I attended the Joy of Jazz festival this year. Mahala have published my thoughts about it, which include what I think about jazz music purists. It’s all available here. The joy in jazz, however, is that there’s no definitive sound. If music is life, then it follows that jazz too, as a life-form and life-style, should explore the different topological landscapes of its existence.

Trumpeter Christian Scott’s captured here with his wife Isadora, to whom he dedicates a muted trumpet ballad to on 2010's “Yesterday you said tomorrow.”

He’s a master with an equally masterful band at his command.

This is Scott’s pianist, Lawrence Fields. He mostly kept to himself, sharing the odd smile with his bandmates now and then. His agile fingers handled the finer details of human interaction, per-cussing major and minor chords as they danced atop the piano keys in quick shifts, and still maintaining perfect harmony.

Kyle Shepherd in meditative mode, contemplating the ebb and flow of his boundlessly hip 2014 album Dream State. The discerning bandleader had his head close to the keys, perhaps to receive a cue from amadlozi of where to to head next. Shepherd is a restless traveller, always on the hunt for the ‘next new’. Dream State is him heading in the right direction.

Nduduzo Makhathini eases into the music and lets the vibes flow during bra Herbie Tsoaeli performance on the Friday. His latest album Mother Tongue is available on iTunes.

Herbie Tsoaeli, the effortless king of groove. Supported by Nduduzo Makhathi (piano), Sisonke Xonti (tenor sax), and Ayanda Sikade (drums), bra Herbie gave a masterclass in what he terms African Time.

Jazz and style are blood relatives. Trumpeter Tomasz Stanko understands that beyond the music, there lies a performative aspect to jazz — a solo to show off one’s chops; a jarring time shift to send computers into divide-by-zero mode. Tomasz Stanko understands style.

Groovin’…

*I’ve decided that there are couple more good pictures which need to be seen, so I’ve posted more on facebook.