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Local Jazz muso's shine by Evan Milton
Cape Town's contribution to 'Africa's grandest gathering' is showcased by the launch of two albums from local stars who co-headlined last weekend's Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
2010 Standard Bank Young Artists (Jazz) winner Melanie Scholtz launches "Living Standards", recorded in Norway, Sweden and South Africa, and featuring both standards and new compositions by local composers Carlo Mombelli and Buddy Wells. She performs with previous Standard Bank recipients Mark Fransman (p) and Kesivan Naidoo (d); by Johan Hörlen (as) and Martin Sjöstedt (db) from her Swedish band and Australian trombone maestro Adrian Mears. Hear Melanie at Alliance Française, which is fast establishing itself as a critical hub for arts and culture in CapeTown under the curatorial eye of Anne-Marie Bel (tonight, 155, Loop St, 8.30pm, R50, book on 021-4235699).
Drummer extraordinaire Kesivan Naidoo also launches his inter-continental project, The Lights, which played to rapturous applause at the CTIJF. Small wonder as it is not merely a showcase of his fiery skills and the skins, but also a finely chosen set of material that includes gems like a contemporary jazz interpretation of music by Bjork. The show is hosted by Silent Revolution, who're also curating the musical component of "Imagine City Hall" (see below). The "open ears" promotional entity was formed by the drummer with long-standing jazz organiser Lee Thomson ("Headset Sessions", Closet Snare, Hog Hoggidy Hog), fore-grounding the importance of such bodies if we are to enjoy music of substance and quality (Fri, Cape Town International Convention Centre, 8pm).
Rocking The Daisies hosts another Sowing The Seeds "pre-festival" with a party-inclined line-up that includes indie-rockers Dirty Skirts, reggae-rockers 7thSon and Little Kings and guaranteed jive DJs Circuswing and Funafunji(Sat, Cape Farmhouse, Scarborough, noon to 7pm; R90 from Webtickets.co.za, R100 gate).
The impressive "Imagine City Hall" concert series continues as part of a bid by the Africa Centre, Creative Cape Town and Cape MIC to "unite all creative industries, to see the City Hall become accessible to all the people of Cape Town and to enhance the broader arts and heritage of the city". Running alongside visual art contributions of the Spier Contemporary arts exhibition, the concerts have included America's Gordon Vernick and classical recitals including Rachmaninov and Beethoven. Next week, hear saxophonist Rus Nerwich performing his acclaimed "Mantras For Modern Man" (Tue). Still to come are "Queen of Pondo Music"Madosini with modern classical composer Derek Gripper (Sat 17), Eastern Cape trumpet-master Feya Faku (Tue 20) and another of the CTIJF highlights, Mark Fransman'sAkoustik Knot project with the Sixteen Reasons String Quartet (Tue 27). Tickets R50 at the door (City Hall, Grand Parade entrance, 8pm sharp). More on CapeMIC.co.za and SpierContemporary2010.co.za.
* Submissions to evan@tiscali.co.za or fax 086 6893282 by Friday 12-noon. Evan Milton's "Homeground Advantage" features two hours of South African music and interviews on Fine Music Radio (Thursday, 10pm to midnight, 101.3FM).
A version of this column originally appeared in the Cape Argus 'Tonight; section on 08 April 2010. Find out more on Tonight.co.za .
Music journalist, Strategy Director for Stonewall+ and South African music radio DJ extraordinaire.
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2010 Standard Bank Young Artists (Jazz) winner Melanie Scholtz launches "Living Standards", recorded in Norway, Sweden and South Africa, and featuring both standards and new compositions by local composers Carlo Mombelli and Buddy Wells. She performs with previous Standard Bank recipients Mark Fransman (p) and Kesivan Naidoo (d); by Johan Hörlen (as) and Martin Sjöstedt (db) from her Swedish band and Australian trombone maestro Adrian Mears. Hear Melanie at Alliance Française, which is fast establishing itself as a critical hub for arts and culture in CapeTown under the curatorial eye of Anne-Marie Bel (
