In an interview in the early Eighties, legendary saxophonist Archie Shepp reverentially referred to jazz as America’s classical music. His impulse was to assign the idiom the important artistic status he felt it deserved. The rise in popularity in the Nineties of an urban-popular fusion or ”smooth” jazz sound meant for many listeners that jazz music as an art form became more accessible, and that any equation of jazz with ”serious” or ”difficult” music was unnecessary.
The musicians performing at the Camel Jazz Sessions at the glitzy Blue Note in Rylands last weekend in celebration of South African Music Day demonstrated that the South African jazz experience is as much about artistic endeavour as it is about agreeable entertainment.
Tina Schouw’s set comprised of an hour of sultry, soulful, smooth jazz sounds that were at times sexy (The Waters of March), at others sassy (Me and My Perfume and the Man in the Moon), yet invariably superbly swinging. Backed by multi-instrumentalist Dave Ledbetter (keyboards and guitar), Gary Deacon (bass), Tony Paco (percussion) and Vince Pavitt (drums), Schouw’s performance once again enhanced the impression that while Cape Town might no longer be the jazz capital of South Africa, the music is certainly still flourishing in the Mother City.
An unmissable crowd-pleaser was a 15-minute rendition of the self-penned The Girl and Her Volcano, during which Schouw’s evocative lyricism and charismatic stage persona proved just why she is affectionately referred to by her fans as the ”darling songbird of Cape Town”.
Not even some shockingly indifferent sound engineering could prevent renowned reedsman Kaya Mahlangu’s band, Iconoclast, from wowing the Cape Town audience with their dynamic blend of modern and traditional jazz sounds. Based on their 90-minute-plus set of largely original material showcasing the phenomenal jazz skills of Mahlangu on flute, tenor and soprano saxophones, Hilton Schilder on keyboards, Vusi Khumalo on drums and Victor Ntoni on double-bass, Iconoclast look destined to become one of South Africa’s classic jazz quartets. As their name insists, Iconoclast are essentially nonconformists. Building on a conventional post-bop framework, the band explores influences from Afro-Cuban to rap and beyond, always investing the music with a deep sense of spirituality often found wanting in much of the smooth jazz idiom.
Toenails is a case in point, providing Mahlangu with the opportunity to stretch out. As his extended solos float pitch perfect over some deft keyboard lines from Schilder, the understated bass and drum backing of Ntoni and Khumalo constantly sustains the rhythmic path imbuing the music with a rich sense of spatial and textural depth. Another indisputable highlight was the funky rap song, Criminal Minded, with Schilder stepping up to the microphone to lyricise about violence and peace while the rest of the band created a hip dance groove reminiscent at times of Branford Marsalis’s Buckshot le Fonque.
Iconoclast proved that they are equally adept at both contemporary and more traditional jazz vernaculars when joined by guest vocalist Yelena for a short set of standard interpretations of songs, including All I’ve Got and Sometime Ago. While the singer’s predominantly scatting style might not be to everyone’s taste, her resonant phrasing and unerring ability to capture the mood of each piece through vocal rather than lyrical composition suggests an exciting talent. On Flying High and a jammed version of All Blues, in particular, her insistently swinging vocal dexterity showcased a side of jazz vocal styling too often unappreciated by modern audiences.