Neil Young still dreams of playing Carnegie Hall, but a local jazz musician blows such a mean sax he’ll grace the hallowed hall at the age of just 24, writes Sarah Evans.
Wave-maker, Justin Bellairs, has made a huge impression in a very short time.
If you’ve ever seen drummer Kesivan Naidoo solo, you’ll know the look he gave when he delivered the news: “We’re playing Carnegie Hall, man!”
It’s the look he gets the second before the climax of a piece of music; his eyes roll back, and a demonic smile creeps between his cheeks. His body is clearly behind the kit, his right arm gleefully teasing a Zildjian Ride cymbal – but it is easily apparent that, ladies and gentlemen, Kesivan Naidoo has left the building.
It’s a look of sheer, unadulterated joy.
It’s in the wake of one of these solos that Naidoo turns to me, slightly manic, like he can’t get the words out fast enough. “Carnegie Hall.” Playing at this New York City venue is the apex of every musician’s career.
All the greats have played there: Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Count Basie, Fats Waller, Miriam Makeba, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Neil Young once told Rolling Stone magazine he’d been “dying to get into this place all my life”.
Naidoo rattles off the names of the players he is taking along in October to play with his band, Kesivan and the Lights. The Lights are a quintet of young, Cape Town-based players, the new guard of South African improvised music: Shane Cooper on double bass, Reza Khota on guitar, Kyle Shepherd on piano and a relatively unknown young alto saxophone player named Justin Bellairs.
Naidoo invited Bellairs to play with the band in 2012, when the fresh-faced sax player was still an undergraduate student at the University of Cape Town. Clearly, Naidoo is a fan.
“You’ve got to hear this cat play, man. He’s so young but he’s so badass! He’s so, so badass!” Naidoo tells me excitedly.
Visions of a pretentious brat come to mind: a prodigy rising to the top too quickly; hung over, late for some rehearsal, popping a half a cap of acid while stroking a mid-afternoon shadow and lighting a joint. The stereotypical kid’s face surely nurses a nonplussed expression, which precedes the words: “Oh, shit. Stained my favourite Ramones shirt with Jägermeister last night.”
But the expected caricature is the antithesis of this musician. Bellairs is blue-eyed, crisp, clean-cut, short-haired and baby-faced. He’s unassuming and completely unselfconscious, yet thoughtful and open.
“I hope I’m doing OK. This is my first interview,” he says shyly.
Read the full interview in the Mail & Guardian.
