Zim is a jazz talent haven, says US band

at the
Young Africa Skills Centre in Chitungwiza recently.
Dennis Luxion, the pianist of the group, revealed that they were stunned by a number of Zimbabwean groups, including the Cool Crooners, that they came across during the visit.
“We started off with a jam session at the Jazz 105, where we interacted with a number of Zimbabwean artistes, through music.
“It was a very interesting session and I was particularly impressed by the performance of the Cool Crooners.
“A future collaboration with the group will be a welcome pleasure,” said Luxion.
A jam session was held a fortnight ago with Zimbabwean artistes like Dudu Manhenga with the Cool Crooners also taking part, at the Jazz 105 in Harare.
Youths at Chitungwiza were taken through music lessons, which began with the mouth sounds that would later be played using the musical instruments.
The group also had tens of people, who attended the occasion uncontrollably, set into a round of applause after streaming their instruments with a fusion of hip-hop and African beats.
An up and coming dancing group called The Diplomats spiced up the event with their B-Boy dance in which they stood on their hands and cycled in the air, consequently setting the small crowd into a frenzy.
A student at the hosting centre, Adbeel Madziva, stunned the American group by her melodious voice when she volunteered to sing along with the group’s saxophonist, Greg Ward.
Youths who attended the event revealed that they were enthralled by the visit and wished to have more such cultural exchange programmes in the future.
“This will be a day to remember as I had an experience on various music instruments especially the bass guitar which I liked.
“We hope that more music workshops of this nature will come in the future,” said Brendon.
The assistant public affairs officer of the United States Embassy, Jillian Bonnardeaux, said they were looking forward to bringing more groups under the cultural exchange programme.
“In April we will be bringing in a dance group to come and learn and share some dancing knowledge with Zimbabwean dance groups,” revealed Bonnardeaux.
Some challenged the organisers of the programme to facilitate a trip for a Zimbabwean group to go to America and teach the Americans on Zimbabwean arts.
“I am glad we are getting these workshops though I must say we are not the only ones who learn but can also teach the Westerners how we do our art, so we hope we can have a Zimbabwean group going to America too,” said Tafadzwa Ngwenya.
The group came through the Rhythm Road project that was founded in the 1950s, and had the likes of music greats like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong as part of the project.
The Dennis Luxion/Michael Raynor quartet was chosen from 110 groups that had applied to tour Zimbabwe.
Other members of the group include drummer Michael Raynor and bassist Jeff Pedraz, and released their first album entitled “DLMR4”, in mid-January this year.