Nduduzo Makhathini In the Spirit of Ntu 2LP

Jazzwise The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2022 - Rated 8/20!

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On his milestone tenth studio album, In the Spirit of Ntu, the visionary South African pianist, composer, improviser, and healer Nduduzo Makhathini condenses the thematic, sonic, and conceptual notions explored over his catalog into a layered, yet accessible 10-track album. In addition to Makhathini's influences such as John Coltrane, Bheki Mseleku, McCoy Tyner and Abdullah Ibrahim, In the Spirit of Ntu pulls his most foundational cultural influences into a space where the sounds of the South African landscape are placed at the center of the nation's evolving jazz songbook.

In the Spirit of Ntu is Makhathini's second album to be released on Blue Note Records in partnership with Universal Music Group Africa, and the very first release on the newly formed imprint Blue Note Africa. A central figure of the country's vibrant jazz scene, Makhathini assembled a band consisting of some of South Africa's most exciting young musicians, including saxophonist Linda Sikhakhane, trumpeter Robin Fassie Kock, vibraphonist Dylan Tabisher, bassist Stephen de Souza, percussionist Gontse Makhene, and drummer Dane Paris, as well as guest vocalists Omagugu Makhathini and Anna Widauer, and American saxophonist Jaleel Shaw.

Makhathini speaks of how the album was conceptualized in a 'time of confusion and conflict' in his homeland, and on tracks such as the minor keyed 'Amathongo' he succeeds in implying darkness and mystery, despite the bright tempo, a feeling which persists in the ballad like 'Omagugu' with an Anna Widauer vocal and a thoughtful trumpet intervention by Robin Fassie Kock.

In the Spirit of NTU is an introduction to and summation of Makhathini's musical universe to date. Contrasting inquiry and statement, exploration and discovery, it's the work of an artist possessed of startling vision and dazzling creativity.