JONATHAN BUTLER
Living My Dream
****
It never gets old.
Unless Jonathan Butler decides to do a hip hop album featuring the likes of AKA and Da L.e.s as his hype men, only then could we find something to fault him on as he would be out of his comfort zone. Then again, the guitar maestro could just play like Carlos Santana on the rap songs and still sound cool.
All this is to say there is no point in trying to over-think Living My Dream as it is a Butler standard. It really has the makings of a classic with beautiful guitar licks over gentle drums. It’s the stuff that would make the likes of Jimmy Dludlu and Selaelo Selota pause and listen.
We kick off with A Prayer which is a powerful instrumental that will have you daydreaming of a spiritual place you have never been to. Be Still is another one to look out for on which the man just goes in intensely on the lead guitar until it sounds like a human voice. You can tell he is having fun. The titles of the songs suggest a deeper, almost religious inspiration which explains why he’s “living his dream”. This one is for jazz and Butler fans. – Munya Vomo