Linda Sikhakhane: Iladi

The music of South African saxophonist Linda Sikhakhane does not so much originate from a particular point in time or space or history as much as it expands and accelerates forth from the sub-Sahara's heady mists. Billowing, charging. Seething, soothing. So ease back and let Iladi (a Zulu wisdom ritual) happen. Let the moves of diaspora move you. Let Iladi trace its heritage and bring all listeners home. Let it engulf the room like a fog.

On his first album released jointly by Blue Note Records & Universal Music Africa, Sikhakhane deputizes his frequent collaborator, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini to produce, resulting in an expansive essence of humor and hope emanating from such titles as "iGosa," "Influential Moments," "Inkehli," and "Umhlahlandela." Guided by Makathini's eloquence and gifted with his rhythmic cohorts—bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and drummer Kweku Sumbry—Sikhakhane, both in his earthy compositions and playing, proves beyond doubt that he is not only a humble student of the elders but their best voice to carry on the great story.

Approached like a classic Blue Note session, the sound is contemporary vintage bop with a sure sense of global now. Bringing all that he has intuited and learned, his tone deep, emotive, immediate, Sikhakhane flows along with the unrelenting undertow that the trio keeps jacked to ten throughout. Iladi's voice is the voice of everyman: exultant, pained. He speaks directly to and fervently with many of the elders: Dexter Gordon, King Curtis, Eric Dolphy, Sonny Rollins. It is a wealth to the ears and a safe place to let the head run free.

Best of all Iladi—its hushed meditations, its insistent blues—is so reassuring and invigorating its replay value is inestimable and invaluable. "Ukukhushulwa" (translation: transcendence) is a literal seance with John Coltrane's classic quartet. Moody, evocative, telling. A music lasting beyond this moment. A music existing before it.

Like numerous Alice Coltrane invocations, "Umhlahlandela" calls to the guides and the spirits to hear once more the voice of a new people. Makathini is key here: setting the tone of somber conference. Evolving from African folktales, "Idatshana" rides the curative oscillation set down by Sumbry (his vigor infectious) and Bell le Pere's vital dance. "Mama" is, as it should be, a soft ruminative ballad of joyful remembrance. On the heels of the compellingly active "Influential Moments," "Ecako" closes out Iladi on a very high and grateful note.