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"I don't care what kind of style a group plays as long as they settle into a groove where the rhythm keeps building instead of changing around. It's like the way an African hits a drum. He hits it a certain way, and after a period of time, you feel it more than you did when he first started. He's playing the same thing, but the quality is different -- it's settled into a groove. It's like settin' tobacco in a pipe. You put some heat on it and make it expand. After a while, it's there. It's tight." - Lou Donaldson |
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 Thursday, 08 January 2009 |
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Sathima Bea Benjamin at Sweet Rhythm, May 25th |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Wednesday, 17 May 2006 |
Legendary South African vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin will
perform with Onaje Allan Gumbs, Buster Williams, and George Gray at New
York's Sweet Rhythm Jazz Club on Thursday, May 25th to celebrate the
U.S. release of her album Musical
Echoes .
 Benjamin with Ellington
Originally from Cape Town, Sathima Bea Benjamin is one of South
Africa's musical treasures. In 1977 that Sathima and her family left
South Africa in self-exile to
settle in New York. Through her contacts at the ANC office there
she
was given the opportunity to become a cultural ambassador. Over
the years, Sathima established herself as one of the greatest living
jazz singers in the world, having worked with such musical legends as
Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and her husband, Abdullah Ibrahim.
Throughout her career, Sathima has recorded 11 albums, earned a Grammy
nomination, and received in 2004 the Order of Ikhamanga, South Africa's
highest honor.
As a singer, Sathima's interpretations of standards have earned her a
devoted audience and the highest praise of critics. Jules Epstein,
writing for the Philadelphia Tribune, writes "there may be ten great
jazz singers alive today, and Sathima Bea Benjamin is unquestionably
one." In Jazztimes, Robin D.G. Kelley described Sathima as "South
Africa's greatest jazz singer and one of the best the world has ever
known."
Sathima's 2002 album Musical Echoes
was released for the first time in the United States on March 21,
2006. Originally recorded in Cape Town with American pianist
Stephen Scott and South African musicians Basil Moses on bass and Lulu
Gontsana on drums, Musical Echoes showcases a melding of American jazz
standards with the Cape Town goema rhythm. Jim Santella of All
About Jazz writes of the album, "[Sathima's] unique interpretations
leave musical echoes that transcend politics and settle comfortably in
a world of aesthetic beauty," while Ken Dryden of All Music Guide gave
Musical Echoes a four-star rating.
I started listening to the music of the then so called Negro or colored people in this country. I felt a kinship for also being labeled. The kinship came, of course, with that feeling because the social structure seemed somewhat the same and I could identify with that. I guess it led me to the music, which is jazz, which is what liberates you. It is the most liberating music on the planet.
- Sathima Bea Benjamin
For more information, visit Sathima on the web at www.sathimabeabenjamin.com
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Sathima Bea Benjamin on May 25, 2006 at Sweet Rhythm
88 Seventh Avenue South (at Bleecker Street)
Sets at 8:00 and 10:00 pm
$20 cover, $10 drink minimum
Phone 212-255-3626 for reservations
http://www.sweetrhythmny.com
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