Linda Sikhakhane - An Open Dialogue (Live in New York) (2020)

Saxophonist and composer Linda Sikhakhane returns with the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2017 debut album, Two Sides, One Mirror. Recorded as part of his Senior Recital at The New School in New York, USA, An Open Dialogue is a staggering work that impresses with its sonic exploration of the yonder.
"My new album is about existing dialogues and its potentiality of being re-imagined in realtime. It draws from the idea of a mono-sectional world that is a portal for understanding and meaning," says the Umlazi-born leader of the new wave of musical impresarios, adding, "music is one of many codes that help us tap into these open dialogues."
This time, he arrives better attuned to his strengths as a cultural worker functioning within the broader landscape of improvisational music, and interrogating what it means to create work on either side of the Black Atlantic.
In addition to setting the scene for what to expect throughout the seven track offering, album opener "Codes of Light" exhibits how gentleness and virtuosity can exist side by side: the need to impress, versus the need to be still and introspect. The band builds a wall of sound that repeatedly collapses unto itself. Each cycle represents a new level of enlightenment. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
The conversation shifts, combusts, and drifts until the mid-point, where percussionist Mabeleng Moholo intercedes with an ancient Basotho prayer, pleading with old and new gods to make sure that our cries -- our collective pain as oppressed people across the world -- are indeed heard and acknowledged, and that our new thoughts and new dreams get fulfilled.
Sikhakhane's come up has been nothing short of impressive. A student of the late, great Dr. Brian Thusi, he's gone on to play alongside South African greats past and present, and has been a regular feature in Nduduzo Makhathini's band since debuting on his album Mother Tongue (2014).
He was awarded the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship in 2016. This opportunity opened the door that has since seen him going to study under the mentorship of innovators like Billy Harper, David Schnitter, Charles Tolliver, and Reggie Workman at The New School.
Besides pursuing academic work, Sikhakhane shared stages with respected jazz musicians in the same city that greats such as his greatest influence, John Coltrane, plied their trade. The learnings from those interactions have gone on to shape the intuitive, seasoned musician he is becoming.