Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

International Jazz Day 2020

latest news & developments
Herbie Hancock, a Buddhist for over 40 years, says it has a profound impact on not only his music but his life. (Douglas Kirkland)
70S

Herbie Hancock and the recurring bridging of time

Herbie Hancock speaks about how his spirituality influences his approach to life and music and about jazz’s role in striving for a better planet

  • Kwanele Sosibo
  • Nduduzo Makhathini
  • Brenda Sisane
12 min read
Mongezi Feza on trumpet at the concert in 1964 that is the source of the rare new photos of The Blue Notes. (Norman Owen-Smith)
CHRIS MCGREGOR

Missing gold treasure: The void that is the South African jazz archive

Despite laudable efforts of some, there is a lot of history that has been lost and building a repository is now paramount

  • Boitumelo Tlhoaele
5 min read
Bokani Dyer, pictured here with his father Steve Dyer, is among the musicians participating in International Jazz Day (Rafs Mayet)
JAZZDAY
Video

Celebrating International Jazz Day at home

Here’s a look back at how the annual International Jazz Day, now in its 9th year, has been celebrated across the world.

  • Arts Desk
1 min read
Melvyn Peters and Thandi Klaasens at the famed Rainbow Restaurant and Jazz Club in Pinetown. (All images by Rafs Mayet)
AGRIPPA AND NELSON MAGWAZA

Why we need a South African jazz photography archive

We need more books about South African jazz, focusing on both the verbal and the visual, to fully capture and appreciate the unique ‘river of culture we’ve been bequeathed’

  • Rafs Mayet
7 min read
Although Wadada Leo Smith’s music was, in the words of American critic Adam Shatz, “less encumbered by traditional song forms”, it evoked a “pastoral modernism: spacious, serene, and in no hurry to reach its destination”. (Tom Beetz)
AFRICAN JAZZ
Video

Bridging the black Atlantic in jazz

The collaboration between Thomas Mapfumo and Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, broke new ground and should have grown cult status

  • Percy Zvomuya
10 min read
Wayne Shorter had an emotionally taxing life, which inevitably coloured his tone on the saxophone
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM

Spirituality at the core of sax great’s sound

Oyama Mabandla explores the idea that artistic success has spiritual bliss at its centre.

  • Oyama Mabandla
6 min read