Home » Jazz Musicians » Benjamin Jephta
Benjamin Jephta
Benjamin Jephta: Homecoming Revisited
by Dan Bilawsky
At 22 years of age, the up-and-coming Cape Town-reared bassist Benjamin Jephta introduced himself to the wider world via Homecoming (Self Produced, 2015), an engrossing debut featuring South African standouts like tenor saxophonist Sisonke Xonti, trumpeter Marcus Wyatt, pianist Kyle Shepherd, drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko and vocalist Spha Mdlalose. A decade later, he gives us Homecoming Revisted, re-envisioning that material with a large community of collaborators and some hard-won perspective. Opening on “Prayer for... (revisited)," with Mazibuko and percussionist Tlale Makhene ...
Continue ReadingMelanie Scholtz: Seven
by Dan Bilawsky
Seven years is both an eternity and the blink of an eye. Enough of a stretch for individual circumstances to turn on countless dimes, it's also just a brief moment in the sea of existence and the greater, grander scheme. Seven is life itself...yet it's also one of its component cycles. South African-born vocalist Melanie Scholtz is well aware of these contradictions and truths, and, more importantly, the spiritual charge, gifts toward personal growth, well-placed challenges and overall wonder embedded ...
Continue ReadingThapelo Lekoane: Tapestry
by Lucy Jacobs
Tapestry is Thapelo Lekoanes' stunning debut album. Lekoane is a South African artist with a long-standing career as a music director, vocalist and songwriter. Through these experiences, Lekoane has noticeably drawn from a deep well of jazz, folk, soul and world influences to produce this work. These influences are present in the album's sound which has a global appeal whilst maintaining an African texture. In what she calls “folk-soul," Lekoane's voice waltzes through this sound to deliver strong emotional pieces. ...
Continue ReadingAlonzo Demetrius: Live From The Prison Nation
by Mike Jurkovic
Drummer Ralph Peterson's righteous mission is the continuum of late mentor Art Blakey with the all cylinders burn of the Messengers Legacy performances and twenty-five recordings, including 2020's charismatic Onward & Upward (Onyx Productions). He chooses trumpeter Alonzo Demetrius as his first label mate to help bring the even larger legacy of the black movement forward. Samples of a 2003 speech from of activist Angela Davis open Demetrius's episodic debut suite Live From The Prison Nation. She's discussing ...
Continue Reading
