All that jazz all over Durban – and Santana
MY DAD introduced me to David Brubeck’s arguably most famous song, Take Five, when I was 10 years old. We were in the “sun room” on a Saturday afternoon, while my brother was running through the sprays of his Water Bug in the back yard with my mom berating him for putting out the fire in the braai.
To ease the tension, my dad popped on to the record player an album that became a firm family favourite.
Take Five was the third track off Brubeck’s 1959 Time Out album. After a trip to Turkey in 1958, Brubeck was inspired to tinker with different time signatures for original compositions in one complete album, Take Five being in the five-four count.
Jazz traditionally got comfortable with the standard four-four time and Brubeck, with the introduction of alto saxophonist and fellow composer Paul Desmond, helped shape a new feeling and what was to become the bestselling jazz single.
Following his father’s musical career, San Franciscoborn jazz pianist and composer Darius Brubeck founded the first degree in jazz studies at our own University of Kwazulu-natal, and helped establish the now-popular underground weekly venue, the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.
Last Friday, I enjoyed the Howard College Theatre’s special edition of their Piano Passions concert in belated honour of Brubeck’s 70th birthday last year.
The concert marks the beginning of Jazz Appreciation month in which the centre will be hosting a range of events for the public.
If you decided against mud, tents and the odd musical gem to be found at Splashy Fen this past weekend, then use your hard-earned hundreds for Carlos Santana at the ICC on April 13 as part of his worldwide Divination tour.
In keeping with the spirit of jazz’s progression into the 21st century and adding a bit of dance, funk and Latino swing, the phenomenal ensemble, Napalma, fresh from Splashy, is hitting Durban for one spectacular performance only, on the same night as Santana, at the Cool Runnings Bar in Milne Street.
Featuring locals and Mozambicans, as well as musicians from as far afield as Brazil, this is a “don’t miss’’ opportunity for an intimate, vibrant evening for those lucky enough to score tickets that will only be available on the night, at the door.
The gig starts at 8.30pm, so head there after work, have a few cool ones at the bar and charm the manager, while listening to opening acts DJ Baraka and Stone Palace.
And for those of you tracking the numbers game, for the first time since 2011, physical music sales in the US in 2017 outsold digital downloads, according to a report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
If you’re a bit geeky in the ways of the music biz, like me, you would have been watching the New York Stock Exchange avidly on Wednesday when Spotify, the world’s premier music streaming service, made its debut with an unusual direct listing. The Swedish firm let existing investors simply trade their stocks publicly, finishing their first day trading at a comfortable $149 (R1778) price (opening at $165), valuing the company at over $26 billion.
The eighth-largest tech listing to date proves that digital streaming subscriptions are leading the way into the future. The effect on artists remains to be seen, especially as Amazon, Facebook and Google are all developing streaming platforms to get into the game.