(Heels Over Head)
Women and their role in jazz will be celebrated at today’s Jazz
Super Session in Durban which forms part of The Road to Standard Bank Joy of
Jazz campaign. Performing will be the award-winning all female jazz band, Heels
Over Head while the concert features only women jazz presenters.
Jazz associations and appreciation societies have become an
integral feature of South Africa’s jazz culture and heritage. An important
milestone in the evolution of these organisations was the formation of a
national body, the South African Jazz Appreciators Associations (SAJAA), in
August last year in Durban.
T Musicman, promoters of the annual Standard Bank Joy of
Jazz, now has an ongoing professional relationship with these associations,
through a campaign called The Road to Standard Bank Joy of Jazz in which a series
of concerts known as Super Sessions showcase upcoming talent. Through these
sessions, jazz lovers can enjoy live music and music discussions by jazz
presenters from different jazz clubs.
Performing in the Durban Jazz Super Session is the SAMA
nominated Heels over Head. The group were named the winners of the 2010 Yamaha
Young Talent Award and their albums Could
It Be and Sondela are racking up
popular and critical acclaim. Renowned for their suave, sophisticated and
sparkling stage presence, the band has found its groove and created a smooth,
watertight brand of slinky soul-kissed contemporary jazz. Stylistic influences
include maskandi, mbaqanga, gospel, classical, funk, house and reggae, all of
which are wrapped within their signature sound of easy breezy jazz-pop with an
Afro feel.
The band members are Thulile Zama and Nomkhosi Mazibuko on
vocals, Susan Barry on keyboards, Lee Ngidi on bass, Arianna Carini on guitar
and Rebekah Pillay on drums. Each has significant experience in the music
industry nationally and abroad.
Presenters at the Durban Jazz Super Session are Olebile
Dikgetsi from a Northern Cape jazz club; Nomsa Fankomo from Mpumalanga and
Felicity Mashodi from the Western Cape.
Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, regarded as Africa’s premiere
jazz festival, takes place from September 25 to 27 at the Sandton Convention
Centre in Gauteng. Top female performers are also part of the jazzstravaganza
with headline acts including four-time Grammy Award winner Dianne Reeves; South
African musical legend Sibongile Khumalo and Italian jazz singer and Grammy
nominee Roberta Gambarini. Other huge drawcards are Tony-nominated composer and
multiplatinum-selling singer Ann Hampton Callaway; Filipino recording artist
and cultural trailblazer Charmaine Clamor and a number of former Standard Bank
Young Artist winners such as Gloria Bosman (2000), Tutu Puoane (2004),
and Melanie Scholtz (2010).
Durban’s Jazz Super Session takes place today (August 9, Women’s
Day) at the Bat Centre on the Victoria Embankment starting at 14h00. The Jazz
Super Session itself is free but R150 covers the cost of a two-course meal.
The BAT Centre Trust is situated at 45 Maritime Place in the Small Craft Harbour, Durban.
More information on 031 332 0451/2079, fax 031 332 2213 or cell 078 089 1040. For
details of art exhibitions contact Nomusa Mtshali on 031 332 0451 or email visualarts@batcentre.co.za
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