Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O: True Story

One of the minor but intriguing mysteries of modern culture is why the trombone is commonplace in African American music yet only rarely heard in Africa itself. Since its earliest days, jazz in the US has featured the trombone, as did ska in Jamaica. In analog-age samba and bossa nova in Brazil, the instrument was practically de rigueur. There are other examples. But trombones are only occasionally heard in African music, even with bandleaders who featured large horn sections. Ghana's urban-highlife pioneer, E.T. Mensah, sometimes included a trombonist in The Tempos in the 1950s. Nigeria's Fela Kuti used a trombonist only once in almost four decades, when in the early 1970s Fesobi Olawaiye played for a short while in Africa 70 (before the name change to Afrika 70).

Anomalously, however, the trombone has long been a feature of South African jazz. Among the instrument's early proponents was Mosa Jonas Gwangwa, a contemporary of Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba, who in the mid 1950s was a member of the influential hard-bop band the Jazz Epistles and went on to play a role in the creation of the jazz opera King Kong in 1958/9. Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O names Gwangwa as one of his mentors.

True Story is Jiyane's second album, following Umdali (Mushroom Hour Half Hour, 2021). The new album features the same core personnel: Nkosinathi Mathunjwa on acoustic and electric keyboards, Ayanda Zalekile on electric bass, Lungile Kunene on drums and Gontse Makhene on percussion. The music is groove based and strong on melody. Tracks are concise, averaging between four and five minutes each, and solos focus on texture and melodic embellishment rather than harmonic development. The album projects a delightful life-affirming vibe, which also comes through on YouTube below, where the band stretch out in a way time does not allow on the album. The sound is fattened by judicious overdubs of the trombone and keyboards, with background vocals, often wordless, adding depth on half the tracks. But True Story retains an essentially live feel.

Jiyane describes the album as a "metaphorical autobiography." Though buoyant, the music also carries a sense of loss: Jiyane brought memories of people who are no longer with us to his composing. Opening track "Memory Is The Weapon" is named after Sophiatown poet Don Mattera's autobiography, which in turn referred to Fela Kuti's dictum "music is the weapon." "Dr. Philip Tabane" pays tribute to the guitarist who in the early 1960s founded the groundbreaking Malombo Jazz, the first South African band to base their style wholly on tribal folk music rather than the African American tradition. "I Play What I Like" was inspired by Black Consciousness philosopher Steve Biko and "Peter's Torch" was inspired by the Wailers' Peter Tosh. "Global Warning" touches on another kind of loss. Tristesse is not necessarily a downer, however, as True Story demonstrates