The jazz-pianist and composer Ramon Hector Alexander hails from Mamre. His latest album release – his second solo album – is entitled Echoes from Louwskloof.
In one sense, this album is an homage to his musical forefathers; in another, it is an homage to the forefathers of his birthplace. “Louwskloof was a place close to home where a Khoi captain, Klapmuts, and his people roamed when the German missionaries set up shop in Groenekloof [today it’s known as Mamre] at the turn of the 1800s.” This historical titbit reveals an artist who has a special connection to place, and how the past resonates in the present.
This feature is apparent in his music, too. From an early age, before his discovery of jazz, Ramon was influenced by the brassy sounds of Moravian hymns and the surviving legacy of Khoisan music in the community around the historic mission station. On Echoes from Louwskloof, the obvious pride that the artist takes in his roots comes through quite strongly. A track such as “Louwskloof se mense” takes up the subject of “some of the first inhabitants of Moravian Mamre [who] were then converted to Christianity.”
Moreover, on “Sons and Captains” the style and sound is decidedly ghoema, the genre within jazz that evokes mixed emotions: the jazz purists deride it, while others embrace it as “roots music”. For Ramon, it is with ghoema that jazz can best address several concerns. For instance, on the issue of a Cape jazz musical legacy or tradition he says: “it is undeniably part of our culture. It is a cosmopolitan sound coming from places like D6.
The actual rhythm is from the East, rattiep.” And on the question of the present political and cultural moment, he says: “in a country where our youth is in search for identity and culture, this music definitely has relevance. It is a very indigenous thing.” At the same time, though, his musical forefathers also take centre stage in this more roots-inflected jazz style. Musicians such as “Mac Mackenzie, Abdullah Ibrahim and Robbie Jansen have done a lot to give this a noteworthy place in the jazz spectrum.” In some ways, then, “Sons and Captains” encapsulates both complementary and contradictory strands in Ramon’s music: the past and the present; pre-jazz and within jazz; derision and homage. It is also with “Sons and Captains” that signals another inclusion to the fresh cohort of jazz musician that has emerged fully able to take over from the previous generation – the “Captains” have steered the ship well and have handed over the helm to the sons who are ably taking control at the helm. This new crew will take Cape jazz to places it has never been before.
Read more
Ramon attended All Saints Primary School in Mossel Bay, York High in George and completed a BSc in Agriculture (viticulture and oenology) at Stellenbosch in 2004. His mother and father were English and Geography teachers, respectively. His interest in music came from imitating his elder brother’s piano lessons when he was five years old, an elder brother who also played trumpet in the church band. When Alexander’s parents divorced, he moved to his eldest sister and her husband to settle in Mossel Bay, and there the young Ramon had his first – classical – piano lessons, aged ten. Ramon was fifteen when his interest in jazz was first piqued.
It was that same brother who later took Ramon to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, where he became fascinated with a Cuban band called Como No. It was from this moment of discovery that he started listening to his brother’s collection that included Shakatak, Fourplay, Dave Grusin, Joe Sample and The Crusaders, Bob James, Djavan, and Lee Ritenour. In 1998, aged eighteen, Ramon took lessons from Cape Town’s foremost jazz teacher, Merton Barrow, at his jazz workshop and was introduced to a more mainstream form of jazz. He was exposed to the music of Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. Ramon opted to apply for and won an SAA (South African Airways) bursary in wine-making at Stellenbosch University (one out of only six available places in his year.). While studying, Ramon continued to play, first as part of student Christian outreach activities, and later with his own ensemble, ESP, named after a Miles Davis album.
ESP played wherever there was work: festivals, corporate functions and more. That was when Ramon Alexander the composer came to the fore. By 2004, when ESP cut an album, seven out of the 12 tracks were his compositions. Thereafter, he regularly led his own ensembles and performed in a range of bands in clubs like Cape Town’s Crypt, and with the Cape Jazz Band, which plays a repertoire of
Cape-composed music, historic and modern. This band comprises of Cape Town jazz luminaries such as Jack Momple, Errol Dyers, Tony Cedras (Paul Simon-fame), Mark Fransman, Spencer Mbadu, Stephen Erasmus, and Dizu Plaatjies In 2011, he released his debut album, Picnic at Kontiki, and made Eric Alan’s Top40 jazz releases for that year. In 2012, he recorded as the sole pianist on Mountain Records’ album, Cape Jazz 4, released in 2013. In 2015, aged 35, he released his second album, Echoes from Louwskloof.
He currently performs with the bassist Chadleigh Gowar, the drummer Annemie Nel and the saxophonist Zeke Le Grange. Ramon has performed at diverse music festivals such as the Suidoosterfees and the Cedebergfees. In addition, he has made appearances at Jazz on the Rocks (both Plettenberg Bay and Tieties Bay), the Darling Music Experience and KKNK accompanying Zolani Mahola, Katlego Maboe, Albert Frost, Koos Kombuis and Schalk Joubert,.
Most recently he has featured to critical acclaim at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF). With the inclusion of the Crypt, Ramon regularly plays at Kaleidoscope Jazz Cafe and the Drosdy Theatre. Echoes from Louwskloof is on iTunes. You can get more information on Ramon and his activities at www.ramonalexander.co.za. Show less
