JAZZ maestro Burton Naidoo is back on the live scene.
It has been two years since the pandemic hit and he last hit the stage, but a recent performance at Alliance Francaise in Durban marked a turn in a new direction.
Her perfomed with poet, Luleka Mhlanzi at a concert organised in collaboration with UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts and Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.
Naidoo, who was raised in Lotus Park, Isipingo, started lessons on the piano from a young age.
“I started when I was six. My dad was possibly my biggest inspiration. He was a really good drummer, and he played in a few bands on the dance circuit in Durban. I recall going to band rehearsals with him, and I fell in love with the music. He is my hero,” said Naidoo, a father of two, of Amanzimtoti.
With a keen interest in jazz, Naidoo enrolled with UKZN'S jazz programme in 2001. He then spent four years under the guidance of Darius Brubeck - an American jazz musician and educator.
Naidoo was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Artisten in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2004, where he took lessons with jazz musicians Anders Perrson and Peter Burman.
With 22 years on the music scene, Naidoo said he took a liking to all kinds of improvised music, especially jazz.
“The more time I spend investigating this art form, the more I realise how little I know. It becomes exciting, almost edgy, when you realise that the music is way bigger than you are. So every performance becomes a walk into the unknown. It’s quite scary, really."
Naidoo, 41, the head of High School Music at St Mary's Diocesan School for Girls, said he wrote a large body of work that ranged from funky to wildly explorative. He said, throughout his career, he had worked with many incredible musicians, including Sonny Pillay and Hugh Masekela, and performed both locally and internationally.
“In 2005, I won the SAMRO Piano Competition and received funding for further international study. I performed at The Rendezvous de 'lerde Festival in Nantes, France; The International Association for Jazz Educators Conference in Los Angeles; the Nefertiti Jazz Club in Sweden and numerous world music festivals in Mozambique, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Morocco. Locally, I played The Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Oppikoppi, Splashy Fen, Woodstock and the Emerentia Festival, to name a few."
The show, held on January 27, featured Naidoo’s new music titled Sometime Before.
“Sometime Before is new music that I initially composed during the first hard lockdown. The uncertainty and the mysterious nature of Covid-19 had my heart longing for a life, sometime before the pandemic.
"I started thinking about family, friends, travelling, basically, all the things we took for granted. I put these emotions into song, and the concept was born. The music is simple. It's groovy, nostalgic, and hopefully, moving. I am joined by a dream team of musicians, Trevor Donjeany on bass, Riley Giandhari on drums, and Martin Sigamoney on saxophone."
Having been a student at the UKZN’s Centre for Jazz before becoming an established musician, Naidoo said: “The Centre for Jazz has been the backbone of the Durban music scene for a great number of years. They have nurtured some of the best talent on the South African scene.
“I have not performed publicly, let alone my original music for almost two years. A huge thank you to all at UKZN's Centre for Creative Arts, to Thuli Zama and Neil Gonsalves for the opportunity, and to Marlyn from iSupport for the wonderful marketing. It's good to feel like a musician again.”
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