In September 2019, Cape Town pianist Hilton Schilder travelled to New York for a pair of appearances at Dizzy's Club during a long weekend of programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center focused on composers from South Africa. In New York (2020) documents Schilder's mystical Friday the 13th performance with Dizzy's prominent Manhattan windows looking out onto a full moon.
Schilder's New York trio is comprised of South African expat Jimmy Mngwandi on double bass alongside acclaimed Bronx drummer Will Calhoun (of Living Colour renown). Appearing on vocals for part of the set is Siya Makuzeni, notably reprising a decade-old collaboration with Schilder entitled "Paint Your World."
The set opens with Schilder's signature mouth bow energy smudge under the title "Alien of Extraordinary Ability" (an amusing phrase from his visa application) and includes a solo piano arrangement of Russell Herman's avante-garde, Estudio-era composition "Aryeah and the Dwarf" from the late-1970s. Also notable is the group's energised vocal rendition of "The Art of Flying" and other fluid live manifestations of material from Schilder's Rukma Vimana release of 2016.
Piano • Bow - Hilton Schilder
Bass - Jimmy Mngwandi
Drums - Will Calhoun
Vocals - Siya Makuzeni
Bass - Jimmy Mngwandi
Drums - Will Calhoun
Vocals - Siya Makuzeni
Music Composed by H. Schilder
Except "Aryeah and the Dwarf" by R. Herman (Arr. H. Schilder)
Recorded Live at Dizzy's Club on 13 September 2019
Jazz at Lincoln Center • New York, NY
Concert Programming & Direction by Seton Hawkins, Georgina Javor
& Jason Olaine
Audio Recording by Juan Carlos Andrews
Mastered by Richard Vossgatter
Produced by Calum MacNaughton
Released November 2020 • CD
