Lots of Joy at the new look Standard Bank Joy Of Jazz

If you do not know by now, the Standard Bank Joy Of Jazz is an annual not-to-be-missed jazz festival held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The festival boasts four stages with performances over three days, and a lineup of jazz, mixed with other genres like RnB, Soul and world music, with perfomances .

A brief history of the festival, it started off in the capital city, Pretoria, and then moved on to the Newtown arts precinct where it developed an unique identity and put Newtown and Johannesburg on the world map. This year was hosted in Sandton for the first time. Over the 16 years it has been running it has featured over 50 local and international artists.

When the festival organizers announced that the festival will be moving from the artistic Newtown to Holliwood-like Sandton in 2014, they were met with a lot of criticism despite promising what has been hailed as one their most impressive line-ups by far - Gregory Porter (2014 Grammy award winner for best vocal jazz album),  Dianne Reeves (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006 Grammy Award Winner for best vocal jazz performance), Herbie Tsoaeli (2013 South African Music Award winner for best jazz album) and Kyle Shepherd (2014Winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist award for Jazz ), to name a few, were all on the line-up.

The Sandton show finally happened, from 25th September to 26th September, and all criticism was silenced. The artists put up world class performances one after another. At some point festival attendees were spoilt for choice, with some top jazz acts overlapping - Gregory Porter (23h45) and Christian Scott (00h00) were a classic example of this.

When I asked those that attended for their festival highlights, Gregory Porter, Christian Scott and Billy Ocean's came up many times... and of course, Roy Hargorove singing the blues! All performances were world-class, and the festival left a lot of JOY behind.

The date for next year's festival is already set, Sandton Convention Centre, 24th, 25th and 26th September. See you there ! (www.joyofjazz.co.za)

Some shots from the festival (All pics by Moeti Moumakoe except for Billy Ocean by Karabo Matlala):

The Orbit Experience with Jimmy Mngwandi

A lot had already been written about the venue and many photographers, professional and social networks hobbyists alike, had sufficiently captured and shared moments from the venue, never to be repeated again. Almost every South African jazz platform, newspaper, blog, and social network group, had had their say. I even heard some artists saying that it was too good… too good to be true. It was still not enough to satisfy my curiosity and desire to experience this apparent live jazz phenomenon personally. 

It finally arrived. On Sunday 6^th April, it was my turn to experience the magic of The Orbit (www.theorbit.co.za ) – A newly opened jazz venue in Braamfontein, that has been at the tip of every live jazz appreciating individual’s tongue, around Joburg. Fitted with high quality sound and lighting to create the perfect ambiance, one would be excused for using the word “perfect”, to describe it. The act on that evening was the South African bass maestro Jimmy Mngwandi, who is now based in New York, playing music from his new album African Desert (recorded in Chicago). He featured Mzamo Bhengu on trumpet, Sphiwe Shiburi on drums, Mdu Mtshali on Piano, and Sax veteran Syney Mnisi. 

Upon arrival I was disappointed to notice that the show was going to be held at the smaller stage at the bottom, as I had heard great stories about “the other stage”, the great 200 seater theatre upstairs. That was about the end of my disappointments though! Everything else was what I expected and a bit more, and the food smelled divine. 

With the ambience set and the audience totally silent, Jimmy and the band went on to put up an impressive show, and the queue at the CD sales desk said it all. He played with great passion and energy, and had not forgotten his sense of humour at home. Mdu caused a few hearts to skip bits with his fast-paced traversal of the black and white keys, and just when I thought he had stolen the show from Jimmy, Sydney and Sphiwe had me thinking twice about it with their interchanges. At some point Sydney nodded convincingly as Sphiwe phrased away. When it was Sydney’s turn to solo, he didn’t hold back on showing why he is one the best sax players SA has ever produced, playing like a man possessed, and only taking split second pauses to fix his spectacles and get some breath. Sphiwe kept the rhythm steady and flawless, completing the magic of The Orbit experience.  

 Jimmy Mngwandi’s African Dessert is available from Jazz Essay Record Bar (https://www.jazzessayrecordbar.com ). Some pics from the show…

 

 

McCoy Mrubata and Friends @ Niki's Oasis, Johannesburg (Newtown)

McCoy Mrubata performed with his band of long-term friends at Niki's for the first time on this Good Friday night, 29 March 2013. The venue was not as busy as it usually is due to the performance being on Good Friday, but the band delivered a high-quality, intimate performance nonetheless. They played two definitive sets, including in them the popular Jo’burg Mountains, which McCoy said was inspired by the mine dumps in the City of Gold, the “Yellow Mountains”. They also included in the sets Icamagu Livumile from the album with the same title, that won a SAMA(South African Music Award) in 2004 for Best Traditional Jazz album, and my personal favorites Entlombeni and Mr and Mrs Adonis - I can hear you scatting “daabee-daabee-dee-bee-daa” to the mere mention of this one !

There are very South African jazz artists who have managed to steer clear of the pure American and European jazz sounds, opting instead to predominantly fuse jazz elements with indigenous South African elements, in their music, like the chants and drumming of traditional healers, the Xhosa rhythms and sounds, and the elements of Mbaqanga and Goema music. McCoy Mrubata is one of those artists. Other artists that have followed this route are piano maestros Abdullah Ibrahim and Themba Mkhize,  the late Zim Ngqawana and the 2013 South African Music Award winner for Best Jazz Album, Herbie Tsoaeli, to name but a few.

The McCoy and Friends sextet was made up of McCoy Mrubata on Flute and Saxophone, Paul Hanmer on Keys, Andre Abrahamse on Bass Guitar, Jabu Magubane on Trombone, Bernice Boikanyo on Drums, and Prince Lengwasa on Trumpet and Flugelhorn.

A big thanks to Bra McCoy and Sis Niki, for making this South African Jazz Experience post possible. Below are some photos from the show, do enjoy !

 

McCoy and Friends.

 

McCoy Mrubata on Saxophone.

The horn section.

Then horn section in dance.

McCoy Mrubata on Flute.

 

                                                Prince Lengwasa on Trumpet and Flugelhorn.

                                                       Jabu Magubane on Trombone.

Paul Hanmer on Keys

 Andre Abrahamse on Bass Guitar.

                                                          Bernice Boikanyo on Drums

                                                        "Icamagu Livumileeeee...... "