As the career of South African pianist/singer/composer Nduduzo Mahkathini has grown, so has his comfort with his artistry and his ambitions for its use. Thus we have The Myth We Choose, his fourth album for Blue Note and his twelfth overall. Like many African musicians, Mahkathini feels that music is more than just entertainment, or even art – it’s a spiritual calling, a responsibility as much as a gift. On this album, he reinforces that notion, treating his tunes with the gravity of considering they could become the tales told long after he’s gone.
To aid him in his quest, Mahkathini enlists not only bassist Dalisu Ndlazi and drummer Lukmil Perez, his regular rhythm section, but also an array of special guests: flautist Shabaka Hutchings, trumpeter Robin Fassie, guitarist Keenan Ahrends, vocalists Omagugu, Muneyi, and Thando Zide, and, most critically, his own son Thingo, who co-produced. Though he bases all the tracks around the piano trio jazz that’s his usual stock-in-trade, Mahkathini folds elements of other music into the mix, from soft soul to electronic touches (for which he credits Thingo) to the barest hints of the folk music of his home country. The beauty of the Zide-sung ballad “Tethered” sits comfortably alongside the traditionalist hard bop of “Imvunge KaNtu,” which vibes with the groovy atmo-funk of “What People Say (reprise)” and the Shabaka-frosted post bop of “Liyoze Line Nangakithi.” Variety aside, every cut is the product of the same prodigiously creative mind. No matter what excursion on which he embarks with The Myth We Choose, Mahkathini always infuses both journey and destination with the same spiritual soul.
