(Right: Malcolm Braff, courtesy of the artist)
The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music will
present Zachusa Warriors featuring Malcolm Braff, Reggie Washington and Kesivan
Naidoo on October 1 2019. This is the final Twosday gig for 2019.
This trans-national jazz trio are dedicated to
the (he)art of improvisation. “These cats are heavy, man – they’ve played with
heavy cats and they’re heavy themselves!” says Naidoo. He ain’t kidding. The
Brazilian-born, Swiss-based Malcolm Braff, has been travelling the
trans-disciplinary sonic spaceways for ages, having grown up in the Cape Verde Islands
and Senegal before finding his rhythm in Switzerland.
Over the past two decades he has re-imagined
standards, penned polymorphous chamber orchestra homages to Ligeti, burned a sensual
slow blues back into African filtered groove improvisations with djembe dervish
Yaya Ouattara, chilled in the classical Indian hammams of Calcutta with
trumpeter Erik Truffaz, and speculated on how to bring his Brazilian beat
routes back into contemporary jazz with a free-mode authority... beyond any
“soul jazz” straightjacket.
(Left: Kesivan Naidoo. Pic by Jacqui van Staden)
Turns out, Naidoo has travelled a similar path.
The South African-born, inveterately nomadic, percussionist honed his improvisational
chops with a “who’s who” of South African jazz giants including
pianist-saxophonist Bheki Mseleku, saxophonists Zim Ngqawana and Winston Mankunku,
pianist Hotep Galeta and many more. As a youngster he even (in)famously managed
to get ‘Mama’ Miriam Makeba to wait for him to catch a plane to Europe when he
was performing in her band!
Naidoo is a fiercely original leader in his own
right. As anyone who caught his live performance with The Lights at Carnegie
Hall at the Ubuntu Festival in 2014 will testify to, he is the missing link in
South African jazz: between Abdullah Ibrahim’s metamorphosing sonic fictions,
Mseleku’s holistic approach to rhythm and melody, and yes that allusive jazz
groove. “How are we moving our music forward?” he asks. Well, most recently
he’s been fleshing out his sound performing live and recording with such
downtown NYC heavyweights as bassist William Parker and Swiss-South African
combo Skyjack.
(Right: Reggie Washington. Photo by David Crunelle)
It’s this restless quest for collaboration and
desire to pay homage to their improvisational forefathers that fuels Reggie
Washington’s creative quest. The 50-something bassist earned his “heavy” rep
touring with a roll call of jazz luminaries including Steve Coleman, Branford Marsalis,
Roy Hargrove, Chico Hamilton, Oliver Lake, Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Lester Bowie,
Ronald Shannon Jackson, Archie Shepp, Rokia Traoré and more. The self-described
“360-degree musician” has been mainlining jazz, funk, R&B, blues, world and
experimental music as leader of his own bands alongside the likes of Ravi
Coltrane, Matthew Garrison, Marcus Strickland, Jason Lindner, Poogie Bell,
Ronny Drayton and more.
“My music is a healthy musical mix paying homage
to the forefathers and exploring our craft by journeying down new roads to help
pave the way for the future,” says Washington. “For me, our music must evolve and
I feel I’m among the select group of musicians capable and dedicated to keeping
music alive and strong. I am determined to bring more happiness through the
music and share it with the World.”
After an impressive debut at the legendary
Bird’s Eye club in Basel in 2018, Zachusa Warriors are bringing their
exploratory jazz repertoire to South African audiences in September and October
2019. So, what can audiences expect live from this trans-national trio? Try an unapologetically
exploratory jazz repertoire that remaps the missing links between the choral music
of South Africa and the church sounds of Europe. Expect an ear-opening trip
through the complexities of African rhythmical beat routes melded with a deep
sensitivity towards the inner and outer limits of classical Indian modal mantra
vibes.
Join Zachus Warriors: Kesivan Naidoo (drums),
Malcolm Braff (piano) and Reggie Washington (bass), at The Centre for Jazz and
Popular music (CJPM), Level 2, Shepstone Building at UKZN Howard College Campus
on October 1, 2019, at 18h00 (doors open at 17h30). Entrance R80 (R50
pensioners, R25 students.
For more details, contact Thuli on 031 260 3385
or email Zamat1@ukzn.ac.za
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