AN EXTRAORDINARY line- up of international and Afro jazz, blues, funk and swing has been put together for the 39th National Arts Festival in Grahamstown this year by East London’s Stirling High School jazz maestro, Alan Webster.
Webster, director of the Standard Bank Jazz Festival for many years, this week released a billboard headed by New York trombonist Steve Turre, who shot to fame with iconic performances on both trombone and shells with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra.
Turre – of the Juilliard School of Music, New York – has played and recorded with Carlos Santos, Ray Charles, The Mingus Band, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Roland Kirk, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Max Roach, Horace Silver, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.
Turre won the Down Beat Readers’ poll five times as Best Trombonist and has enthralled audiences with his performances on different sized conch shells.
Webster said: “Turre is an innovative musician and composer who keeps one foot in the past and one in the future. He adds zest to the Awesome Big Band, and his solo show is supported by a strong line- up comprising Marcus Wyatt (trumpet), Bokani Dyer (piano), Hein van de Geyn (bass) and Kevin Gibson (drums).”
This year will also see the establishment of the Standard Bank Jazz & Blues Cafe at the Lowlander, St Andrew’s College, which will end each night with a great jazz show and a late-night jazz jam session or blues gig – a place where audiences can catch musicians letting off steam and butting musical heads late into the night, featuring the likes of Nduduzo Makhathini, saxophonist Dan Shout, Lee Thomson of Madness, Imbaula, and the Rick van Heerden Quartet.
The sell-out trademarks of the Jazz Festival in Grahamstown, the Awesome Big Band, has again attracted a unique selection of top international jazz musicians in a standard Big Band format, also known as a Jazz Orchestra because of the dynamic and harmonic depth and contrast that arrangers can produce from 17 instruments, reminiscent of classical orchestras but with the added power and energy that jazz exudes, Webster said.
This year’s band is conducted by Canadian trumpeter Bruce Cassidy, renowned for his quirky, powerful arrangements.
But regular festival audiences are also being offered Frank Sinatra & Friends, a sequel to the series of earlier successes conceptualised and conducted by Richard Cock.
In 2011, Andrew Lloyd Webber & Friends sold out within days and in 2012, Louis Armstrong & Friends (2012) was presented in a larger venue and once again, sold out.
This year Frank Sinatra & Friends will have two performances both featuring Nic Nicolaidis and Zwai Bala accompanied by the notable KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra who will serenade audiences with melodies such as Fly Me to the Moon, I’ve Got You under my Skin, Fascinating Rhythm, Unforgettable and of course the singularly popular Sinatra signature song, My Way.
Festinoes will also be looking out for young British singer and saxophonist AJ Brown, who is rapidly gaining a reputation with performances at the Wigan International Jazz Festival and Birdland Club in New York, and who was guest vocalist for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in Britain.
He has quickly mastered the tunes of the great crooners like Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé and Nat King Cole and has begun producing his own compositions, which are eagerly received.
He performs in Grahamstown with Kingsley Buitendag (piano), Gorm Helfjord (guitar), Romy Brauteseth (bass), and Kevin Gibson (drums).
Others on the bill are Justin Binek, head of Vocal Jazz Studies at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, who maintains an active jazz and classical performing schedule as a singer, pianist, and adjudicator.
He is a prolific arranger and composer and performs in Europe and the US. Paulien van Schaik studied voice at the jazz department of the Conservatory of Utrecht and Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has performed across Europe and in Japan and China.
With their backing band, comprising Jason Reolon (piano), Ola Bengtsson (guitar), Shaun Johannes (bass), and Lloyd Martin (drums), their Vocal Celebration should prove heavenly.
The National Arts Festival takes place from June 27 to July 7.
Check out www.standardbankarts.co.za or www.youthjazz.co.za
Trombonist Turre to headline jazz fest
Webster, director of the Standard Bank Jazz Festival for many years, this week released a billboard headed by New York trombonist Steve Turre, who shot to fame with iconic performances on both trombone and shells with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra.
Turre – of the Juilliard School of Music, New York – has played and recorded with Carlos Santos, Ray Charles, The Mingus Band, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Roland Kirk, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Max Roach, Horace Silver, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.
Turre won the Down Beat Readers’ poll five times as Best Trombonist and has enthralled audiences with his performances on different sized conch shells.
Webster said: “Turre is an innovative musician and composer who keeps one foot in the past and one in the future. He adds zest to the Awesome Big Band, and his solo show is supported by a strong line- up comprising Marcus Wyatt (trumpet), Bokani Dyer (piano), Hein van de Geyn (bass) and Kevin Gibson (drums).”
This year will also see the establishment of the Standard Bank Jazz & Blues Cafe at the Lowlander, St Andrew’s College, which will end each night with a great jazz show and a late-night jazz jam session or blues gig – a place where audiences can catch musicians letting off steam and butting musical heads late into the night, featuring the likes of Nduduzo Makhathini, saxophonist Dan Shout, Lee Thomson of Madness, Imbaula, and the Rick van Heerden Quartet.
The sell-out trademarks of the Jazz Festival in Grahamstown, the Awesome Big Band, has again attracted a unique selection of top international jazz musicians in a standard Big Band format, also known as a Jazz Orchestra because of the dynamic and harmonic depth and contrast that arrangers can produce from 17 instruments, reminiscent of classical orchestras but with the added power and energy that jazz exudes, Webster said.
This year’s band is conducted by Canadian trumpeter Bruce Cassidy, renowned for his quirky, powerful arrangements.
But regular festival audiences are also being offered Frank Sinatra & Friends, a sequel to the series of earlier successes conceptualised and conducted by Richard Cock.
In 2011, Andrew Lloyd Webber & Friends sold out within days and in 2012, Louis Armstrong & Friends (2012) was presented in a larger venue and once again, sold out.
This year Frank Sinatra & Friends will have two performances both featuring Nic Nicolaidis and Zwai Bala accompanied by the notable KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra who will serenade audiences with melodies such as Fly Me to the Moon, I’ve Got You under my Skin, Fascinating Rhythm, Unforgettable and of course the singularly popular Sinatra signature song, My Way.
Festinoes will also be looking out for young British singer and saxophonist AJ Brown, who is rapidly gaining a reputation with performances at the Wigan International Jazz Festival and Birdland Club in New York, and who was guest vocalist for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in Britain.
He has quickly mastered the tunes of the great crooners like Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé and Nat King Cole and has begun producing his own compositions, which are eagerly received.
He performs in Grahamstown with Kingsley Buitendag (piano), Gorm Helfjord (guitar), Romy Brauteseth (bass), and Kevin Gibson (drums).
Others on the bill are Justin Binek, head of Vocal Jazz Studies at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, who maintains an active jazz and classical performing schedule as a singer, pianist, and adjudicator.
He is a prolific arranger and composer and performs in Europe and the US. Paulien van Schaik studied voice at the jazz department of the Conservatory of Utrecht and Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has performed across Europe and in Japan and China.
With their backing band, comprising Jason Reolon (piano), Ola Bengtsson (guitar), Shaun Johannes (bass), and Lloyd Martin (drums), their Vocal Celebration should prove heavenly.
The National Arts Festival takes place from June 27 to July 7.
Check out www.standardbankarts.co.za or www.youthjazz.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos