THANDI NTULI WITH CARLOS NIÑO
Rainbow Revisited
Expressive and experimental South African jazz piano.
By Ana Gavrilovska
Thandi Ntuli: musing and meditating
INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM
8/10
RAINBOW Revisited is the fourth studio album from South African pianist Thandi Ntuli, recorded with the prolific Cali-based percussionist and producer Carlos Niño, best known for collage-like ambient jazz explorations recorded under the name Carlos Niño &Friends (he also produced André 3000’s debut solo album New Blue Sun, also reviewed in this issue and released on the same day as Rainbow…).
The seed for this album was planted back in 2017 when Niño caught avideo of Ntuli playing apiano motif of hers called “The One”. He really liked the song and expressed interest in recording it, but it wasn’t possible until 2019 when Ntuli travelled to the United States for the first time, thanks to the LA-based creative collective The Nonsemble, who had organised aspecial performance of international jazz. The musicians took advantage of the opportunity to finally meet in person and play together, heading into the studio to record while Niño directed the process.