Women and their role in jazz will be celebrated at the upcoming Jazz Super Session in Durban, which forms part of The Road to Standard Bank Joy of Jazz campaign. Award-winning all female jazz band Heels Over Head headline the event, which features all women jazz artists.
The event takes place on Women’s Day, Saturday August 9 at the Bat Centre on the Victoria Embankment in Durban, starting at 2pm. The Jazz Super Session itself is free, but there is a R150 cost that covers the cost of a two-course meal.
Jazz associations and appreciation societies have become an integral feature of South Africa’s jazz culture and heritage, and are found around the country. An important milestone in the evolution of these organisations was the formation of a national body, the South African Jazz Appreciators Associations (SAJAA), in August last year in Durban.
T Musicman, promoters of the annual Standard Bank Joy of Jazz now has an ongoing professional relationship with these associations, through a campaign called The Road to Standard Bank Joy of Jazz in which a series of concerts known as Super Sessions showcase upcoming talent. Through these sessions, jazz lovers can enjoy live music and music discussions by jazz presenters from different jazz clubs.
Performing in the Durban Jazz Super Session is the SAMA nominated Heels over Head. The group were named the winners of the 2010 Yamaha Young Talent Award and their albums Could It Be and Sondela are racking up popular and critical acclaim. Renowned for their suave, sophisticated and sparkling stage presence, the band has found its groove and created a smooth, watertight brand of slinky soul-kissed contemporary jazz. Stylistic influences include maskandi, mbaqange, gospel, classical, funk, house and reggae, all of which are wrapped within their signature sound of easy breezy jazz-pop with an Afro feel.
The band members are Thulile Zama and Nomkhosi Mazibuko on vocals, Susan Barry on keyboards, Lee Ngidi on bass, Arianna Carini on guitar and Rebekah Pillay on drums. Each has significant experience in the music industry, nationally and abroad.
Presenters at the Durban Jazz Super Session are Olebile Dikgetsi from a Northern Cape jazz club; Nomsa Fankomo from Mpumalanga and Felicity Mashodi from the Western Cape.
Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, regarded as Africa’s premiere jazz festival, takes place from September 25 to 27 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Gauteng. Top female performers are also part of the jazzstravaganza with headline acts including four-time Grammy Award winner Dianne Reeves; South African musical legend Sibongile Khumalo and Italian jazz singer and Grammy nominee Roberta Gambarini.
Other huge draw cards are Tony-nominated composer and multiplatinum-selling singer Ann Hampton Callaway; Filipino recording artist and cultural trailblazer Charmaine Clamor and a number of former Standard Bank Young Artist winners such as Gloria Bosman (2000), Tutu Puoane (2004), and Melanie Scholtz (2010).