Boksburg, South Africa (Andile Yenana Official Website) - Andile Yenana, a pianist from South Africa, has released his brand new album "Who's Got The Map". The CD contains 10 tracks of mainstream traditional jazz with touches of bop and hard pop. 'The pianist is at his best when he experiments with time and dynamics, introducing a heavy dose of punchy angularity into otherwise straightforward music,' Nil Jacobson of All About Jazz writes. 'His lyrical style and fearless exploration of quintet tradition is simply world-class,' Willem Moller of the Sunday Times Magazine adds.
Music has been the mission of Andile Yenana's life since he was born in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape in 1968. 'My dad had a huge collection of music, ranging from jazz to Motown - all the forms of urban black music,' Andile remembers. 'My brother also had discs, and I grew up listening to their records and singing along.' Andile secured his teaching diploma from Fort Hare University before taking up studies under Darius Brubeck at the University of Natal, Durban's pioneering School of Jazz and Popular Music. There he discovered the professional music scene around Durban's clubs. Andile formed a jazz outfit band at UND called "Inside Out". He used to play with Concord Nkabinde, Dumisane Shange, Mfana Mlabo, and others. 'Those were the happiest days,' he remembers. But right from the start, Andile's career has involved a range of projects and collaborations that have taken him far beyond the conventional jazz small group.
His new album is an edgy affair, posing challenging questions about the future of Andile's cultural identity. 'It's designed to evoke thoughts about places, spaces, treaties, borders and restrictions - what place does jazz have in the so-called post-modern society,' he says "Who's Got The Map" poses a question he answers adequately in musical terms. On the contrary the question posed by the album title is not intended to be answered, "but rather to evoke thoughts about spaces, places, treaties, boarders, and restrictions, accords,..." Andile explains. This album is a pure acoustic jazz traditional combo coming from South African through the hands of a skilled navigator, who made it his mission to preserve the legacy of South African jazz that was left behind by the likes of Chris McGregor, Dudu Phukwana, Jazz Epistles, Johnnie Dyani, just to mention a few. 'I love the surprise music can bring to the emotions and spirituality of listeners. And as long as I have the strength and the will-power, I will go on,' Andile wraps it all up.
