Vocalist Vuyo Sotashe grew up in a musical family in a small, pastoral town in South Africa called Butterworth, listening to a spectrum of Black American music, and, as a college student in Capetown, admiring the bright lights of jazz from afar. After college, a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to William Paterson University brought him to the U.S. where he became part of the scene he'd loved from afar—and met his most trusted creative collaborator, pianist Chris Pattishall.
Now, that decade-long relationship has resulted in Invocation, the duo's first release, a four-track EP with soaring range—Duke Ellington, to Randy Newman, to a South African tune called "Sylvia"—and a vulnerability that will likely stir up the emotions of any listener.
In this episode of The Art of the Story, he talks with WBGO's Kyla Marshell about his journey to becoming a jazz vocalist, what he wants listeners to take away from his music, and the "cosmic agreements" that happen between him, Pattishall, and their audience.
