Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Nduduzo Makhathini is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
(Photo: Ezra Makgope)When he was 17, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini discovered jazz and realized that this was the door he had been seeking. Before that epiphany, music from his homeland, South Africa, had been his inspiration.
Then, when he began studying Western music formally in 2001, he picked up a book of Charlie Parker tunes. This led him to check out John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme from a library.
“Hearing the first track, ‘Acknowledgement,’ where Elvin Jones comes in and plays the groove and then does variations on it, I realized this same feeling was also in my country’s music,” Makhathini said. “The traditional Zulu music of indlamu is based on that same triplet that Elvin plays. The melody of ‘Resolution’ almost evokes the ancient style of Zulu singing called amahubo, which was popularized by Princess Magogo. So, the music I grew up singing in traditional ceremonies and rituals was already jazz in a certain way.”
Since then, Makhathini has made it his mission to bridge his musical DNA with what he calls “the American jazz narrative.”
His explorations are traceable through a handful of albums released since 2014, most on his own label, Gundu. Blue Note released his latest disc, Modes Of Communication: Letters From The Underworlds, on April 3. The musicians assembled for that album share Makhathini’s immersion in South African culture (except for the American-born alto saxophonist Logan Richardson). The recording sessions presented an opportunity for rich cross-cultural connections.
As head of the music department at South Africa’s University of Fort Hare, Makhathini bases his curriculum on the concept of music moving back and forth across cultural bridges. “I try to push for a new option that encompasses the ways in which people understand music locally. We call it the ‘decolonial project,’ where we look for creative ways to open a plurality in how people learn music. Yes, jazz was born in America, and as such, it borrows from Western art music. But in an African context, you also have to pay attention to your upbringing and the things you already know that can inform your way of finding your sound.” DB
This story originally was published in the November 2020 issue of DownBeat. Subscribe here.
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
Feb 17, 2026 11:05 AM
They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp
Feb 19, 2026 10:39 AM
Jazz camps have exploded around the globe as a summertime tradition for working on your chops and making new friends.…
Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.
Feb 24, 2026 12:00 PM
After earning the 2024 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy for her seventh album, How Love Begins (La Reserve), comprising 12…
