The South African Jazz Experience: April 2013

On the evening of Tuesday the 26^th of March 2013, Lwanda Gogwana performed his first public show in Johannesburg at Katzys, a posh live music venue in the heart of Rosebank. This, I felt, was a piece of South African Jazz History in the making, and worthy of being noted. The performance was part of an event called “Up-&-Coming”, aimed at promoting aspiring musicians. Many will agree with me that this is a classification that Lwanda, whose debut album Songbook Chapter One was nominated for a South African Music Award (SAMA) for Best Jazz Album (2012), has long outgrown.

The trendy interior of Katzys and the dim lights created the perfect ambiance for the night. Lwanda’s quintet was the second act of the night, and they put up a great show, despite the 40 minutes time limit each one of the three bands was allowed, on stage. They performed 4 songs in total, two of them from Songbook Chapter One. The other two were Vusi Khumalo’s Song for the Gurus and Ray Hargrove’s Stransbourg St Denis. Lwanda’s soothing trumpet sounds were reminiscent of the sounds of Miles Davies and Roy Hargrove, and the overall performance of the band left everyone with something to smile and talk about on the way home after the show.

The quintet, whom Lwanda introduced as “the best band in the whole world”, were Sisonke Xonti on Tenor Saxophone, Thandi Ntuli on Keys, Tumi Mogorosi on Drums, Tseke Malatjie on electric Bass, and Lwanda himself on Trumpet and Flugelhorn.

Below are some of the photos from the show. A BIG THANK YOU to Lwanda Gogwana and Mandisa Bardill for making this blog post possible. If you do not have a copy of Songbook Chapter One, you can order it from Jazz Essay Record Bar.