Songs from the North at the 2009 Standard Bank Jazz Festival

Melanie Scholtz is one of South Africa's rapidly rising musical stars and, though she graduated cum laude from the UCT Opera School, she is a vocalist grounded in the down-to-earthness of the blues, R&B and legendary jazz singers like Dee Dee Bridgewater and Billie Holiday. Her classical training gives her spectacular vocal technique and she employs this as a basis in her search for jazz expression. Last year she recorded in Stockholm with two stalwarts of the Swedish jazz scene - alto saxophonist Johan Hörlén and bassist Martin Sjöstedt, both of whom have performed in Grahamstown on a number of occasions - and in this performance she brings that recording to life in Africa. Accompanying her on piano is Durban maestro Melvin Peters, who has performed in Australia, Norway, Scotland, France, Belgium and around the US, and who returns to Grahamstown for the first time since 1993. Aside from his jazz renown he has performed with the Free State Symphony Orchestra, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra. On drums is one of South Africa's premier jazz drummers, Kevin Gibson. Saxophonist Shannon Mowday joins the group for a guest spot.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Melanie Scholtz
• South Africa
• Johan Hörlén
• Martin Sjöstedt
• Melvin Peters

[funkatic]

Great!