Equal Spirits – Wise and Waiting
(Ubuntu CD, Digital & Vinyl / UBU0157 Album review by Jon Turney)

This Anglo-South African project builds on old jazz connections between the two countries to blend new music from both places into something fresh and rather inspiring.

The brainchild of trombonist Raph Clarkson, the project has been a long time coming. Clarkson had been beguiled by the sounds of an earlier generation of SA jazz players since studying with Keith Tippett at Dartington – he currently plays in both Kevin Figes’ new band celebrating compositions of Tippett and associates like Dudu Pukwana, and a group led by bassist Riaan Vosloo devoted to the work of South African composers.

A few years ago Clarkson dug deeper, working with Adam Glasser, and finally sampling the contemporary South African scene in 2018, visiting Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. The core ensemble here – Yonela Mnana on piano, Amaeshi Iketchi on bass and Siphiwe Shiburi on drums, then went into the studio in Johannesburg early and, again, late in 2020. But there are a host of others, added then or at later sessions in the UK. They include, crucially, vocalist Nosihe Mazulu, who wrote lyrics for a tune she heard in Durban, and sings throughout the recording, and UK luminaries including trumpeter Chris Batchelor and saxophonist Mark Lockheart.

Add a vocal quartet, a string section, various auxiliary horns, a church organ, some light electronics, and occasional spoken word, and the total of contributors rises to a couple of dozen. But Clarkson and producer Sonny Johns deploy all these resources with panache to create a collection of stirring pieces that draw on a range of inspirations across the spectrum of South African music and its influences, old and new.

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Thus, the infectious opener Back Again has something of a Mbaqanga feel, with a touch of gospel, immediately followed on Egoli Affirmation by a more contemporary rhythmic underpinning for a heady mix of piano, sampled vocals, and strings (Egoli, or city of gold, is the Zulu name for Johannesberg). Then comes Skip, where Mazulu’s vocal is harried constructively by trombone and trumpet effects, Dancing Under the Sun, with improvisation that harks back to older African traditions, and Hymn, which visits the church of Abdullah Ibrahim.

And so it goes on with other tracks conjuring the spirit of Fela Kuti or Ibrahim, delving into drum’n’bass or English choral traditions, all contributing to a newly woven tapestry that reveals new, delightful details on each listening. It’s a painstakingly produced set which, along with pandemic travails presumably, maybe accounts for why it has taken a time to appear. Worth the wait? Oh yes.

There are UK launch gigs for Wise and Waiting at Rich Mix on May 4th and Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre on May 5th. The album is released today, 26 April 2024

Jon Turney writes about jazz, and other things, from Bristol. jonturney.wordpress.com

LINKS: Equal Spirits at Bandcamp
Tickets for Rich Mix launch
Tickets for Bristol launch
Feature by Tara Minton