Nov 5, 2024 1:00 AM
In Memoriam: Quincy Jones, 1933-2024
Quincy Delight Jones Jr., musician, bandleader, composer and producer, died in his home in Bel Air, California, on…
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.
Quincy Jones’ gifts transcended jazz, but jazz was his first love.
Nov 5, 2024 1:00 AM
Quincy Delight Jones Jr., musician, bandleader, composer and producer, died in his home in Bel Air, California, on…
“I treat every day like it’s Thanksgiving,” said Roy Haynes.
Nov 19, 2024 12:57 PM
Powerhouse jazz drummer and bandleader Roy Haynes died Tuesday in Nassau County, New York. He was 99. One of the few…
John McLaughlin likened his love for the guitar to the emotion he expressed 71 years ago upon receiving his first one. “It’s the same to this day,” he said.
Nov 7, 2024 2:17 PM
In the aftermath of World War II, the deprivations felt throughout the United Kingdom were particularly acute in John…
Lou Donaldson was one of the originators of the hard bop movement in jazz back in the 1950s.
Nov 12, 2024 12:12 PM
Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, the final surviving member of the original Art Blakey quintet that in 1954 introduced…
“Watching people like Max Roach or Elvin Jones and seeing how they utilize the whole drum kit in a very rhythmic and melodic way and how they stretched time — that was a huge inspiration to me,” Hussain said in DownBeat.
Dec 17, 2024 9:58 AM
Tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of India’s reigning cultural ambassadors and a revered figure worldwide…
