Label: Blue Note Records, 2024

Personnel - Nduduzo Makhathini: piano, voice; Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere: bass; Francisco Mela: drums.

Two years ago, South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini made a sensation with his masterpiece record In the Spirit of Ntu, which found him at a crossroads between South African folk music, modal jazz, and post-bop. Now, he returns in a trio format with uNomkhubulwane (meaning God’s only daughter and manifestation of God), extending his oeuvre of unique, ambitious African jazz with another homage to his native traditions and ancestors.

With the assistance of American bassist of South African descent Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and Cuban-born, New York-based drummer Francisco Mela, Makhathini delivers a three-movement suite with intimacy and magic. The first movement, Libations, intends to be a collective Black mourning motivated by ongoing oppression, peaking with “KwaKhangelamankengana”, a dynamic 5/8 groover limned with sharp phrasing and impetuous harmonic drive. This selection, showcasing his crispest piano work on the album, comes after “Omnyama”, a poetic 3/4 Afro-centric invocation featuring spoken word in Nguni (a primordial Indigenous language), and “Uxolo”, a smooth jazz affair with a touch of Ahmad Jamal.

The Water Spirits suite begins with “Izinkonjana”, channeling Abdullah Ibrahim through lighthearted South African folk and gospel sounds, but reaches a climax with “Amanxusa Asemkhathini”, where rhythmic juxtapositions and an enveloping modal jazz infused with tension keep listeners engaged. “Nyoni Le?” exudes mystery with the combination of Makhathini’s deep-sounding piano, Mela’s toms articulation, and le Pere’s arco bass murmuring.

The third suite, Inner Attainment, seeks freedom, hope, and grace, offering the best moments on the album. “Izibingelelo” starts as a beautiful meditation before going modal and ultimately landing on a poised mid-tempo post-bop exercise; “Umlayez’oPhuthumayo” feels loose and avant-garde in essence, embellished with fine melodicism by the end; and “Ithemba”, a light-emitting solo piano effort is stripped down to the placid traits of the pianist’s imagination.

Eschewing any form of bombast expression, abrupt shifting tempos, or mood complexities, Makhathini immerses the listener in expected reveries with a hypnotic touch, conveying freedom, balance, and humanity - elements so much needed in our days.

Favorite Tracks:
05 - Water Spirits: Amanxusa Asemkhathini ► 08 - Inner Attainment: Izibingelelo ► 09 - Inner Attainment: Umlayez’oPhuthumayo ► 11 - Inner Attainment: Ithemba

Label: Blue Note Records, 2022

Personnel - Nduduzo Makhathini: piano; Linda Sikhakhane: saxophone; Robin Fassie Kock: trumpet; Dylan Tabisher: vibraphone; Stephen de Souza: bass; Gontse Makhene: percussion; Dane Paris: drums.
Guests - Omagugu: vocals (#2); Anna Widauer: vocals (#6); Jaleel Shaw: alto saxophone (#5).

There’s an abundance of fascinating material in Nduduzo Makhathini’s new recording, In the Spirit of Ntu. The distinguished South African pianist and composer has been releasing excellent albums, touting a blend of mature post-bop and deeply rooted African jazz currents that transfixes as much as marvels. For his 10th album as a leader, he draws inspiration in Ntu, an ancient African philosophy centered on collectiveness, and gathers a killing group to back him on another rewarding spiritual journey.

Makhathini infuses an impetuous and majestic Afro-centric pulse on the opener, “Unonkanyamba”. The laid-back posture of the horn players against this rhythmic verve creates an infectious polyrhythmic feel. Gliding atop the texture, the soloists succeed one another. The confident tenorist Linda Sikhakhane is followed by Makhatini, whose taste in the note choices is both disconcerting and beautiful, and then by trumpeter Robin Fassie Kock, who invites us to search while posing as narratively sober. “Amathongo” is motivated by Zulu traditions, a component that is not so strange if we take into consideration that the bandleader’s hometown was a Zulu kingdom. The bass figure that drives the piece is renewed at every 16-beat cycle, having a shimmering stream of percussion echoing throughout.

Guest vocalists Omagugu (Nduduzo’s wife) and Anna Widauer shine on “Mama” and “Re-Amathambo”, respectively. The former tune is a resplendent intersection of cool modal jazz and African spiritual balladry delivered with a three time flow; while the latter, a rework of a tune originally included on his 2018 album Ikhambi, is sung in English by the abovementioned Austrian singer and revolves around a twinkling modal vamp and chanting riffery.

Powerful choir-like chants and darkly hued tenor sounds populate “Senze Nina”, a prayerful ballad in five that is intended as a meditation on the renewal of a South Africa marked by the violence of apartheid and gender-related hostility. Also painted with darker shades, “Nyonini Le” nods to Zulu princess Magogo kaDinuzulu and Monk’s music alike, whereas “Emlilweni”, a modal effort in six, guests American saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, whose fluid post-bop idiom with plenty of outside contractions dominates the spotlight.

Makhathini marvels, daubing his music in color and rhythm, liveliness and poignancy, spirituality and emotion. In the Spirit of Ntu is not to be missed.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Mama ► 05 - Emlilweni ► 09 - Senze Nina