Description

Composer and trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni is a dynamic and ambitious young force in South African jazz and has gained traction internationally via residencies in Germany and Switzerland and as a member of Shabaka & The Ancestors. As a bandleader, Mlangeni nurtures a palette of shapeshifting projects from the Amandla Freedom Ensemble to the Tune Recreation Committee to showcase his compositions at home and abroad. The BirdSong Ensemble behind Imvuselelo is a formidable Swiss collective and the recording follows Mlangeni’s Berlin-based Bird Song Project LP of 2017. Album artwork was created by South African designer Baba Tjeko and the release marks the 2020 revival of the iconic As-Shams/The Sun South African jazz label. The title track and centrepiece of the album “Imvuselelo” means reawakening and is a 3/4 waltz composed in 2014. Imvuselelo is available in a vinyl edition of 300 copies with an expanded digital release featuring an alternate take of “Tau Ya Afrika.”

“BirdSong ensemble reminds me of early Ornette Coleman. Mandla Mlangeni is mean.” Rashid Vally