A Morning in Paris

Vocalist, composer, lyricist Sathima Bea Benjamin made sure Duke Ellington listened to her future husband—pianist Dollar Brand (later Abdullah Ibrahim)--during a gig in Zurich. But the Duke was equally captivated by the young vocalist and set up a recording session in Paris for both musicians. Brand’s career took off with the subsequent release of Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio. For Benjamin, however, the recording, which included Brand, Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on piano, stayed in a vault for thirty years before resurfacing in 1995. On January 23rd, Benjamin will be at Sweet Rhythm to celebrate the re-release of the belatedly issued A Morning in Paris (Ekapa Records).

Sathima Bea Benjamin was born in Johannesburg and raised in Cape Town, where her first singing experiences were in church. Through British and American movies as well as radio, she first heard Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz and pop singers who would influence her personal approach to the music. At 21, she joined Arthur Klugman's Coloured Jazz and Variety show on a tour of South Africa. Back in Capetown in the late 50s, Bea became active in the local jazz community, meeting and working with future husband Dollar Brand (aka Abdullah Ibrahim). Accompanying Brand’s trio, she recorded what would have been the first jazz LP in South Africa's history, My Songs for You, had it ever been released! Following South Africa’s Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, Benjamin and Ibrahim emigrated to Europe along with many of their fellow South Africans. With bassist Johnny Gertze and drummer Makhaya Ntshoko, they settled in Zurich and became acquainted with many American jazz artists touring throughout Europe, including Don Byas, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Ben Webster, Bud Powell, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk.

Sathima Benjamin and Duke Ellington

In 2004, South African President Thabo Mbeki granted Benjamin the Order of Ikhamanga Silver Award for her “excellent contribution as a jazz artist” in South Africa and internationally, and for her contributions “to the struggle against apartheid.” Featured in the March 2006 issue of Jazz Times, Sathima released the compilation SongSpirit later that year in celebration of her 70th birthday. In June 2007, Sathima began re-issuing her out-of-print discography, beginning with Cape Town Love. Finally, A Morning in Paris has been reissued, and will be celebrated with her performance at Sweet Rhythm.

A Morning In Paris

One has to wonder how the trajectory of Bea Benjamin’s career would have differed had A Morning in Paris received the distribution it deserved back in 1963. In her late 20s at the time of the recording, Benjamin’s voice already displayed the qualities of a seasoned jazz singer, albeit one still showing pop influences and less dramatic interpretation than would mark her later work. Yet the ingredients are all there, the elongated syllables and rhythmic diversions, the near absence of vibrato save some hollow resonance supplied by the miking of her voice. On A Morning in Paris, the tracks are fairly short with little extraneous instrumental exploration from pianists Ibrahim (8 tracks), Ellington or Strayhorn (2 tunes each), Johnny Gertze (bass) and Makaya Ntshoko (drums). Despite the stylistic differences of the three pianists, their roles on this recording are clearly back-up, Ellington the most minimalist in comping and Ibrahim the most fully textured, yet barely hinting at the range of artistry that would propel him to the upper echelons as a soloist and improviser. A rather odd and at times intrusive addition to the band is Svend Asmussen on “pizzicato violin,” an instrument that adds an almost banjo-ish or hot club layer that often seems to disrupt rather than complement the mood. These are largely short, slowly paced, balladic arrangements that often merely suggest a swing feel. Many of these tracks, all standards, would have been chart climbers on 1960s pop radio.

“Darn That Dream” opens the recording with Bea’s clear articulation and true pitch receiving gentle support from the trio. Duke plays on his own “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good,” spare comping with well-place chords supporting Benjamin’s very light vibrato. I’ve never heard the Rogers and Hart “I Could Write a Book” sung at such a slow pace. An innocent passion turns sultry after the first verse as the quartet, particularly bassist Johnny Gertze, adds enough syncopation to give Bea a swinging lilt. And here the staccato pluck from Asmussen seems to add rather than detract. “I Should Care” feels like a pop ballad of the 50s, pitch perfect with Benjamin’s interpretation reflecting a deliberate, rhythmically re-imagined phrasing.

Sathima Benjamin

Bea takes her sweet time drawing out the lyrics of “I’m Glad There is You,” and offers “Lover Man” as a seductive blues, her phrasing most strongly suggesting her future direction as the ultimate jazz singer. A new rendition with more complementary accompaniment than the clashing grittiness of the violin would be welcome!

Billy Strayhorn plays piano on two tracks, an ultra sultry “Your Love Has Faded” and the longest, closing tune, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.” The latter finds Strayhorn offering sweet and spare support, Benjamin at a far more leisurely pace than expected, and, once again, an intrusive violin that begs to be swapped for a cool horn.

Overall, and despite the pizzicato violin, this would have been a stunning debut in 1963, an earlier launching pad for a career that did eventually rise above the turmoil of apartheid and meld the worlds of bop and African traditions through the clear and engaging voice of Sathima Benjamin. As a long-delayed release, A Morning in Paris serves as much as a tribute to the prophetic ear of Duke Ellington as to the youthful charm of the vocalist. This reissue, as well as the others in her new catalog, will hopefully expand the audience of an artist who deserved recognition well before the digital age.

Sathima Benjamin celebrates her beginnings and her 75th birthday on the stage of Sweet Rhythm in Greenwich Village on January 23rd in the elegant company of pianist Stephen Scott, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer George Gray.

Sweet Rhythm is located at 88 Seventh Avenue South (at Bleecker Street) in New York City, sets at 8 and 10 pm; www.sweetrhythmny.com