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The Fridge is an up and coming neo-jazz ensemble from Johannesburg, South Africa, made up of Nigerian-born drummer Adebayo Omotade, bass guitarist Mothusi Thusi (son of a trombone player and a jazz singer) and vocalist Samthing Soweto (real name, Samkelo Ndolomba). The drummer and the guitarist had been jamming together for a minute before they hooked up with falsetto singer Samthing Soweto two years ago. Ade said he nervously walked up to the songwriter after watching him perform at a venue in Jo’burg and invited him to come along for a jam session. The rest, as they say, is history.
Bass, Drums and Sam is the trio’s debut EP. The 25-minute-long compilation, according to Ade, was recorded in a friend’s room “on his laptop using two dynamic mics.” Because of the size of the makeshift studio, each of the band members recorded their parts separately; beginning with Thusi on Bass and ending Sam on vocals. The result is an enjoyable five-track appetite-whetter; an interesting fusion of jazz with more urban music forms. “This amalgamation of these two sounds,” Ade says, “Is better known as urbanscape. It is exactly that, a subtle blend of jazz and more urban contemporary music.” Thematically, the compositions on this EP are rooted in the hustle and bustle of city-life in Johannesburg and it makes for delightful commentary.
Ade says that their musical “influences are cemented in the current neo-jazz movement. Jazzanova and Bonobo are good examples.” The trio is currently hard at work on their debut LP.
