Ballad For Africa

Tell you what — Angelo Angelos (piano, vocals), Mervin Naidoo (bass), Stephen Berliner (guitar, flute) and Phillip Meintjies (drums) are men on a mission. This is their second album and takes their sound a few rungs higher up. Their sheer dedication and hard work have also started to pay off, as they start making bigger inroads in the highly competitive local jazz scene. You only have to see them live once to know they’ve got one thing in their favour: enthusiasm. They love playing, and if your heart is in it, you’ll eventually make music like this.

After 'Bounce' effortlessly tips the beer down your throat, 'Cigars' meets you at half-pace already. 'Cigars' is the sound of a fairground, kids running with ice cream and grown men thinking of taking a spin on the merry-go-round. Berliner does some cool dabs with his guitar on 'Wistful', then 'Paradise Lost' goes down on the tempo, full of the lazy sound of water — it could be the intro theme music of some movie. Chris Luke’s punchy sax work livens up 'Keller Bar Sessions', while Berliner shows his supreme skill on the flute on 'Cherokee 2', a gentle tune which sounds like it could sell a whole lot of Twinsaver tissues.

Angelos adds some vocals to 'Destiny', giving it every chance to become a crossover R&B hit on pop radio. Sure, it’s not very hardcore, but 'Absolute Zero' makes beautiful music and are not neccesarily out to bend the rules of their genre. 'Mr Luke' is more Chris Luke than the rest, the warm tones of the sax adding some extra purple to the night before the band joins the frenzy. It’s a fast, mad tune. The violin & cello on 'Space' (courtesy of Heidi Bouwer and Susan Webster respectively) makes it one of my favourites, a big, easy glide of sound through the rich production. By the time Berliner’s Brian May-style guitar squeaks in the door, things become quite grand. 'Song For Peter' continues in this forceful nature, before 'Ballad For Africa' smoothly closes what is a confident second album from Absolute Zero.