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ASHER GAMEDZE

Asher Gamedze

Dialectic Soul - 2023 Reissue

    Sold out on release in 2020, Asher Gamedze's Dialectic Soul finally returns as a limited edition clear vinyl press ahead of On The Corner’s 10th anniversary. Dialectic Soul is the debut album from one of Cape Town's most cutting-edge, visionary artists and musicians, the drummer Asher Gamedze.

    This is Jazz at its most spiritual, most progressive and most appealing form. As Asher himself says: Dialectic Soul is about motion and a refusal to remain static or stay still. It’s the commitment to be continually moving’.

    Recorded live over two days at the Sound and Motion Studios in Cape Town with renowned musicians (Thembinkosi Mavimbela (bass), Buddy Wells (tenor sax), Robin Fassie-Kock (trumpet) Nono Nkoane (voc)), Dialectic Soul is breathtaking in its musical vitality and expression of soul seeking truth. By incorporating the concept of the Total Art for this project, it fits perfectly within On The Corner's aesthetic of music, art and vision for creative innovation. Label art director Victoria Topping created the sleeve design working with Asher's drawings and concept. Asher continues: "My composition "state of emergence" introduces the themes that constitute the album; free drums representing autonomous African motion, the saxophone reflecting deeply and honestly on the violence of colonialism, the teachings of Coltrane, Biko, Makeba, Malcom and others inspired the music's positive manifestations of resistance."

    "Fundamentally, it is about the reclamation of the historical imperative. It is about the dialect of the soul and the spirit while it moves through history. The soul is dialectic. Motion is imperative. We keep moving." 


    TRACK LISTING

    1. Movement One: Thesis
    2. Movement Two: Antithesis
    3. Movement Three: Synthesis
    4. Siyabulela
    5. Interregnum
    6. Eternality
    7. Hope In Azania
    8. The Speculative Fourth

    Cape Town, South Africa-based drummer Asher Gamedze explores relationships of time between music and history on his new album Turbulence and Pulse, out on International Anthem in collaboration with Johannesburg-based label Mushroom Hour Half Hour.

    Though this is Gamedze's first record with International Anthem as a leader, fans of AngelBat Dawids' debut, The Oracle, might recognize his name from their epic first-meeting-turned-song: Capetown or from his drumming on Angel & Tha Brothahoods LIVE. Close followers of free music may also know Asher from last year's offering on Astral Spirits, Out Side Work (which features scorching duets with fellow Brothahood member Xristian Espino: Sun City GirlsA l a n Bishop), or from his ZUZU debut album Dialectic Soul, which was ranked in the New York Times' Top Ten Jazz Albums of the Year.

    Turbulence andPulse comes as a reset and a reintroduction, even while Gamedze is again joined by his core quartet from Dialectic Soul -South African musicians Thembinkosi Mavimbela (bass), Robin Fassie (trumpet), and Buddy Wells (tenor sax).

    The album opener "Turbulence's Pulse" serves as a manifesto to inform the album that follows: a multi-rhythmic groove exploration of a collection of pieces initially composed by Gamedze on piano. The result is his most soulful and accessible album yet, and a sweet-vet-energetic addition to the South African jazz cannon. 

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Matt says: A new rising jazz artist from Cape Town lays down his musical manifesto and boy is it impressive. Brimming with complex poly rhythms, highly eloquent sax and sentiment rich piano and vocal contributions its a top drawer addition to the South African jazz cannon.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Turbulence's Pulse
    2. Wynter Time
    3. Locomotion
    4. If It Rains. To Pursue Truth
    5. Melancholia
    6. Alibama
    7. Can't See The Sun
    8. Sometimes I Think To Myself
    9. Out Stepped Zim
    10. Underground Formation


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