Arts writer
THE Battle of the Saxes tour comes to town this Saturday at 7pm. This one-off showcase featuring classically trained local saxophonists will be at The Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium in Picton Street, Parow.
Patrons will be entertained by Matthew Lombard and Karendra Devroop, a renowned jazz saxophone player with a growing international profile. Devroop has performed as a side stage act to Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, Queen Latifah and Jill Scott.
The duo will be accompanied by Roland Moses (jazz piano) and Annalien Ball (classical piano).
This unique project in a bigger format features classical saxophone, jazz saxophone, a jazz rhythm section and string quartet, who perform a repertoire comprising primarily local classical and jazz compositions.
Another novel aspect of the gig is a new work by South African composer Noel Stockton, who wrote a four movement work entitled Holiday for Saxes that features both classical and jazz saxophone.
This energetic work pays homage to both jazz and classical styles, while lending itself to uniquely South African influences. Stockton is one of South Africa’s pre-eminent composers capable of composing in both jazz and classical styles. In this innovative work he is able fuse both idioms in a fresh manner that hopes to keep audiences enthused for the duration of the four movements.
The balance of the repertoire will present uniquely South African compositions, including, but not limited to, African Beer and Amampondo Suite by William Haubrich, as well as historically significant jazz compositions such as Cape Town and The Wedding by Abdullah Ibrahim.
One of the goals of this project is to highlight the outstanding value of South African compositions in an entirely different way. Accordingly, this tour will include primarily local arrangements in both idioms.
In addition to contributions by Moses and Ball additional musicians on the Battle of the Saxes tour include a rhythm section comprised of Viwe Mkizwana (on bass) and Dio Santos (drum kit) and the Evolution of 4 String Quartet with Johanna Roos, Ane van Staden, Valery Andreev and Jessica Bailey.
Lombard is one of only a few classically trained saxophonists in South Africa, and actively performs and teaches nationally. He recently returned from completing his post-graduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK, where he studied with world-renowned tutors, including Rob Buckland, Andy Scott, Carl Raven and Vincent David.
Devroop has performed extensively across the country with the likes of Melvin Peters, Marc Duby, Feya Faku, Zim Nqawana, Bokani Dyer, Andre Peterson, Kevin Gibson and Shaun Johannes. He recently also performed alongside Dr Lonnie Liston Smith.
Together Devroop and Lombard established the first Unisa National Saxophone Symposium in 2014. This landmark event included internationally recognised artists such as The Apollo Saxophone Quartet (a classical ensemble from the UK) and The Artvark Saxophone Quartet (a jazz quartet from the Netherlands).
l Tickets: R50 at the door. Information: 021 939 9105.