Songs in the key of Cape Town

Jazzman Andrews and his big band compose and arrange unique album

SENIOR jazz studies lecturer at the UCT, Darryl Andrews, and his big band have just completed a unique musical portrait of Cape Town. Andrews is a guitarist and one of a handful of specialists practising the unique art of big band jazz composition and arranging in South Africa.

He said: “I will call this CD this is the music of Cape Town. I don’t want to have any fancy titles, Cape Town says it all.”

Andrews used four of his own compositions, two from the late jazz legend Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi, one each from guitar-playing brothers Errol and Alvin Dyers and another from colleague, Professor Mike Campbell, for his first “official big band album”.

“I chose the four composers because they are my favourite Cape Town composers. Winston Mankunku was one of my best friends and a musical hero,” Andrews said.

“I have played with all of them over the years. From the first time I heard Mike’s song about 10 years ago, I asked him if I could use it one day for a CD and he said ‘yes sure’.” All the songs except for Campbell’s

were composed for much smaller bands and had to be re-arranged for the big band line-up.

It includes alto-saxophone and clarinet players Justin Bellairs and Evan Froud, tenor saxophonists Zeke Le Grange and Sisonke Xonti, baritone saxophonist Georgia Jones, trumpet and flugelhorn players Lorenzo Blignaut and Marcelle Adams, trumpeter Robin Fassie-Kok, and trombonists Justin Sasman, Ryan van der Rheede, Kelly Bell and Ryan Kierman.

The remaining line-up is pianist Andrew Ford, acoustic and electric bassist Stephen De Souza, drummer Lumanyno Unity Mzi and Andrews.

Campbell, the Dyers brothers, vibraphonist Bronwen Clacherty and flautist Bridget Rene Salonen were guest performers.

Each composition has deep meaning for Andrews, who became emotional when he speaking of Ngozi’s composition, a slow dirge-like sound, while reflects the hustle of fruit sellers hawking their wares in District Six, where Andrews grew up.

Currently completing his doctoral thesis in music, the 62-year-old is a self-taught musician, and he gave up his job as a fitter and turner in his 20s to play music at hotels in the Eastern Cape, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland – much to his mother’s dismay, he said.

Speaking about what jazz means to him, Andrews added: “Jazz is always changing, it evolves as we speak. We identified with it, being from oppressed people. Look what jazz was born out of, one of the greatest human atrocities – slavery.”