Lwanda Gogwana might still be in his twenties but this young trumpeter already knows enough about jazz to know it is as much about where you are from as where you are at.
His debut album, The Lwanda Gogwana Songbook , is an acknowledgement of what has come before and a window to new discoveries. It revisits his Eastern Cape roots, fusing traditional Xhosa harmonies with nods to jazz luminaries such as Moses Molelekwa, Terence Blanchard, Hugh Masekela, Feya Faku and Miles Davis. Some of the pieces bristle with youthful energy and confusion while others take a more meditative approach, but what ties them together is Gogwana’s incessant questioning and restlessness. He has a month long-residency at Tagore’s.
Tagore’s, 42 Trill Road, Observatory, every Saturday in January at 9.30pm.
? When young, bit-chomping, post-bop quartet Tribe dropped their album, Our Language, almost a decade ago, it was the start of things to come.
Combining a steely post-bop swing with serious references to South African jazz history, the then fresh-faced four — Buddy Wells (sax), Mark Fransman (piano), Charles Lazar (bass) and Kesivan Naidoo (drums) — sought to reclaim jazz for a new generation. Their inspiration? Previous young mavericks including bop hotheads Diz, Bird, Miles, Bud and Monk, and the then recently deceased South African piano prodigy Moses Molelekwa.
Nine years later and the musical revolution Tribe once dreamed of has seemingly come to pass. With a new home base at the Mahogany Room, dilettantes such as Naidoo, Bokani Dyer, Kyle Shepherd, Afrika Mkhize and Shane Cooper are drawing young audiences. What better time to revisit their roots? Join Tribe as they reanimate original compositions.
Mahogany Room, 79 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town, January 13 and 14 at 7pm. Entrance is R80 (including R30 drink voucher) per set, at 8.30pm and 10.30pm.