Mthunzi Mvubu

Mthunzi Mvubu is an alto saxophonist, flutist, and composer from South Africa. Possessed of a reedy yet smooth, nearly mellifluous tone on the horn, his playing style comes draws on the North American and African jazz traditions; he also possesses an extensive postbop vocabulary. Playing professionally since he was 14, Mvubu has traveled globally with jazz luminaries since he was 18. He is also a member of Londoner Shabaka Hutchings' Shabaka & the Ancestors. Mvubu is a founding member of the Amandla Freedom Ensemble and, for a decade, has played in drummer Tumi Mogorosi's band, appearing on 2014's Project Elo and 2022's Group Theory: Black Music. In December 2022, Mvubu led a South African sextet on the Ropeadope album The 1st Gospel, his leader debut. Mvubu was born in Daveyton, in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of Gauteng South Africa, 43 kilometers northeast of Johannesburg. He began teaching himself to read and write music while in elementary school and discovered an affinity for it. At 14, he got a chance to attend the Music Academy of Gauteng under the mentorship of the late Johnny Mekoa. There he studied music theory and piano. He later switched to alto saxophone and flute. He won the right to play first chair alto in the Music Academy Of Gauteng Youth Jazz Orchestra. In 2002, at 16, he made his first recording with the orchestra on the album Song For Ekurhuleni. With the group, Mvubu toured Western Europe, the U.K., the USA, and Russia. During the South African Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival, Mvubu played in a big band that backed the O'Jays, the Temptations, and Clarence Carter on their South African tours. After graduating from the Academy, Mvubu became a freelance session and touring jazz musician and taught saxophone. He worked the road with Abdullah Ibrahim, Nduduzo Makhathini, Feya Faku, Herbie Tsoaeli, and Cuban pianist Omar Sosa to name a few. 2014 was prolific for Mvubu. He joined drummer / composer Tumi Mogorossi's sextet and appeared on his influentiual Project Elo. That year he also played on Sketches of Tomorrow and Mother Tongue, the first two albums by Makhathini, as well as Thandi Ntuli's The Offering. Mvubu was off and running. The following year, with Mogorosi, Ariel Zamonsky, and Ganesh Geymeier, he formed the Amandla Freedom Ensemble and released the celebrated album Bhekisizwe (trans: Look at Us). In 2016, Barbados-born, South London-based saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings visited South Africa to play on Makhathini's Icilongo (The African Peace Suite), he formed Shabaka & the Ancestors with all South African musicians, Mvubu, Makhathini and Mogorosi among them. They entered a Johannesburg recording studio, and in a single day emerged with the Brownswood album Wisdom Of Elders. The album was met with global acclaim and the band became a regular recording and touring concern. In addition to working live with Hutchings and Mogorosi, Mvubu appeared with pianist Kyle Shepherd's quintet (that also included guitarist Lionel Loueke) on the 2017 album SWR New Jazz Meeting 2016: Sound Portraits From Contemporary Africa. 2018 was also quite busy. In addition to touring with the Ancestors, Mvubu played live with Mogorosi, and appeared on three albums: pianist Mvuzo Dimba-Fophe's A Pre-Sent, drummer Ayanda Sikade's Movements, and Ntuli's Exited. The Ancestors also contributed a cover of "Good Morning, Good Morning," to A Day In The Life: Impressions Of Pepper, Brownswood's jazz tribute to the Beatles. In August 2019, Mvubu took his own sextet into the studio. Shabaka and the Ancestors issued We Are Sent Here By History for Impulse! in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the globe. Remarkably, despite having no means to support it on the road, the album sold better than its predecessor. Mvubu spent most of 2021 rehearsing and recording with Mogorosi. In July 2022, the latter's provocative second album Group Theory: Black Music appeared as a collaborative release from the South Africas's Mushroom Hour and London's New Soil. Mvubu proved a key component in the drummer's work. His alto playing served as sextet's primary foil for its nine voice choir and vocal soloists. That December, Mvubu released 1st Gospel, his debut leader album for Ropeadope. Recorded in 2019 before the pandemic, it showcased Mvubu's sophisticated writing and arranging skills in addition to his playing on flute and alto. He composed eight of its ten tunes (pianist Afrika Mkhize wrote the other two), and arranged them all for a sextet that also included tenor saxophonists Tobias Meinhart and Mpumi Dhlamini (who also plays a Hammond B-3 organ on one track), drummer Sphelelo Mazibuk and bassist Dalisu Ndlazi. Everybody sang and chanted.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo