Classifying types of music is always a knotty proposition, and the question of how to classify jazz is no exception.
Confusion often occurs when jazz gets thrown in with popular music, especially when educators and school administrators are trying to decide whether to take jazz seriously.
Jazz has all the elements that other music has: It has melody; that’s the tune of the song, the part you’re most likely to remember. It has harmony, the notes that make the melody sound fuller.
It has rhythm, which is the heartbeat of the song. But what sets jazz apart is this cool thing called improvisation. That means making it up on the spot. No music in front of you. No long discussion with your bandmates.
Thomas Maturure is one such jazz man who believes in the art of rhythm using his guitar riffs and techniques to tell a musical story enmeshed in being unique and classy.
“De la créme de la crème is the title of my new jazz EP. The title means the cream of the cream, the very best or elite. It’s like when you select players for the national team, and you pick the cream from all clubs and out of the cream you pick the 11 that play the game while the others are on the bench. Those 11 are the cream of the cream. This title is for my listener, they are the elite, the cream of the cream,” Maturure said.
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In jazz it is always easy for both the musician and the listener to express their emotions. For example, in classical music we get sheet music and it is read from the top to the bottom with focus on more technicality and perfection. In jazz, the main focus is being creative and it is the use of imagination which remains critical and central.
A recent study at Johns Hopkins Medical school also found that listening to jazz can enhance memory recall, moods, clarity of mind, and even linguistic skills.
This makes jazz exposure a perfect form of music therapy for those in a memory care community.
Maturure also explained how he has always loved jazz music and had been influenced by many great jazz guitarists like Pat Martino, Joe Pass, George Benson, and Jimmy Dludlu.
“As a guitarist, I find great pleasure listening to the way a song is arranged in terms of chords, tonality and improvisation. Jazz music is always rich in these elements and engages the listener’s imagination. Hence my back ground also played a great part in appreciating jazz music as my dad was a guitarist, although he never recorded songs. I was exposed to jazz music at a young age. I would listen to Louis Mhlanga and Jethro Shasha all day long and transcribe to their guitars,” he said.
When listening to the EP by Thomas Maturure, I find that there is a deeper connection felt with his art and craft as his playing paints his calm and serene personality in my head. What captures the listener is the virtuosity which extends further than technique and speed, and this virtuosity encompasses being fluent in a dialogue through the deep command of rhythm.
Jazz is a deeply mature genre that is engraved in story telling which has an edutaining effect. I think Jazz music embodies creativity more than any other genre because it is a large part improvisational by nature.
“Anyone who has lost a loved one can relate to this song. “Mafaro” is a song that advises someone to perceive in whatever he sets his heart in doing, and discourages people from chasing after that worldly pleasures,” Maturure said.
Maturure further explained how he had been in the music industry for more than 25 years, adding that this was his first solo recording. He also was the one who was playing the lead guitar and the vocals on the songs.
Explaining the challenges in his musical journey he said: “I have faced many challenges in terms of resources, musical instruments and money to pay the instrumentalists who would have helped me. The other thing is, I relaxed on my dream concentrating on other people’s dreams, although I don’t regret doing that. But this caused me to focus less on my music. ”
“I have played for Paul Matavire, Taurai Pekiwe and the Legal Lions, Obadiah Matulane, Black Umfolosi Submarine African Melodies led by the late Hon Obedigwa Mguni, Chase Skhuza, Ndolwane Super Sounds and Jeys Marabini just to name a few,” he said.
Young people now want to listen to original music and the mindset of the music promoters need to be changed, it is not everyone who wants circular music, and hence there is the need for the promotion of jazz artists and musicians.
We need those family shows which can take place during the day, which can accommodate the young and the old ones and house wives. These groups of people do want to attend to musical functions but most of the venues are not ideal for them.
Jazz music accommodates everyone — even a pastor can attend such events and enjoy the beauty of music without feeling dirty. Of note, we still have programmes on stations like classic 263 which play jazz on Sunday and we need more of such programs on other radio stations so that jazz music becomes something that is strengthened and affirmed.
“Social media is now the way to go in terms of marketing music but most musicians are not benefiting anything from these social media platforms. Fans are indeed downloading and live streaming the songs but the artists are not well informed on how the IT property works and I’m one of those artists who is currently seeking assistance from knowledgeable persons on how to protect your creativity,” Maturure said.
It is sad that piracy has had a big impact on killing the music industry and our authorities have not done much to help and protect the artist.
Nowadays piracy is still happening on these social media platforms and many artists are not well versed with these new technologies.
My wish is that, if there could be more stiffer penalties on offenders and the cyber crime units should take these crimes seriously. Everyone who uploads any content which is not his or hers should be held accountable.
It is s proven fact that, relaxing music like Jazz has a soothing effect on the mind with improvement on verbal memory, it increases focus and elevation of mood after stroke.
Stress is the root to many health problems. However, there is tremendous change on stressed body and mind conditions, after listening to music and there is a healing and relaxing influence of Jazz music on stress.
- Raymond Millagre Langa is a musician, poet, orator, independent researcher and founder of Indebo edutainment Trust. You can follow him on Facebook @Millagre Ray Langa, on X you can follow on #Millagre Langa, email. millagrepapito@gmail.com or indebotrust@gmail.com.