With: Mal Waldron (piano), Johnny Dyani (bass, voice, piano on track 3), Pablo Sauvage (percussion on track 3)
Record date: April 14, 1981
Yeah, two of my all time favorite musicians working together on their first recording together. Of course I know about the record in Italy 2 years before but that session never was released in a proper and legal way. The unofficial release of that concert is pretty shitty, not legal and the guys were so stupid to include only half the concert. Strange enough, people are prepared to pay lots of money for such a subpar product. ‘Some Jive Ass Boer’ on the other hand is legit, a full concert with some interesting music (though the music on that Italian concert is a little better…)
Johnny Dyani… A South-African god on bass who's deep and emotional bass playing really fits with Mal’s piano playing. The opening ‘Safari’ is a good introduction for this pretty long recording. A bluesy theme with Dyani jamming on his bass. Nice to hear he follow’s Mal’s percussive way of playing. The following ‘African Cake Walk’ has repetitive and catchy theme after both Mal and Dyani go into improvised territories. Dyani does not only play notes or rhythms on his bass but uses his instrument to produce different sounds just like Lacy does on a soprano sax. This is highly improvised music on a pretty straightforward blues theme.
On Makulu-Kalahari Dyani starts singing in a traditional African way. And he could do that just fine. He did it before on the amazing duo albums with Abdullah Ibrahim. He has a gentle voice and it really ads up to the African feel of the album. And it should have that feel looking at the great album title! Then Dyani starts playing piano. Not highly talented for it he sure can play. He starts playing a very catchy modal that reminds most of his own composition ‘Lonely Flower in the Village’ from the great Song for Biko album. His playing is mostly expressive and less technical.
On the next song the music is back in the intimate duet form as it started. Both of the musicians are highly expressive and percussive artists so they blend very well together. Dyani’s bass playing is with so much feeling it really gets Mal’s piano playing to a higher level. And trough the music, there is a bit of anger you could feel from their fingers. What I miss sometimes is a more afro-centric feel. Especially in a song like ‘Blues for Mandela’: that song should at least contain a little bit of Africa. That is the reason why, despite I like this record very much, still prefer Dyani’s duo’s with Abdullah Ibrahim.
The music was released in 2001, some 20 years after it’s initial recording. It was put out on ‘Jazz Unite’ which really is just a sub label for Futura/Marge. That means it’s a digipack with excellent sound but not a lot of extra info. There are no liners or whatsoever. A pity cause there is enough to tell about these special musicians and music. There is a photo copy of a note left by Dyani. In it he thanks Mal and expresses his anger on the whole apartheid situation in his homeland and he’s critical of black American musicians that visit South Africa and play there for an audience. His anger is sincere, just like his bass playing. Oh and very nice artwork by the way: beautiful cover. This is a great recording and recommended for both Dyani and Waldron fans.
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