March 6, 2020
The visionary South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini has released “Indawu,” the powerful 3rd single from his forthcoming Blue Note Records debut Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds out April 3. “’Indawu’ pays tribute to the spirits of the Nguni people that live in and underneath water,” explains Makhathini. “These spirits are known for their fondness towards music and dance, hence the riverbank becomes a central ritual space visited to appease the ancestors.”
“Indawu” features the American alto saxophonist Logan Richardson along with a South African band including Linda Sikhakhane on tenor saxophone, Ndabo Zulu on trumpet, Zwelakhe-Duma Bell Le Pere on bass, Ayanda Sikade on drums, and his wife Omagugu and daughter Nailah Makhathini on background vocals. It follows the previous singles “Beneath the Earth” featuring lead vocals by Msaki , and “Yehlisan’uMoya” (Spirit Come Down) featuring vocals by Omagugu.
Makhathini will be returning to the U.S. next month for album release shows at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 16-17. Reservations can be made here.
After experiencing Makhathini’s powerful set at NYC Winter Jazzfest in January, Stereogum jazz critic Phil Freeman wrote “He’s got an album coming out on Blue Note and I can’t wait for people to hear it, because it’s tremendous music. As a player and a composer, he sits right beside McCoy Tyner and Pharoah Sanders, playing a forceful but lyrical style of modal jazz that incorporates African rhythmic concepts… The pieces they performed had a swelling, passionate quality, exploratory but never losing an essential earthbound feeling. Makhathini is at the head of a small but powerful movement of young South African jazz players, and the higher his international profile rises, the better it will be for that country’s music scene and jazz as a whole. He’s a major talent.”
