this CD, Jazz at the Bassline (Sheer Sound), collects 12 works by this country’s top artists in that genre (or somewhat adjacent to it).
It is, then, inevitably a mixed bag, with the styles represented moving between Sipho Gumede’s Afro-poppy Down Freedom Avenue and the fiery, out-there improvisation of Zim Ngqawana, between the smooth chug of McCoy Mrubata’s Masigoduke to the edgier experimentation of Pops Mohamed’s Lolly’s Song.
Inevitably, too, not every number will appeal to every taste. I, for one, find the oft-made comparison of Jimmy Dludlu and Wes Montgomery disturbing in what it says about Dludlu’s ambitions and future. Montgomery, remember, threw away his massive guitar- playing talent on easy-listening trifles.
Ngqawana, by comparison, runs the risk of barely displaying his magnificent gifts – as a composer especially. Not that it’s necessarily his fault that he hasn’t been recorded more, but it would be tragic if he were not to make his full contribution to South African jazz. Along with Mahomed and Moses Molelekwa (also represented here), he is the most likely to take it roaring into the next century.
All the tracks on Jazz at the Bassline are lifted from previously recorded studio albums. This is still a great CD, but it’s a pity the Bassline isn’t documented by live performances from its own stage. The tapes exist, and Sheer Sound must consider making use of them for the next celebration of this sterling venue.