Tutu Puoane laughs as she describes her childhood attempts to escape from jazz. As with many kids growing up in the Tshwane township of Mamelodi, she found that “jazz was everywhere”. As a child all she wanted was “to watch MacGyver“, but in her household the TV action hero was no match for Quincy Jones. Puoane recalls how she and her older brother had to resort to hiding their uncle’s jazz video tapes under the bed to buy time for some jazz-free TV.
But the MacGyver fixation couldn’t last. Puoane’s love for music “started in the womb”. It was only a matter of time before she embraced jazz.
Puoane says she first understood the power of her voice when she joined the primary school choir at St Mark’s in Jane Furse, Limpopo. Back then she confesses to have had a thing for “counting how many people were moved to tears” by her singing.
Things didn’t always come that easy. Puoane describes an angry spell in her life when she was studying jazz at the University of Cape Town. Her anger sprang from a combination of “bad boyfriends” and the realisation that “people no longer wept” at the sound of her voice. But as she grew up she became more comfortable in herself — other people’s tears did not matter anymore.
Now Puoane is making a home in the world. The 2004 Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year has taken her music to New York, New Orleans, France, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. She won local acclaim when she performed at last year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
That is not to say she has no blues. One just has to listen to her sing He Needs Me on her debut solo album, Song. Her indigo appeal is even more apparent on You Are My Sunshine from the same album. Puoane has the ability to welcome you into a song — and woo you into her swing.
Later this year she will travel to Japan to promote Song. The tour comes on the back of a distribution deal to be signed with a Japanese label that she can’t mention just yet. The Japanese release will include bonus tracks not included in the initial recording.
It’s going to be a busy year for her. Puoane is also putting the finishing touches on a new album. She promises an “organic, original and no-nonsense” offering, in the singer-songwriter tradition. The album enlists a new rhythm section: bassist Nicolas Thys, who brings seven years of life and work experience from New York, Lieven Venken, who’s also based in New York, on drums and Puoane’s Belgian husband, Ewout Pierreux, on piano.
This time they’ll work as a clean quartet without the personnel extensions of the first album, and some of the songs have roots outside the jazz rubric. The band has already started recording in Germany and plans to finish the album by October. Puoane becomes animated when asked about the title. She’s determined to call it Quiet Now because “now it’s my time and everyone else must listen”.
But she is no jazz prima donna. She relishes collaboration with other musicians and says she’s inspired by those who are more experienced, such as the Brussels Jazz Orchestra — a 17-piece big band — with which she’s worked since 2004. Their latest project will explore the music of the late South African legend Miriam Makeba, whose songs will be rearranged for a big-band format. It’s not yet clear when South Africans will get the chance to enjoy this musical dialogue, but Puoane says she can’t wait for local fans to sample the “amazing musicianship” of the orchestra.
Puoane’s tribute to Makeba also shows where her heart lies. Although she’s been living in Belgium for six years she says she has no intention of changing her citizenship. As we wrap up our conversation she starts talking about next month’s election and how she’s going to cast her vote. She’ll be back in Brussels by then and plans to be first in line at the South African embassy when the doors open on election day.
Meanwhile, she’s got an album to deliver.