Various Artists: Next Stop Soweto Vol 3; Giants, Ministers and Makers (Strut)

 |   |  <1 min read

Allen Kwela Octet: Question Mark
Various Artists: Next Stop Soweto Vol 3; Giants, Ministers and Makers (Strut)

Subtitled "Jazz in South Africa 1963-1984" this is the third volume in the excellent Strut excavation of crucial SA music which has previously picked up Township jive music and mad funk/psychedelic sounds.

This collection is the least of three: the improvisations often sound constrained, in other places where the players let go they invite comparisons with their American peers (Mankunku Quartet's fine but familiar sax work on their Dedication to Daddy Trane and Brother Shorter, great pianist though).

There are some evocative good-times here (the Cuban-influenced Orlando by Dennis Mpale makes for easy summertime listening), the guitarist in Malombo sounds like he's anticipated James Blood Ulmer's edgy post-Hendrix style, The Drive shave off too short a slice of jazz-pop on Howl, and Chris McGregor here appears with the Castle Lager Big Band.

But the returns are considerably fewer than on those other collections. 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   World Music from Elsewhere articles index

WOMAD ARTIST 2015: Barbarito Torres of the Buena Vista Social Club

WOMAD ARTIST 2015: Barbarito Torres of the Buena Vista Social Club

Anyone who has tried to translate between different languages knows the difficulties: it's not just vocabulary but nuance, idioms, inflection and humour which can get lost somewhere along the... > Read more

Various Artists: So Frenchy So Chic 2011 (Border)

Various Artists: So Frenchy So Chic 2011 (Border)

These annual double CD compilations of recent music from France -- from pop to, yes, chic, but not alt.rock etc -- are the unofficial soundtrack to the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

ANCIENT MARINER, BY KEN McGOOGAN REVIEWED (2005): Ice cold and Coleridge

ANCIENT MARINER, BY KEN McGOOGAN REVIEWED (2005): Ice cold and Coleridge

In the middle of the 18th century only 20 per cent of ordinary sailors in the Royal Navy were volunteers, the rest had been press-ganged into service. The reasons why so few willingly joined were... > Read more

Toine Thys/Orlando: Orlando (Hypnote/digital outlets)

Toine Thys/Orlando: Orlando (Hypnote/digital outlets)

It's a wee bit confusing: It seems this jazz quarter called Orlando but it is lead by saxophonist Toine Thys who also gets his name on the cover, but on digital outlets the album title is Orlando... > Read more