Carlo Mombelli
Carlo Mombelli (* 1960 in Pretoria ) is a South African Jazz - bass guitarist , composer , band leader and music teacher. In 2008 he was nominated for the SAMA ( South African Music Awards ).
Live and act
Mombelli first learned classical piano before switching to bass at the age of 16. He is self-taught on this instrument . Since he played with the South African musicians Johnny Fourie and Duke Makasi in the formation Abstractions in the 1980s , he has been a professional musician. In 1987 he left South Africa; from Germany he worked with the Velvet Blues Orchestra , Barbara Dennerlein , Mick Goodrick , Charlie Mariano , Peter O'Mara , Igor Flach , Erhard Dietl , Martin Kälberer , Sabina Sciubba and Wolfgang Haffner . From 1995 to 2000 he was a member of the Brazilian fusion band Raiz de Pedra , where he also worked with Egberto Gismonti ( Diario de Bordo , 1995). In the late 1990s he played in Thomas Zoller's Ensemble Zollsound as a quartet with Bill Elgart and Lee Konitz and then in the chamber ensemble of the same name ( Songs Closer to Silence , 2002). Mombelli recorded his first album Bats in the Belfry in 1996 with Adrian Mears , Roberto di Gioia and Wolfgang Haffner on Bayerischer Rundfunk . In 1999 he returned to his native South Africa, where he worked with Marcus Wyatt , Tlale Makhena, Sibongile Khumalo , Johnny Fourie and Miriam Makeba .
In 1993 he was already composing material for a tribute album for the late bassist Jaco Pastorius ( Basstorius ). In Germany he wrote commissioned compositions for WDR and Bayerischer Rundfunk as well as film and ballet music, for example for the cartoon Ummemo . In 2004 he wrote music for Zim Ngqawana and his 50-piece orchestra.
Mombelli increasingly works in the border area between jazz and improvised music and also makes use of electronic elements. In 2010 he was artist in residence in Basel and performed at the Moers Festival with his formation Prisoners of Strange , which has existed since 2001 . He describes his band with Marcus Wyatt (trumpet), Siya Makuzeni (vocals, trombone) and Justin Badenhorst (drums) as a spontaneous freestyle chamber jazz ensemble (about "spontaneous freestyle chamber jazz ensemble").
In 1998/99 Mombelli held courses at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich; In 2006 he was Artistic Director of the Standard Bank National Youth Band . From 2007 to 2009 he led weekly workshops in Soweto and Mamelodi and taught children on self-made instruments made from recycled material. He is currently teaching at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg .
Discographic notes
- Abstractions On the Other Side , (Shifty Records, 1987) with Duke Makasi, Johnny Fourie, Jo Runde, Neill Ettridge
- Charlie Mariano / Carlo Mombelli Happy / Sad (ITM, 1990) with Peter O'Mara , Bill Elgart
- Bats in the Belfry , (Baobab Art, 2000)
- When Serious Babies Dance (Instinct Africaine, 2003)
- Not So Strange (2006)
- I Stared Into My Head (2007)
- I Press My Spine to the Ground (Roastin 'Records, 2016) with Mabuso Khoza, Kyle Shepherd , Kesivan Naidoo
literature
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mombelli, Carlo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African jazz musician and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pretoria |