Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

Players
Herbie Tsoaeli
Appreciative Leader
At this year’s Cape Town International Jazz
Festival, Herbie Tsoaeli was one of the
headlining acts to kick off “Africa’s Grandest
Gathering.” With the song “Ancestral Meeting,”
Tsoaeli paid homage to the “great sons and
daughters of the soil” in a dirge-like manner
accented by the rattling sounds of African shakers.
While Tsoaeli towered over his bass, his horn
section provided hard-bop tones. The song started
out heavily steeped in traditional African
rhythms and gradually turned into an amalgam
of folk and jazz—much like Tsoaeli himself, who
was raised in the Nyanga East Township in Cape
Town during apartheid.
“I was lucky [to come from] a family that
played music all the time,” Tsoaeli said during
a phone interview. His mother and uncle
would buy vinyl records of American jazz
and South African vocal groups like The
Manhattan Brothers, and Tsoaeli listened to the
radio to hear mbaqanga (popularized by Letta
Mbulu and the late Miriam Makeba) and South
African bands such as The Blue Notes, which
melded African sounds with progressive jazz.
At age 16, Tsoaeli discovered a community
music hall at the Nyanga Arts Centre. He learned
how to read music and tried playing several
instruments, including electric bass. “A lot of
bands would come down, give us some lessons
and perform at the arts center, so I had all these
melodies in my head,” he recalled. Tsoaeli soon
began performing with other Nyanga-based
bands, such as Ikwezi. During one of his gigs,
he made a move that changed the direction of his
career. “I was a classical guitar player, and one of
the guys [from the group] said that for this gig,
I had to switch to [double] bass.” Tsoaeli didn’t
hesitate to make the change, and the double bass
has been his primary instrument ever since.
Tsoaeli soon became a first-call bassist, touring
the globe with South African greats Hugh
Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim and the late Bheki
Mseleku. He also collaborated with British pianist
Keith Tippett and his improv group Mujician.
shannon j. effinger
With his new album, African Time (Sheer
Sound), the focus is now on Tsoaeli as a leader.
“I want people to hear how I think about the
music itself,” he said. “I’ve been trying to find
my voice, and having my own album is a dream
come true.” —Shannon J. Effinger
credit