Is this the end of jazz?

Fred Zindi Music Column
At the recent ZIMA awards ceremony, I noticed that the category of Best Jazz Music which was won by Clare Nyakujara had nominees who are not traditionally jazz musicians. Musicians like Alexio Kawara, Malimba and Prince Musarurwa are certainly not jazz artistes.

I concluded that either the ZIMA organisers did not understand who to fit in this category or their understanding of jazz is different from mine.

Another reason could be that the jazz music which was thriving in Zimbabwe some 10 or so years ago, no longer exists to the extent that people have forgotten how it sounds. Gone are the days when DJ’s like the late Hilton Mambo aka Dr Bob, played jazz tracks every Sunday afternoon on Radio 3’s “All That Jazz” programme and the whole nation would be treated to jazz.

Because of its popularity, two decades ago, all musicians in Zimbabwe were referred to as “Majazzmen’. If you don’t believe me, ask musicians like Oliver Mtukudzi, Moses Kabubi, Sam Mataure, Bob Nyabinde or Peter Muparutsa.

The question to ask now is: Where has this jazz music gone?

It is now 10 months since Jazz 105 closed its doors to the public. This was, in my opinion, the only venue where if one chose to go and listen to some jazz, it was likely to be offered. The venue sometimes hosted jazz artistes. I say, sometimes because it was also home to non-jazz musicians such as JahPrayzah, Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave, Sulumani Chimbetu, Alic kMacheso and Alexio Kawara, to mention just a few.

On rare occasions when one was lucky, patrons would be treated to something closer to real jazz by groups such as Summer Breeze, Cool Crooners, Dudu Manhenga, Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana,Mbare Trio, Jean Masters, Rute Mbangwa, Jazz Invitation, Harare Drive, Jabavu Drive, Too Open, Pablo and Friends and Bob Nyabinde.

In Harare, there is no single venue now which can be described as a Jazz joint. Two years ago, after the closure of Mannenberg in Fife Avenue, jazz enthusiasts were left dejected as they had no alternative place to go to enjoy their music genre. Hope was raised when Jazz 105 tried to pursue this music style, but there was no commitment to that genre on their part.

One disappointed colleague said to me after checking out Jazz 105: “You guys are crazy! You call that venue Jazz 105 and hope to attract jazz enthusiasts like me there, then you end up hosting people like Sulu at the venue? I went there with some visitors from South Africa after telling them that we were going to listen to some cool jazz music after dinner. How disappointed I was. You should first of all understand what kind of people jazz fans are before giving us that kind of nonsense! Do you think I want to go there with my visitors and mix with sungura fans who in most cases are drunkards?”

I am not sure why Jazz 105 was closed, but I was talking to Josh Hozheri who used to run the joint and he informed me that the rentals were rather too high to make it a viable business.

During the time the venue was operational, I visited it a few times and although on each occasion, there was no jazz, the venue was always filled to the brim. Even in winter, the walls of Jazz 105, itself a tiny establishment, were “sweating” as the crowds were almost literally boiling due to the terrible heat brought about by congestion.

The first time I visited the venue, it was during the Winter Jazz Festival although the main attraction was Oliver Mtukudzi (who in my opinion is not a pure jazz artiste). The second time I visited it was when JahPrayzah launched his “Tsviriyo” album. JahPrayzah has never been classified as a jazz artiste. So the place was packed not because the people had come for the love of jazz. From the look of it, it was people who had an appetite for food and love for alcohol that crowded the venue.

I remember commenting that if this place was a true jazz place, it would attract people of a different class who were willing to pay more than the $5 entry fee which was demanded at the venue. However, with its closure now, it seems the little jazz which Jazz 105 sometimes offered is also doomed.

In South Africa there are venues which are genre-specific. If you go to Kippie’s in Johannesburg any day of the week, you are guaranteed some jazz music and if you go to Mannenberg in Cape Town at the Waterfront, the same experience prevails.

Several jazz musicians in Zimbabwe are now out of work because no one has come up with a venue which is specifically oriented towards Jazz. Dr Ibbo Mandaza has opened up his SAPES TRUST house in Deary Avenue, Belgravia as a jazz venue. Mbare Trio, Bob Nyabinde and Summer Breeze have all performed there, but for some unknown reason, few patrons visit the place.

The music called jazz was born sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined elements of ragtime, marching band music and blues. What differentiated jazz from these earlier styles was the widespread use of improvisation, often by more than one player at a time. Jazz represented a break from Western musical traditions, where the composer wrote a piece of music on paper and the musicians then tried their best to play exactly what was in the score. In the original jazz pieces, the song is often just a starting point or frame of reference for the musicians to improvise around. The song might have been a popular ditty or blues that they didn’t compose, but by the time they were finished with it they had composed a new piece that often bore little resemblance to the original song. Many of the New Orleans virtuoso musicians were not good sight readers and some could not read music at all, nevertheless their playing thrilled audiences and the spontaneous music they created captured a joy and sense of adventure that was an exciting and radical departure from the music of that time.

The first jazz was played by African-American and Creole musicians in New Orleans. The cornet player, Buddy Bolden is generally considered to be the first real jazz musician. Other early players included Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson and Clarence Williams. Although some of these musicians’ names are unknown to most people, then and now, their ideas are still being elaborated on to this day.

The influence of jazz reached Southern Africa and with the fusion of local music, the genre progressed, in Cape Town, Dollar Brand, later known as Abdullah Ibrahim, after he converted to Islam, together with his wife, Beatrice Benjamin, popularised the genre and formulated what is known today as Cape jazz. It sounds like Marabi but has the Jazz features of syncopation, polyrhythms, improvisation and sometimes scat singing.

In Johannesburg, Hugh Masekela and his ex-wife, the late Miriam Makeba also popularized this genre. Hugh and Dollar Brand together with Kippie Moeketsi, at one point teamed up to form a powerful Jazz Band called the Jazz Epistles which rocked the whole of South Africa in the early 1960’s.

In Zimbabwe, Dorothy Masuka became the champion of jazz with songs like “PataPata”, “Utheni Zulu” and “Nhingirikiri” being among the best.

There was an anticipated Harare Jazz Festival on September 13 featuring Hugh Masekela,Kunle Ayo, Judith Sephuma, Dorothy Masuka and many others which had been scheduled for Belgravia Sports Club this year. For some unknown reason, it was cancelled.

Sam Mataure, one of the organisers of this festival has not issued a statement as to when it will happen, if at all. Does this mean the end of Jazz music in Zimbabwe, I wonder?

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