A Reflection on Ziza Muftic's - Shining Hour - South African National Arts Jazz Festival Performance 2020
by Callandra Youngleson 10/30/20
Roaring into motion like a big hungry tiger, Peter Auret, Pete Sklair and Roland Moses run into action, in a groove that moves between swing and afro. Ziza’s velvety warm vocals soar over like soft rushing water with her lyric on Bheki Mseleku’s “Homeboyz” - ‘Yes you move in like a thief, you steal the moments, you.’ Brassy and brave, phrased with inner understanding of each word. Sydney Mnisi flies into a solo, edgy, drenched in tradition swinging and soaring, this band fat, full swing, proud and loud, unashamed, brave. Beautiful big sound, really playing! Moses takes the harmony out and in surfing the tide, Sklair holds the pocket steadily with brave and bold strokes from Auret. Some double time swing moving in and out of the textures, full and voluptuous, reminiscent of history, and of contemporary. So playful, responsive, Roland throws, Auret catches, triplet figures, pentatonic runs caught by double time ride figures, growing texture, Sklair steady and right on time, heavy in the pocket, a groove that feels so good. Ziza flies in smoothly, each word colored with detail and attention, into a brave full belt from the belly, full body, riveting, visceral, so beautifully colored! Reminiscent of the brave vocalists of the jazz tradition - reminding me of Betty Carter, light, tiptoeing and then loud and bronze! Full ownership of the color of each moment, leading this beautiful full voluptuous sound, ending in modern full hits reminiscent of Mingus.
Ziza lives with music inside her veins, she was my first vocal coach and inspired me with her never ending courtship with everything musical and creative. The books she reads, the people she meets, the songs she chooses to curate and craft she does with all the musicality and art in her spirit.
McCartney and Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood '' stalks in with a beautiful ostinato bass and mallet drums. Flute and voice float in cloud-like, warm and round, deep, like smoke. Ziza’s voice, gentle like fog over a field, long long lines that float into the distance of your mind. The music sitting just underneath, modern, open, inspired by so many beautiful eclectic parts, pausing exactly where you want it to. Like gentle turquoise glass, you want to float away on the gentle pulse of this music, so spacious and well balanced, Ziza tells this story so poignantly, painting with the watercolors of her voice, with such understanding of this music, of how it should feel, floating into the distance sitting lightly on your shoulders. Roland flows into a watery solo, using the brightest note choices, Bill Evans-eque, brightness over the darker mistier fog of the underlying musical bed. Modern and also eclectic, Sklair’s warm bass holds the whole texture in his arms. Sydney’s light flute dances over the texture, agile, almost like a bird fleeting, floating, pentatonic, modal, arpeggios flying playfully over the clouds. Dynamics, lulling you into the caress of this song. This song, like a dream, lives somewhere far away, where you can barely touch it, but you sit listening and let the fog overcome you. Floating away on the intro voice and flute line soaring through the foggy music.
Bold, brave, a little disjunct, a groove-based almost Monk-like piano intro sits under Ziza’s brassy and sassy vocal. “The colour of my heart”, reminiscent of Eartha Kitt, a darker, brassy vocal, trumpet-like. Light, groovy funk, sits on the under layer. The play of subdivision of the funk so satisfying, infusion of other feels, doubletime soaring lines and playful splashes of notes, the band really playing, pulling and pushing at the seams of the fabric. Sydney sits heavily in the pocket with a Coltrane-like color, brave, brash, brassy, a little bit outside the harmony and then snaking back in, riding the edges of the resolutions, heavy pocket. Full jangling groove, Sklair, soloing in between the groove adding motion and fluidity to the super-steady and growing groove, so many colors, this band is playing together, all listening, all giving and taking. Generations of playing, decades of experience, hours of craft and practising culminate in bringing so much lived music inside each individual coming together in the same pocket to create this thick viscous beautiful texture, groovy and full. You can’t help but bop your head and scrunch up your face! Little musical interludes that make their way back, bookend the music so neatly, a sense of completion and form, so satisfying to listen to. The lyric returns differently, Ziza bends the notes, intimately asks her question, full brassy belt, her voice so unique, explorative, of every color, forward, shouty, bright, dark, full, sensual, intimate, yelly, gypsy-songlike, brave, different colors, like splashes of paint, and textures onto a canvas, always colorful, chromatic, not scared of playing and finding new sounds. So many different sounds, a myriad of vocal ability.
Ziza’s voice always hearkens back to her Croatian roots, with modes, and colors, speaking to Gypsy tradition, such beautiful color. A lovely flute-like intro floats into “Got a match?/Chega de Saudade” - a mash up of two famous jazz standards. Gorgeous proliferation of the portuguese lyrics blended seamlessly with the Corea melody that flows in and out. This song dances effortlessly. Smart manipulations of the theme for the two songs to play together like long lost friends. A lovely little interlude.
“Love is the drug” - a blues interpretation of a disco song originally by Roxy Music. Ziza’s voice, chameleon again, metamorphosizes into a dark, gravelly, soulful, bluesy, brassy, sometimes spoken, rapped proliferation of the lyric. Slow blues, she carries it bravely, fully, with reverence for the space between the lyrics, “love is the drug” sitting over different harmonies, changing its face with each one, Sydney soars in with a fluid malleable solo, the whole song feels heavy, the sound gelled together with cement, the band sitting together, glued, all filling in the spaces so the belly is never empty, climbing the hill of building to the climax of the texture, Sydney is pushing forward, the band is slowly building with him, a wave that crashes on the shore, tired and loose. Texture shifts for Roland’s solo, space opens up, Sklair solos around him. I’ve always marvelled at the dance between the different frequencies of the upper range of the piano and the lower frequency of the bass, how they can waltz so well together, leaving space, not stepping on each other’s feet. Ziza’s voice, again so unique, unplacable, a mix of so many references, and herself so intertwined, like a Kundera novel, dark and smoky, but also bright and full, like a red wine, mature, a reverence for lyric, for storytelling. A full ownership of each choice, of each sound and color, she swirls it around and savors each note.
A peaceful, dark, full-bodied, lyric soars over Mnisi’s “Kwela/Gontsana”. Gorgeous sweeping melody paying homage to Mnisi's musical inspirations and friends. Ziza’s lyric pays tribute to her love of her Croatian and Bosnian heritage. A beautiful unity of South African and European jazz coming together and communicating love of the things at the base of our sense of home, family, friendship and inspiration. A modern piece with beautiful scope and freedom, and fullness. Ziza always creates space for the musicians with her to play with their full selves. She creates that environment, never focusing on herself, but more on the collaboration of the musical moment. Beautiful haunting themes meet dark velvety lyrics that ode to a land, to a feeling of home. The phrasing, the relaying, so natural, like breathing, with space and dynamic scope, like playing with silk that bends and flows and twists. Sydney sits heavily against the driving undermusic, boldly soloing with some rock themes, so many eclectic colors coming together.
Ziza has so much love in her heart for this music, for the people she makes music with, for creativity, for art, it shines out of her. Kindness shines out of her. She is constantly evolving and growing and bringing others along with her, sharing the journey of making this beautiful music together.
A fast paced, quick-footed “Unfinished Story” jets into motion, exciting and fleeting, a lovely light line soars over the top and builds and then releases to repeat, the lovely pairing of voice and flute. A lyricless exploration of colors and sounds, of beautiful melodies, a collection of sonic possibilities, different colors, like a canvas splashed with different textures, feathers, gold leaf, paint, blotched with glitter. Bright and dark at the same time, playful, glittering, sparkling, dynamic. An urgency to it, maybe speaking to the restlessness of being an ‘unfinished relationship’ that was the inspiration for Ziza’s manipulations of this romantic inspired composition. Dreamy and then dark, like we’re riding a wave, quickly through the changing colors of a relationship. Evocative and magnetic.
Ziza’s original “Blue” is reminiscent of Pat Metheney’s music blended with a Jobim inspired bossa. Reminding me of “Dindi” as if carried through Metheney’s hands, Ziza’s voice so beautifully pairs with this music, naturally meeting it with her warm, airbrushed, silk-smooth sound. Her melodies are a little uncommon, in a good way, they feel original choosing the note collections that fit her, like purchasing art from someone you know, you hear the collection of Ziza in her musical choices. A butterfly floating over the lightly dancing bossa, Mnisi, playfully solos. The tone on Sklair’s bass so beautifully reminds us of Metheney’s sound palette, and 80s tone color, he roots the sound full and warm, leading the texture with agile footsteps, the song floats away on the wind.
“Lunch with Michel”, a gypsy, almost Argentinian, brass, bold, vamp in, sassy, voluptuous, dancing forward, with Ziza’s beautiful Croatian lyrics, her vocal color once again morphing and becoming throatier, fuller, reminiscent of folk singers, chestier, bolder, coming back to her roots mixed at the edges. Pete Sklair solos warmly over the section, simmering with expectation and energy, Auret keeps driving the energy forward lightly, galloping, Moses, off beats, drives the energy, always dancing. A modal line together with Sydney, breaks the form, bringing it into a new section. Ziza joins with a warm, throaty, folk, soulful burst into Sydney’s rip roaring solo, building the energy so it bursts at the seams. Riding to the climax of the show, the band climbing together. Ziza’s voice joins to build on top of the roaring texture, breaking into the ostinato pattern from the beginning of the piece, bookending bravely the end of a brilliant dynamic concert that lives beyond its time in the spotlights.
Please support these brilliant, dynamic, beautiful musicians and their wonderful music by following them on social media platforms and by buying their music and attending their shows. They are so deserving of every ear and every heart to listen and to absorb the fantastic art that they are creating together and crafting as individuals.
Ziza Muftic - Voice
Sydney Mnisi - Sax
Roland Moses - Piano
Peter Sklair - Bass
Peter Auret - Drums
Link to the beginning of the recorded concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMH5f4F0Cxk&ab_channel=StandardBankJazzFestival%2CMakhanda