Jazz legends in the making
PORT Elizabeth collective
Edgar Muzah & Friends won the espYoungLegends online competition for the chance to step onto a Cape Town International Jazz Festival stage this year.
They are the second winners of this online competition to hail from Port Elizabeth after VuDu Jazz Band won in 2018.
They entered in 2018 but did not make it all the way in the competition, which depends on public votes to determine a winner.
Muzah’s core group consists of himself as bassist, Mthokozisi Mabuza on piano, Tavern Solomon on drums and Mvuzo Mnyaka on keyboards.
The “& Friends” part is because they will be joined on this particular stage by vocalists Tyrese “Blaq Tye” Gulwa, Willis Wataffi, Black Ibah, Andy Ndlazilwana and Norman “Samasamba” Masamba.
Winning the espYoung Legends competition crowned a successful year for some of the extended band members.
In 2018, Ndlazilwana scooped a Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (for a tribute show to Victor Ndlazilwana which Muzah co-directed and also played in) and released her single Nomalanga. Gulwa released his album, Mamela Mna.
Mabuze played a variety of gigs in 2018 including the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz 2018 and is working with guitarist Lawrence Matshiza on PE-based octet Czwe Yaze-Musiq’s debut album Bahlekazi.
These accolades come on the back of many others. Muzah, originally from Zimbabwe, has also worked with other award-winning musicians including 2015 Crown Gospel Award winner Chumani Ngoio; multi-award winning platinum selling Afro-soul rising star Nathi; and fellow Zimbabwean, Willis Wataffi.
The bassist is always busy because he wears many hats. When he is not being a session musician in someone else’s band, or playing with bands Take Note or Project Dimension, he is producing or arranging music.
He co-produced Wataffi’s album Uhuru/ Independence in 2017, which was recorded in Zimbabwe and then mixed and mastered in South Africa, and also produced Mamela Mna in that same year.
Mostly self-taught, Muzah is a firm believer in the value of learning about music. He studied ethnomusicology at the Zim College of Music as a child and was mentored by mbira player Chaka Chawasarira.
He started a programme called Notes of Hope in 2016 to teach young children the value of music because of that early inspiration.
With the help of Cort Guitars, he also started a project in Port Elizabeth called 2MuchBass for local bass players to talk all things bass, exchange experiences and swop ideas.
Muzah, AKA Eddiebass to some, has toured South Africa with youth group Take Note and pop band Project Dimensions, recorded in studio with Black Tie, recorded a DVD with gospel artist LG Lukas and performed at the Bayimba Festival in Uganda, Belfast Alive in Ireland and a Finnish jazz festival.
Catch Edgar Muzah & Friends at the festival’s annual free concert on March 26 on Green Market Square. Then they will play on the festival stage on Saturday March 30.