Tlale makhene biography of martin
Tlale Makhene
Tlale Makhene is one of South Africa’s most remarkable drumming talents. Highly regarded by musicians and musical fans alike, he has been featured in and produced more than 300 jazz and world music albums and is a much sought after indigenous music teacher, musical director, session musician and performer.
Many refer to Tlale as “The Groove Master” because of his amazing skill and concepts around polyrhythmic/melodic music. His workshops encompass rhythm and body percussion for beginners, intermediate and master classes.
Through the many workshops that Tlale held and attended, he came across a group of three Danish drummers known as Drums Across. They had been recruiting drummers in the country and naturally, Tlale came highly recommended for the group.
Starting in Guinea, the group travelled around Africa looking for talent to work with. He was invited to perform, acquire more skill in contemporary musicology with them in Denmark for three months. This afforded him an opportunity to collaborate with John Sund, Yasser Pino, Rune Thorsteinsson (pianist), Carsten D among many others. His work ethic permeates without him having to blow his own horn. Tlale went on and performed with the Copehagen Rhythmic Conservatory Big Band and taught rhythmic workshops in Copenhagen as part of a cultural exchange program. Subsequently Tlale then recorded 6 tracks for his album in Denmark before completing the project in South Africa. The rest of the tracks were recorded at SABC studios in Johannesburg. Produced by Africa Mkhize (husband to Zenzeke Makeba – Miriam Makeba’s grand daughter), the album is a far cry from simply a drumming album – it is a celebration of musical styles. A fusion of raw talent and honed skills, blending with the traditional elements that make these songs some of the best loved around.
Gentle, focused and extremely wise for his years, he renders his listeners, students and colleagues calm with his confident, soft-spoken voice.
His s
Bassist - Composer - Educator
Beginnings
Self-taught bassist/composer Carlo Mombelli was born in Pretoria, South Africa. After studying classical piano for six years he started playing bass at the age of sixteen and seven years later one of South Africa’s most important jazz guitarists, the late Johnny Fourie asked him to join his band together with Duke Makazi on Saxophone and Kevin Gibson on drums. The group had a contract at a club in Johannesburg to perform jazz six nights a week for six months. This was Carlo’s school of music. In 1985 Carlo started the group ‘Abstractions’ developing and performing his original compositions at weekly gigs in the downtown Johannesburg clubs like Jameson’s and Kippies, as well as a Friday midnight slot at the Black Sun in Berea, where he did a weekly 45 minute solo bass set. His band Abstractions recorded for Shifty records.
International
Carlo has since recorded and performed at many festivals around the world from Brazil to Europe including the Rome International Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, the Stockholm Jazz Festival, the Moers Festival, the ‘Leipziger Jazztage’ and ‘Jazz an der Donau’ festivals in Germany. The Paris Banlieues Bleues festival, and the open air ‘Rio Loco’ festival in Toulouse France, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, and the open air ‘Festival Mundial’ in Holland - with amongst others, Egberto Gismonti, Lee Konitz, Mick Goodrick, Charlie Mariano, Peter O’Mara, Frode Nymo, Häkon Mjäset Johansen, Sabina Scuibba (the Brazilian girls), Wolfgang Haffner, Jeroen Van Vliet, Adrian Mears, Bill Elgart, ‘Raiz de Pedra’, Barbara Dennerlein, Samuel Blaser, Simone Soul, Dejan Terzic, Tutty Moreno, Francois Jeanneau, Carine Bonnefoy and the ‘Ethel String Quartet’.
Carlo also contributed music and played on the 1989 tribute for Jaco Pastorius, ‘Basstorius’, that also features the bassists Mathew Garrison, Carles Benavent and Dave LaRue.
Besides
Jazz From South Africa
See and hear jazz from top talent in South Africa.
I look forward to sharing my music with the audience online with my trio comprised of my friends, Paul Hanmer on piano and Lex Futshane on upright bass. I wanna thank Aymeric and Urban Sessions for this opportunity that’s giving me a platform to present my new works created during this CORVID 19 lockdown. We’ll also perform songs from my last two albums.
So please join us on Saturday 23 May at 8pm to witness this new, interesting way of presenting music.
Please keep safe and healthy.
Peace.
McCoy Mrubata
Hope everyone is good, safe and healthy. This dark cloud will pass all will be good. For now I’m just bringing good vibes into your space. Stay Home, Sit Back, Relax and ENJOY!!!#DaDeepIsGonnaGetcha
On Sunday the 24th May, bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta will perform an exclusive live-stream concert with Urban sessions premiering his ‘Electric Trio’ featuring Bokani Dyer on synth/keys and Sphelelo Mazibuko on drums. This trio will fuse elements of jazz, electronic music and hip-hop to move beyond genre. They will be exploring grooves and sounds from Jephta’s sophomore release: ‘An Evolution of an Undefined’ as well as some new music.
Bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta (26) has made a name for himself as one of
South Africa’s premier double and electric bass players. A graduate of the jazz program
at the University of Cape Town in 2013 he has performed both nationally and
internationally since the age of 14 and he has worked with notable South African jazz
musicians including Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo and many others. With two
albums as a bandleader, multiple award nominations and wins, Jephta, the Mail &
Guardian 200 Young South Africans list recipient also received the prestigious Standard
Bank Young Artist for Jazz award in 2017.
Benjamin regularly sessions with various South African hip-hop and pop artists, as well
as on TV programs inclu
Tlale Makhene
Born in Soweto, South Africa, Tlale Makhene is one of South Africa’s sought after drum beater who moved to Swaziland at a young age and began drumming at the age of four. Highly regarded by musicians and musical fans, he is also a teacher, session musician and performer. His ‘The Ascension Of The Enlightened’ album is a true spiritual offering from a truly enlightened man. His passion for music began when he was young, he was influenced by his sangoma grandmother who often danced and ‘roll the bones’ to drumbeats.
He began playing drums in church as well as leading the drum majorettes in his school. After leaving school, he returned to his birthplace Soweto in 1992 and began studying drumming full time at the FUNDA Center. He was expelled after a year for having too many ‘outside activities’ Six months later, they approached to come back to the center.
Being part of a number of workshops saw him come across a group three Danish drummers known as Drums Across. They had been recruiting drummers in the country and it was a matter of time before they discovered Tlale and his talent. Starting in West Africa, the group traveled around looking for talent to work with. He was invited to return with them to Denmark for three months and work on musical projects. He joined them and went to record in Denmark. This afforded him an opportunity to collaborate with John Sund, Yasser Pino, Rune Thorsteinsson (pianist), Carsten D among many others. While in that country, he performed with the Copehagen Rhythmic Conservatory Big Band and taught rhythmic workshops in Copenhagen as part of a cultural exchange program. He recorded six tracks for his album in Denmark before completing the project in South Africa. He came back home and recorded some of the tracks at SABC studios in Johannesburg. The album was produced by Africa Mkhize.
In 2005, he won the MTN SAMA Award in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album, contending with established artists such as Hugh Masekela, Paul