Jazz @ it's Best

Oh …It’s been a while and I’m sorry for starving you (my very loyal fan) of some juicy notes on Jazz Music. So to pick up from where we left I kick off with a review of MTN Jazz Safari 2009. I just finished watching the amazing MTN Jazz Safari of 2009 on DVD, thanks a million to TShaka Mayanja. This is certainly a great piece of work, professionally recorded despite all the inherent issues that accompany a live performance recording. The team behind it did a superb job in capturing the experience and energy of the whole concert in a recorded media- DVD Disc. All this took place, live, on the 8 th October 2009 at the Kampala Serena Hotel (Victoria Ballroom), Uganda. On Stage you had Chuck Loeb (Guitar), Eric Marienthal (Sax), Oscar Seaton (Drums), Matt Cooper (Piano), TShaka Mayanja (Bass Guitar), Pragmo (Keyboard/Synths), Wakake Otieno (Percussions) and Steve Oundo (Vocals) The DVD features original recordings by Eric Marienthal and Chuck Loeb. That apparently were the first they wer...

On the evening of the 17 th July 2010 I went down to the Goethe-Institut, in downtown Nairobi, for the highly publicized show titled Karibuni Windhund , featuring Windhund, an Austrian Band.   Windhund which features Otto Lechner playing the accordion, Melissa Coleman on the cello and Karl Ritter on the guitar and is greatly known for their improvised music which explores different culture and sound-worlds. Without much ado, after the pleasantries of welcoming everyone and brief bio on the group, the show kicked off with the Windhund Trio first, doing a composition and then thereafter treated us all to an hour or so of pure improvised music. To capture the scene for you in words: We witnessed and experienced instances where one (from the trio) would provide the lead and the others picking on it or backing him/her to produce amazing music. In another instance you had the artists going off on each other, trying to outdo the other; it was improvisation at its best. Also at dis...