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Hard Core Jazz, Jazz, Jazz Female Vocals, Jazz Male Vocals, Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Vocals, Joco Publishing, New Album, Sihle Zungu, Smooth Jazz, South Africa, Township Jazz
“Taking A Walk”, is a song that will be part of Sihle Zungu’s upcoming album, titled, A Collective Heritage, Sounds and Songs. “It is another song that I enjoyed making”, he says this with a bit of an appreciative smile. He deliberately placed this song after the track titled, Umthandazo (Prayer), and he says he did this because his album is like a theater play with a story that has a beginning and an end.
The four-four song features horns, and a rhythm section with a piano, drums, and an upright bass. He says that, it is one of those songs that he went all out to plan, having the actual idea of the song structure as an inspiration. “I wanted to have an elaborate slow tempo song introduction that is different from the rest of the song, and that uses different chord scales, starting from G Minor, to A Minor, to A Flat Minor, back to A Minor and G Minor, to E Minor, to F Major, again toggling between E Minor and F Major, and lastly ending up in F Major. All this happens within the energy that comes out strongly as a result of a trio of horns that is in harmony, supporting the scale’s back and forth movements. A little something of F Major’s contrary motion suddenly appears at 1:04 minutes, and becomes a breath of fresh air, taking away any slight likelihood of the very much feared boredom. The drum in the intro had to lack pattern, he adds. Just when you think that the intro is settling down, the trumpet comes in at 1:20, as if it is seeking attention, and also having an important message that needs to be heard. This announcement leads to that message, the walking bass swing head in B Flat. The rest of the song, which continues to be in B Flat, is over a walking bass swing, except for two in all four solos: the 16 bars of drums only, and the tenor sax solo bars. The joyful message ends with the head being repeated again. The next track in the album is Oak Tree.
The album consists of the following tracks, done exactly in this order: Journeying On, Utopia, New Beginning, Higher Ground, This Place, The Situation Right Now, Jazzy, The Last Piece (Interlude), Umthandazo, Taking A Walk, Oak Tree, Hloniphani, Corypolitan Influence, In May, and Nguwe. If I were to make a story out of the tracks’ sequence, I will say that, I am journeying on to the Utopia of the soul, and this being my new beginnings on a higher ground, and this place of dreams is a great environment all around. The situation right now, is that of a jazzy improvisation, that brings forth the last piece of the puzzle of my life, and umthandazo (speaking with the almighty in many ways) having been my pillar of strength, that has made the “taking a walk” to the unknown, bearable, and with a bit of motivators in between, that are similar to the Drakenberg goldish-reddish -yellowish Oak trees in the autumn. I would say to those that follow me, hloniphani (respect each other and your environment), because life is strange for everybody, and because of that fact, only the respect of each other and of the systems that we have put in place in order to guide us, can bring about a corypolitan influence (his new word in this album, and it means, “an influence of peace and harmony”) in our lives as societies. All my thoughts, FOR NOW, regarding this journey towards peace and harmony, end in May 2017, which also marks the finalization of “A Collective Heritage, Sounds and Songs” repertoire. All this has again been made possible by Nguwe Mdali (all mighty).
With this introduction of track number ten, Taking A Walk, and of the whole album, I hope that the listener will find this body of work interesting, and valuable to his or her growth and enjoyment in life.”, he said.
This album is still in some way a collaboration, as a result of Journeying On (band by Mondli Ngcobo – Music Director, Mxolisi Mdlalose -Alto Sax, Lindi Ngonelo – Keys, Leeroy Khumalo – Drums, and Siyabonga Mkhize – Electric Bass), Jazzy (band by, Mxolisi Mdlalose -Alto Sax, Lindi Ngonelo – Keys, Leeroy Khumalo – Drums, and Siyabonga Mkhize – Electric Bass), New Beginning (band by, Mondli Ngcobo – Music Director, Ndu Shezi – Vocal, Mxolisi Mdlalose -Tenor Sax, Lindi Ngonelo – Keys, Sidney Rash – Drums, and Ildo Nandja – Upright Bass), and This Place (Mondli Ngcobo – Music Director, and all digital instruments played by Lindi Ngonelo).
The fifteen tracks offer jazz quartets, larger jazz, and other ensembles that feature horns, vocal harmonies, jazz female vocal, male vocals, and everything with strings in between. The theme of the album can be thought of as being that of horns, as they appear in over seventy-three percent of the fifteen songs.
A sneak peek at the album is currently available on soundcloud.com, and the rest of the fine-tuned album will be available for sale, on worldwide digital music streaming and download outlets(Deezer, iTunes, Tidal, Amazon, CD Baby, etc.), between the end of the second quarter, and the beginning of the third quarter of 2017.
Sihle Zungu, Joco when working without collaborating, has worked also on the following albums: Journeying On Live by Journeying On, Sihle’s project band (http://www.deezer.com/album/7473676); Sunny Day by Joco (http://www.deezer.com/album/11523374); Another One Man Band by Joco (http://www.deezer.com/album/14412676); and On Akdeniz Caddesi by Joco (http://www.deezer.com/album/14666584).
Published by zungus’s blog, an online publication by Joco Publishing.