I first had the stunning pleasure of being serenaded by Asher Gamedze‘s drums and ensemble some months ago at the legendary Pan African library (and sometimes live music venue) Chimurenga. The status of the venue and its curation is such that when I saw the show advertised I doubted it not and bought a ticket merely on merit of its location alone, and that it was a show possessing my beloved form, Jazz. After a hefty cloud of marijuana smoke was blown around I took a seat right in the front only to realise it was a 9 piece band containing four horns, four Conga drums and Nobuhle Ashanti on the piano. Excited anticipation doesn’t quite cut it as a description for my mood at the time. What was to befall me next was a performance taking me to every corner of the human experience. From visceral to calm. From transcendent to Earthly. By the end, I was lying on my back flying through jazz realms untraveled riding on his unique brand of Free Jazz meets African rhythm. I’ve been singing his praises ever since.

Asher’s Music to me evokes an imaginary sound of if Elvin Jones were a fan of J Dilla and decided to combine the two worlds. The seamless blend of organised chaos against the rhythmic layers set up by him and percussionist Ru Slayen walk a balance seemingly at odds with itself, and yet herein lies the true magic of his music. Asher also picks his allies with immaculate taste. His most recent project and catalyst to this article: A Semblance, featured some heavy hitters from the Jazz scene such as Zwide Ndwandwe the band leader and Bass player of Kujenga, Nobuhle Ashanti on Keys, Keegan Steenkamp on Trumpet and Ru Slayen on percussion. All band leaders and visionary artists in their own right. The explosive and explorative expressionism of each stylist seamlessly syncopates over Asher’s unique cadence of shock, awe and serenity and leaves one bewildered by a literal jazz attack. After what he did to me the first time, I had to see what this new band was all about.

To watch him drum at times gives one the feeling of being just about to be ripped in two by a dangerous predator. Equal parts terror, wonder and sleek majesty. As a bass player myself I also can’t help but admit that on that wondrous night of hair-raising music Zwide shredded his way through one of the nastiest Bass licks you are likely to ever have the pleasure of being slapped by, and not only that but I couldn’t help but feel that his playing was the bedrock of the band from which the rocket ships of the other musicians could launch at will. Nobuhle held no punches with her synth, she held down the rhythms and melodies with a sweet and sultry piano but towards the end cranked her synth up ripping the pitch bend to the pleasure and elation of the whole room. Keegan elegantly weaved through the chaotic mix with a serpentine swing and at one point produced a sound from his horn in a way I have never witnessed before by blowing through the bottom of the slides, I’ll never know how. Ru Slayen was the polyrhythmic partner with whom Asher danced his way through the grooves and rhythms of the show. As someone who plays percussion, let me tell you your hands begin to go numb with pain after only 20 or so minutes, nevermind the 2-hour show he effortlessly shredded his way through. 

As for Asher himself his drums crushed the eardrums with a sequence of truly inspired rhythms and manic fills through an electric, eclectic and unparalleled performance that held the audience enraptured totally. Never before has my spirit touched a place through music so close to liberation and gravity both. The sounds touch lightly a genre here and there, yet always remain inherently Gamedze. An insinuation of the Coltranes here, a mention of the Mingus madness there, a wave of Stan Getz’s mellow mood washes past and yet at no moment is it any of these. It’s uncharted territory. It’s magnificent. It’s the most interesting, invigorating and new music being made in the world at the moment. Truly. I was inspired. Deeply. During the performance I splashed most of this intro down in stream-of-consciousness fashion, so after the show, I shook hands with the drum lord himself and inquired if we might share in a conversation how and why he does it.

Tyla: What purpose do you feel music plays in the human experience? 

Asher: Depending on the conditions in which people find themselves I feel music can play different roles. For certain people at a particular historical moment music was a means of expression, and at other moments it was a weapon in the struggle against colonialism. I don’t think there is a single way in which it figures in the human experience, it’s contextually situated.

T: In your experience from where does the creative force emerge?  

A: Involvement in life I think. Trying to be in touch with what is going on in some way. Trying to make sense of this place that we live in and to find a way to be in it. For me, music is a part of that synthesis and makes some kind of contribution that feels less compromising than other ways of being in the world. One of my favourite theoreticians, Amilcar Cabral said that the liberation struggle is the highest expression of creativity and I think very much in those terms. The creative force is trying to understand how to respond to the contradictions in which we are embedded and the world that we want to be a part of but we aren’t. 

T: What is Jazz music and would you describe your own music as Jazz? 

A: Jazz is contested firstly, as a term. So there’s multiple articulations and understandings of it. A genealogy of Jazz that I’m particularly interested in is a history of dissidence, because when you look at what is broadly conceptualised as Jazz, the way that it has evolved has been through people who want to do something completely different. At the time all of those people in different ways were critiqued and rejected by the Jazz establishment. However many years later Bird and Dizzy are now considered the fathers of Jazz and BeBop. At the time people were thinking what the fuck is this shit? Same with Monk, Ornette Coleman and many others. So if one conceptualised Jazz in that tradition of dissidence I’m interested in being associated with that, but broadly I’m less and less invested with describing what my music is on the level of genre. I think of it as black creative music. 

T: Your bands tend to consist of band leaders who you imbue with full trust and licence to explore, why so? 

A: I guess the most important thing to me in musicians is a combination between them as musicians and them as people. I can’t play with someone that I don’t like or that I can’t trust on certain levels. That’s important because a lot of my music is obscure to cats who might have a certain traditional approach to music theory, so I need a certain trust in the vision. Everyone who I play with has a humility and openness to the music. In the context of A Semblance everyone is the band leader in that certain parts might require someone to activate something in the music that is not written. 

T: What effect do you hope for your music to have? 

A: For me I always have to think of that question firstly at the level of myself. Which on some level might sound very self involved, but if my desire for this music is for it to be anything for someone else, it has to start with my relationship with it. For me it’s a space of joy, a space of celebration, it’s a space of grieving, a space for all of these processes and emotions of life. It’s a gift and a privilege to do this music. As a band I hope it’s a space for us to grow as individuals and as players together, that it becomes a space of developing loving relationships. I think anything useful that a band is going to bring to a scene or to a gig is always going to emerge from that energy. 

It was an honour to sit with Asher and pick his brain on the creative act. I see a long and fruitful career ahead of him, and it’s not hard to see, Asher is in demand lately touring Europe regularly and bouncing around our own country with his quartet as well as having just released his album with his project The Black Lungs. A Semblance is a return to the source for him as he said to me in the course of our conversation, an opportunity to put his roots back down and get back into the scene he came up in. I feel blessed to have experienced this tangible moment of pure expression. Never to see an exact sequel as a result of its daring and spontaneity. A momentous occasion of free expression and brotherhood in sound. I am in true awe. Thank you Asher for your fearlessness and artistry. May your musical explorations be blessed and roofless.