The International Anthem label consistently offers up music that challenges me as a listener. Sometimes that music soothes me too, like in the beautiful grooves on this new record from Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño. Rainbow Revisited is a showcase for the South African pianist and vocalist, but it's also another effort on this imprint which expands the form of modern jazz with deft ease.
While I had some familiarity with earlier work from Carlos Niño, Thandi Ntuli's voice and skills were new to me going into this record. I'm now a fan. Rainbow Revisited finds the singer using a kind of emotive delivery to anchor her forceful and precise piano-work. The title track, for example, has touches of both Abbey Lincoln and Seventies Monk about it, the voice there to add flavor to the force of the keyboard work. The effect is a unique one, where it feels as if the piece is coming together in this moment, as we're listening to it. Niño adds subtle effects to these selections, but the focus is, rightfully, on Ntuli's voice and piano, with her phrasing on each instrument utterly distinctive.
There's a momentum that develops on the tracks here, and a vibe that's fairly emotional for a jazz record. On "Nomayoyo (Ingoma ka Mkhulu)", one can hear the same thing that anchored old Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell records, which is not to say that Thandi is making pop here, but that she's tapped into the same kind of soulful power. In that sense, Rainbow Revisited is very much an album with tremendous throwback appeal. Ntuli's vocal style doesn't really lend itself to easy comparison to any contemporaries, which is why this reviewer is reaching back. And all that said, her piano technique, notably on both parts of "The One", to use an example, retains a supple playfulness and heft that very much feels like soul jazz from the Seventies. Still, what makes this music of now, and that which makes it a perfect fit for its home label, is the way Rainbow Revisited is a ruminative, risk-taking record. It's one which pursues its own mood, even as traditional jazz genre expectations are ignored.
Rainbow Revisited by Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño is out on Friday via International Anthem.
[Photo: Andile Buka]