The visionary Cape Town-based drummer and multi-instrumentalist, Asher Gamedze, skillfully connects patient free-jazz with the deep South African protest music tradition, creating a sound that directly points towards the future. Gamedze, who is also a prominent name on the vibrant Chicago jazz scene, is visiting ALICE with his quartet and his latest critically acclaimed album ‘Turbulence And Pulse.’

Asher Gamedze is a South African drummer, composer, researcher, and orchestra leader based in Cape Town. As a self-taught musician, Gamedze has earned recognition over the years for his work on the drums with artists such as Angel Bat Dawid, Nduduzo Makhatini, and as a session musician for many other South African artists before releasing his critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Dialectic Soul,’ in 2020. The album was hailed as one of the best jazz albums of the year by, among others, The New York Times, which described it as “An album that seems to have almost everything you could ask for.”

And not without reason! Asher Gamedze’s unique blend of various musical traditions from Southern Africa, free improvisation, and jazz creates a cohesive and simultaneously sensitive and powerful sonic landscape, which he employs as a platform for conveying radical social and political ideas through song and spoken word. Gamedze is a versatile drummer with a distinct open and visionary sound and sensibility that unites the music and points the way directly toward the future.

Asher Gamedze’s latest album, ‘Turbulence and Pulse,’ released in 2023 through a special collaboration between the Chicago record label International Anthem and Mushroom Hour Half Hour, addresses some of the same political and historical questions as ‘Dialectic Soul’ and gives them renewed significance. As a musician in various configurations and as a band leader, Gamedze has toured in Africa, Europe, and the USA, but has particularly thrived in the vibrant Chicago jazz scene.

Lineup:
Asher Gamedze (drums)
Robin Fassie (trumpet)
Buddy Wells (tenor saxophone)
Vimbs Mavimbs (bass)

ALICE at Stairway
While the concert hall at Nørre Allé 7 is undergoing renovation, ALICE is located at the music venue Stairway in Vanløse.