South African drummer and composer Asher Gamedze’s music is a mixture of various South African traditions, free improvisation, jazz and radical social and political thinking. His debut album Dialectic Soul came in 2020 and was named by the New York Times as one of the best of the year.
Gamedze started playing drums in high school in Cape Town. He didn’t have money for his own drum set but had to borrow one from a friend, a drum set that the friend never saw the smoke of again.
Through his work with a long line of South African jazz musicians such as the pianist Nduduzo Makhatini and with the American clarinetist and pianist Angel Bat Dawid, Gamadze made a name for himself on the way to becoming a bandleader himself.
The acclaimed debut record was followed by Out Side Work, which consists of improvised duets with saxophonists Alan Bishop and Xristian Espinoza. This year saw the release of Turbulence and Pulse, which caused the critics to once again use the highest white words. The magazine All about jazz breaks Gamedze’s record against Charles Mingus’ record Charles Mingus Present Charles Mingus and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers sound from around 1960.
Asher Gamedze carries his music in tradition-conscious hands and goes his own way in an obvious and inspiring way. Now Stockholm gets the opportunity to meet this shooting star on the South African and global jazz scene.
Asher Gamedze – trummor
Vimbs Mavimbs – bas
Robin Fassie – trumpet
Buddy Wells – tenorsaxofon
Support:
Ahmed Ag Kaedy (b. 1979) is the leader of the band Amanar de Kidal but also a well-established solo artist. His concerts are sensitive and atmospheric, strongly evoking the feeling of the silence of the desert.
