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Robin Fassie
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Asher Gamedze: Turbulence And Pulse
by Chris May
South African drummer Asher Gamedze's Turbulence And Pulse is a magnificent, gutsy, stirring piece of work, authentic to its core. It resonates, almost without mediation, with Black American jazz as played by bands led by Charles Mingus and Art Blakey circa 1960. And therein lies a story, for Black South African jazz has seen its compass complete a 360-degree revolution since it emerged in the 1950s. In a good way, Turbulence And Pulse marks that full-turn of the circle. Bear ...
read moreShane Cooper & Mabuta: Finish The Sun
by Dan Bilawsky
On Mabuta's debut—Welcome To This World (Afrosynth Records, 2018)—South African bassist, electronic musician and composer Shane Cooper introduced ears to a leading-edge ensemble intent on delivering trippy, dance-friendly designs. Now, with this second album, he doubles down on that core concept, delivering a heap of hip groovers which draw strength from Pan-African influences and ride high in the atmosphere, twirling atop a rotating cast of drummers plucked from points across the eastern hemisphere. Kicking things off with ...
read moreNduduzo Makhathini: In The Spirit Of Ntu
by Chris May
There are strong links between London's alternative jazz scene and the parallel and burgeoning one in South Africa. A case in point is the connection between South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini and British tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings. Makhathini and Hutchings' similar ages and overlapping, cosmologically informed takes on jazz meant they were almost certain to meet on the international stage at some point, and having met, would take things further. Indeed, that happened, and serendipity brought ...
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