Tuning up for jazz invasion
Festival all set to stir up music’s melting pot. Alan Webster is director of this annual showpiece
THE Standard Bank National Jazz Festival, which takes place in the sleepy hollow of Grahamstown next month, this year celebrates three decades of collaboration and conversation between African musicians – and artists from across the globe.
Every year the country’s artistic hub stages performances by the country’s leading jazz musicians, and well world-renowned musicians and teachers from all over the world. Festival director Alan Webster, who has been involved with the event for 24 years, said allowing for artistic expression while maintaining academic exploration, has been “interesting”.
“I have learnt a lot. As director for the last 17 years, my vision has always been to bring the world to Grahamstown – first bring musicians and students together, and then bring the world in.”
A saxophonist himself, Webster said he’s been privileged to travel abroad to attract musicians to participate in the festival.
“Every year I’ve looked for different people around the world. “When booking musicians, we don’t ever put restrictions on them. We simply say ‘we’re booking you because we trust you, you choose how you want to present your music’.
“They come in and play, and we say ‘wow, let’s go and practise’.
“My job is to find a programme each year that is different, exciting and inspirational. That’s the main thing.”
Reflecting on what’s kept the jazz festival going in Grahamstown all these years, he said it was the experience of artistic flair found there that one could not find very easily anywhere else in the world.
“Grahamstown is a special place. People travel from all over because they know that Grahamstown is the only place in the world where you get a certain art experience.
“The town is poor and cold [in winter when the festival is held], and our venues aren’t that great, but we know that we’ve come here for the art.”
Webster also said that the South African jazz sound had evolved – and blossomed – to world standards, but has preserved its identity as one that is uniquely South African. And the national jazz festival has allowed for a unique blending of intercultural elements to create this South African jazz sound.
“We have musicians like Hugh Masekela and Jonas Ngwangwa, who have defined South African jazz in terms of heritage, and artists like Benjamin Jephta, the 2017 Standard Bank young artist, who takes the heritage sound and converts it to an international sound.
“Scandinavian musicians especially, get emotional in Grahamstown because they find the South African sound so warm and human. When you listen to our jazz, you can tell and hear that it’s South African, but it draws influence from all over the world. We’re good at producing that mix.”
The jazz industry has continuously revitalised itself by integrating talented younger musicians, a mix of graduates from tertiary institutions, as well as those from community-based jazz education programmes, who are engaging their music in innovative ways, ultimately creating a new sound.
“A problem with South African jazz had been a lack of technical skill. The 80s [jazz sound] was in many ways simplified, mainly because jazz musicians weren’t officially educated in jazz. What has happened from the 90s up to now is that jazz is becoming a part of the popular curriculum. You still get those who’ll just be playing in dusty township streets, but they’re influenced by jazz scholars,” Webster said.
“We’ve maintained our South African feel, however we’re becoming increasingly competitive with the world. By being exposed to what’s out there, [such as at this national festival] we are improving.”
This jazz festival birthed a national youth jazz festival, itself now in its 25th year and now incorporated into the greater jazz festival. Together, the two encompass a variety of jazz genres.
“We don’t claim that we teach the students who come here, but the idea is that we all come together. This is probably the only place in the country where everybody comes together and gets inspired.”
The festival also prides itself in being a music melting pot, bringing those from many different musical backgrounds all together under one roof. Webster says a lot of collaborations on world stages begin on the festival’s playgrounds.
“Take Nduduzo Makhathini for example. Some of the musicians he plays with around the world, he first met in Grahamstown. Interaction is a key part of the festival. The idea is to make it normal to be with great jazz players. Our gatherings are never anything fancy; we just come together to play.”
Looking back on his journey as director, Webster highlights the 2005 and 2014 festivals as momentous in the festival’s existence.
He describes the swinging modern jazz band Stockholm Jazz Orchestra’s live performance at the 2005 festival as a “breakthrough moment” due to the magnitude of this band playing for the first time on the festival stage.
Fast-forward to 2014, and the world’s best jazz composer and arranger, New York-based Maria Schneider performed at the festival, working with SA musicians, an experience Webster won’t forget anytime soon.
“When you can put that on the Grahamstown stage then you know you’ve done well.”
This year, Webster says the festival programme runs from June 29 until July 8 and features more than 100 world-class musicians from 12 countries. There are performances by Judith Sephuma, the Shane Cooper Collaboration, Andy Narrell, Marcus Wyatt’s Bombshelter Beast, Zenzi Makeba Lee and Afrika Mkhize as well as Afro-Caribbean Vibes, and Amanda Sedgwick, as well as some surprises in store.
Australian multi-instrumentalist James Morrison is also in this year’s line-up, as well as acapella sensation The Soil.
“South African group Goodluck isn’t particularly a jazz band, but they were students at the jazz fest at one stage. We’ve drawn from different cultural influences and ages to culminate the country’s jazz identity in all its complexity.
“It’s never a big budget festival, but we try to always have elements of surprise. In the same way jazz musicians will play the same piece differently, we too are playing the same piece, just a little differently,” Webster said.
In celebrating 25 years of the national youth jazz festival, a bulk of this year’s programme will comprise performers under the age of 40. The youth festival’s inception in 1992 saw just 43 students and three music teachers perform and teach and learn. But this has grown to the extent that now 350 students, 50 teachers and 90 musicians attend under the youth banner.
He describes this year’s jazz programme as an interplay between different generations, and for many, a crisp walk down memory lane.
“We’ve watched the jazz landscape evolve and become a place of influence. Kids that were once here watching and admiring performances are now here as performers themselves. This year’s line-up is more youthful for eg, Michael Pipoquinha, a 21-yearold bass player from Brazil is absolutely amazing. He can do things I didn’t think were possible.
“Another highlight this year is the 20-year celebration of the festival’s partnership with Standard Bank.” Webster attributes the festival’s distinctive nature to the bank’s ability to take a backseat and let them run wild.
“Standard Bank has been a great sponsor. The nice thing about them is that they’ve said ‘here’s the money, make an interesting festival’,” he says, Asking Webster how he manages to bring world-class musicians together in such a humble part of the country, he says he regards it an honour to be draw people from all over the world into one creative space each year. — nonsindisoq@
.co.za