Max Baloyi live@BreezeBlock in Brixton, Johannesburg
It was an evening of charming and perhaps a little haunting sounds that the audience appreciated a lot.
By Jojokhala Mei
Pictures by: Jabulani Madonsela.
You can call it a new worthy trend when a Joburg-starved of rocking jazz joints, witnesses hidden gem solo jazz pianist Max Baloyi, responding to the spur, or kick-in-the-flank by renowned arts journalist-cum-all-round wordsmith Bongani Madondo. Bongani happily admits he discovered the pianist 3 years ago at the resilient Nikki’s Jazz speakeasy, and spontaneously taken aback by Baloyi’s laid back energy that is totally misleading in the world esoteric great jazz musicians like Miles Davis, or even our own Bra Hugh Masekela, and jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. In fact, for the first time, a solo jazz pianist has lived up to a Baxter Theatre evening listening to ntate Abdullah Ibrahim over thirty years ago.
They were hosted by blossoming bookseller, Khulani Nkuna [and partner] at one of his two bookstores inside the BREEZEBLOCK Lifestyle Centre on the cosy side of Brixton suburb in Johannesburg, right next to the iconic SABC’s sky-high Sentech signal tower.
How befitting was the calm and cool early evening after the last sweltering February days, was it for the crowd of about 20 die-hard jazz afficiandos to hear Bongani Madondo’s ode to the greatest and sadly gone-too-soon jazz pianists like Bheki Mseleku and Moses Taiwa Molelekwa in whose finger-steps Baloyi now treads. And man, Oh! man, was it a watershed hour or so of uninterrupted coaxing, bemoaning, sweltering, and rocky piano tunes that even evoked township jazz greats in the ears of some listeners. You can tell any minute how much Max Baloyi respects his audience, which will separate him from the wannabes in this country. Respect can’t be faked.
If you missed the free session it was at your cost, because this is a future national Standard Bank Young artist for Music; and more. The piano session was on Thursday, February 27, 2025. Baloyi opened and closed the session with a thump Mbira, which created a surreal atmosphere in the venue, so that that it felt like you would touch it.