SA jazz vocalist to wow PE fans

MY WEEKEND CORRESPONDENT

DOUBLE South African Music Award winner Tutu Puoane, who has performed at jazz corners in down-town Johannesburg as well as on the international stage, will be in Port Elizabeth to showcase her fourth album release Breathe this week.

Puoane has worked with jazz greats Miriam Makeba and Toots Thielemans.

The performer and her band is brought to Port Elizabeth by LoveLoud, whose spokesman, Bantu Mtshiselwa, said: "It is an intimate jazz experience where Tutu will be taking them on a journey with her sounds."

In 2000, Puoane toured New York as vocalist with the South African National Youth Big Band and in 2001 she lead the Afro-Latino band Tucan Tucan at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town. Later that year, she accepted an offer from Dutch pianist Jack van Poll to study in Europe.

The jazz performer released her debut album Song in 2007 and Quiet Now in 2009, for which she won a SAMA in 2010 for Best Traditional Jazz Album. The year 2010 also saw Puoane being invited to work with one of Europe's leading big bands, the Brussels Jazz Orchestra. This union resulted in a celebration of Makeba's contribution to South African music, Mama Africa, for which Puoane once again scooped a SAMA in 2011.

Earlier this year, Puoane, who lives in Belgium with her husband and band member Ewout Pierreux and their daughter Mpho, travelled to New York to record her album Breathe.

Puoane and her band will perform songs from the new album which include originally written songs and two covers by South African jazz performers and composers Abdullah Ibrahim (Cape Town) and Bheki Mseleku (Through the Years).

Next Saturday, October 10, 6pm for 6.30pm, Puoane and her band will be at the Kwa Lunga at Nhose Street in Zwide. Tickets are R50. The following day, October 11, 6pm for 6.30pm, they will be at the Opera House Barn. The evening will feature local spoken word artists PoeticSoul (Lelethu Mahambehlala) and Ntsika Tyatya.

Tickets are R100 and can be booked on bantumtshiselwa@gmail.com, cingiwe.skosana@gmail.com or 0730541491.