Standard Bank Jazz Festival, Grahamstown 2015 (Incorporating the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival) Support funding from: The Austrian Embassy Brian Meese Dutch Fund of the Performing Arts The French Institute of South Africa Paul Bothner Music ProHelvetia Johannesburg The Royal Netherlands Embassy SAfm SAMRO Spedidam Swedish Arts Council / Swedish Jazz Federation / Mary Lou Meese Youth Jazz Fund Swiss Arts Council The US Embassy Thursday 2 July Bokani Dyer Quintet Contemporary South African Jazz meets Swiss precision Bokani Dyer has had a meteoric rise in the jazz world, winning the Standard Bank Young Artist Award at age 25 and garnering invitations to international festivals such as the London Jazz Festival. As part of his extensive 2014 European tour he performed with four gifted representatives of the Swiss jazz scene whom he had met during his residency at the Bird’s Eye Jazz Club in Basel, and the vitality of contemporary South African Jazz meets Swiss precision and musicianship in this outstanding collaboration. Dyer’s music is all-encompassing, embracing his roots as well as the contemporary musical landscape of South Africa. Bokani Dyer (piano), Donat Fisch (sax - CH), Matthias Spillmann (trumpet – CH), Stephan Kurrman (bass - CH), Norbert Pfammatter (drums - CH) DSG Hall Thursday 2 July 17:00 R80 Carlo Mombelli & the Storytellers Manipulated bass and sound design “Disconcertingly beautiful” was the comment on Carlo Mombelli’s playing from The Jazz Times – the world’s leading jazz periodical. The US Bass Player Magazine’s view was that “Avant-garde bass-focused jazz composition has rarely sounded so gorgeous....Once in a while an artist comes along who produces music unlike anything you’ve heard.” Having played sold out concerts over the past year to much critical acclaim, this ensemble features the unique composer/bassist Carlo Mombelli, known in South Africa for his cutting-edge voice-like playing style. He is joined by the incredible voice of Mbuso Khoza, who learnt his music early at the age of five as a herdsman for his father’s cattle in the KwaZulu-Natal mountains, and two Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners - Kyle Shepherd and Kesivan Naidoo. Carlo Mombelli (bass), Mbuso Khoza (vocals), Kyle Shepherd (piano), Kesivan Naidoo (drums) DSG Hall Thursday 2 July 19:30 R80 Vuma Levin International collaboration exploring roots of SA jazz Born in South Africa and raised during the unstable years of post-Apartheid South Africa, guitarist Vuma Ian Levin uses his music in an attempt to interrogate conceptions of identity, nation, culture, being and power both globally and in the emergent, post 1994 South Africa. Levin explores various strands of popular music, jazz, western art music and the full array of South African musics, celebrating the musical tropes of the historically disempowered “African Other”. Levin is completing his Master’s degree at the Amsterdam Conservatory, and joins us with a fantastic international array of his classmates that blends the drive of the American Jazz greats, the sparseness and melancholy introspective qualities of the European musical tradition, the accessibility of popular music and the upbeat nonchalance of South African music. Vuma Ian Levin (guitar), Bernard van Rossum (sax - UK), Xavi Torres Vincente (piano - ES), Marco Zenini (bass - IT), Jeroen Batterink (drums - NE) SB Jazz & Blues Café Thursday 2 July 22:00 R70 Yuri Honing Acoustic Quartet Unique, powerful sax sound Hailed as “one of the most creative and fearless saxophonists of the moment” by The Times, Yuri Honing is one of Holland’s most important saxophone players. His unique personal style, based on jazz, pop and non-Western musical traditions and his powerful sound, similar to the human voice, amount to a musical revelation. In his extensive discography he has worked, amongst others, with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden and Vince Mendoza. His album ‘Seven’ - recorded with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock and Paul Motion - received the Edison Jazz Award (Dutch Grammy) in 2001 and in 2012 he was awarded the Boy Edgar Prize, the most prestigious jazz prize in the Netherlands. Honing’s new album ‘Desire’ was released at the beginning of 2015, drawing influences from Jazz, Baroque music and Contemporary music. Yuri Honing (sax - NE), Wolfert Brederode (piano - NE), Gulli Gudmundsson (bass - IS), Joost Lijbaart (drums - NE) DSG Hall Thursday 2 July 22:00 R80 Jazz Jam Catch professional and student musicians letting off steam and butting musical heads late into the night. SB Jazz & Blues Café Thursday 2 July 23:30 R50 Friday 3 July School/Youth bands I The Delft Big Band was launched in 2008 as an initiative to get the youth off the gang-infested streets of the Cape Flats, and this band (ranging in age from 18 to 28) has succeeded beyond expectations, with recent tours to Sweden, France and the UK and a growing reputation. Sharing the bill with them is one of the leading school bands in the country - the Rondebosch Big Band (Cape Town). DSG Auditorium Friday 3 July 12:00 R40 Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz: Nduduzo Makhathini – Listening to the Ground Paying homage to the musical ancestors Pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini grew up in uMgungundlovu near Pietermaritzburg surrounded by music from across the cultural spectrum and in a family that treated music as a special healing gift. He studied at the then Natal Technikon (now UKZN) before embarking on a professional music career that led to stints in the bands of Zim Ngqawana, Simphiwe Dana, Carlo Mombelli, Feya Faku and Themba Mkhize and performances in Europe, Britain and the US. In African tradition it is believed that people don't die but multiply; after 'Death' they continue to live as aphanzi, the ancestors, or the ones from the ground. Thus, in this performance he pays homage to those musical legends who have contributed to the great legacy and history of South African Jazz, paying tribute to them and thanking them for their protection and guidance. Nduduzo Makhathini (piano), Nomagugu Makhathini (vocals), Karl-Martin Almqvist (sax - SE), Feya Faku (trumpet), Martin Sjöstedt (bass - SE), Ayanda Sikade (drums) DSG Hall Friday 3 July 17:00 R80 Peter Dahlgren Trombone at its best Swedish trombonist Peter Dahlgren is regarded as one of the strongest young modern jazz voices in Europe, displaying a technical ease and clear sound on one of the more complex of the jazz instruments. At an early age he moved to Copenhagen where he played with many of the great names in jazz, including Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Toots Thielemans, Maria Schneider, Randy Brecker, Chris Potter, Carla Bley and Paquito D'Rivera, and toured the USA, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, China, and most of Europe. In 2004, he starred in the EBU Jazz Orchestra, an international big band consisting of selected musicians from all over Europe and he has been a member of the famous Norrbotten Big Band since 1997. Tonight he leads a fascinating collaboration between European and South African musicians. Fredrik Lindborg (sax - SE), Peter Dahlgren (trombone - SE), Mark Fransman (piano), Gulli Gudmundsson (bass - IS), Norbert Pfammatter (CH) DSG Auditorium Friday 3 July 19:00 R70 Lionel Loueke in Concert Guitar virtuoso Hailed as a “gentle virtuoso” by The New York Times, West African guitarist Lionel Loueke was inspired by his brother, who taught him how to play during his late teenage years. Studies at the Ivory Coast's National Institute of Arts, Paris' American School of More Than Music, Berklee College of Music and the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz led Loueke to appearances on a series of high-profile recordings with artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Avishai Cohen, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden and Terence Blanchard. Praised by his mentor, Herbie Hancock, as “a musical painter” Loueke combines harmonic complexity, soaring melody, a deep knowledge of African folk forms, and conventional and extended guitar techniques to create a warm and evocative sound of his own. His own albums with Blue Note Records have been received with high critical acclaim. Lionel Loueke (guitar – Benin/US) + Concord Nkabinde (bass) DSG Hall Friday 3 July 19:30 R120 Yuri Honing Acoustic Quartet See Thursday 2 July 22:00. Yuri Honing (sax - NE), Wolfert Brederode (piano - NE), Gulli Gudmundsson (bass - IS), Joost Lijbaart (drums - NE) DSG Auditorium Friday 3 July 21:30 R70 Johan Hörlén Quartet in the Bop tradition Johan Hörlén is perhaps the best jazz alto saxophonist in Sweden, with his own personal sound and fantastic technique. He is one of the longest-standing members of the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra and is now also employed as lead alto by the famous WDR Radio Big Band in Cologne, Germany. He is a well-established band leader in his own right and a long-time visitor to Grahamstown. He collaborates tonight with drummer/pianist Jukkis Uotila - the “internationally most respected Finnish jazz artist ever”, as Cultural minister Paavo Arhinmäki said in his speech when he awarded Jukkis Finland’s prestigious State Prize for Music in 2011. Johan Hörlén (sax - SE), Jukkis Uotila (piano - FI), Romy Brauteseth (bass), Kesivan Naidoo (drums) SB Jazz & Blues Café Friday 3 July 22:00 R70 Charlier/Sourisse Multiquarium Quartet French exploration of rhythm and melody Parisian drummer André Charlier and pianist/organist Benoit Sourisse have had a long-standing career playing together and at the heart of their sound is a rhythmic-melodic equation. Their jazz makes one think of Louis Lozowick’s lithographs, evoking a kind of vertical urbanity - shadows and light playing off skyscrapers. Like a fantastical Lego structure, their sound multiplies along convergence lines, superimpositions and dizzying precipices. Over more than twenty years and a thousand concerts, Charlier and Sourisse have deepened their musical relationship and their friendship, which are both of an exceptional quality and longevity.