Cape Town Jazz Festival

Cape Town becomes the music capital of the world when it celebrates its annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival for two days long.

The lineup for this year’s Festival, which marks the 11th anniversary of the event, certainly lives up to its name with the range of music represented for 2010 stretches far beyond the boundaries of traditional jazz music.

Organisers of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival have staged another coup. For the festival’s eleventh edition that takes place on Saturday 03 and Sunday 04 April, they have signed up two living music luminaries; the renowned guitarist/vocalist George Benson as well as United States saxophonist Charles Lloyd.

The two will share the Cape Town International Convention Centre stages with headline acts announced at the end of 2009: the McCoy Tyner Trio which has saxophonist Gary Bartz as a guest; violinist Regina Carter in her exploration of the music of the African Diaspora with her Reverse Thread project; the high register-hitting vocalist Rachelle Ferrell, the older statesman of jazz Toots Thielemans and our Jonathan Butler who brings with him US trumpeter Rick Braun and Scottish-born saxophonist Richard Elliot as guests.


Known for his splendid and spectacular live performances, Benson will on both nights of the two-day festival close the main Kippies stage. On Saturday, he will stage a George Benson: “An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole” concert. A 28-piece South African orchestra will accompany the master guitarist/vocalist in paying tribute to one of the most important musical personalities of the twentieth century, Nat King Cole. Dubbed the George Benson: “Greatest Hits” show, the performance the following day will be completely different.  The fans will have the opportunity to hear on that night all the hits that Benson has belted out over the years.

Like in previous years, the 40-bands who are part of this year’s bill of artists will share five different stages – Kippies as the main stage of the festival; Moses Molelekwa stage for less known but very talented musicians; Basil “Manenberg” Coetzee stage for those that specialise in fusion and other experimental music; Bassline for contemporary jazz-related contemporary style such as hip-hop and kwaito; and the Rosies stage reserved for more acoustic sounds. New additions to the Rosies stage are Makeson Browne & Akoustic Knot and Mervyn Africa (Kaap Finale).

Multi-instrumentalist Mark Fransman, used his alter ego Makeson Browne to bring together Cape Town-based musicians whose desire is explore the boundaries of acoustic music. Under the name Akoustic Knot, the musical group does interactive improvisations with painters/sculptors where all those on stage seek to push each other to greater artistic heights. Swedish alto-saxophonist Johan Hörlén will join Akoustic Knot on stage.
Kaap Finale is pianist Mervyn Africa’s reincarnation of a band he formed in the 1980s when he lived in Britain for more than twenty years.

For many people, the surprise artist of the festival will be young pianist, Jason Moran. Moran who is also a member of the Charles Lloyd New Quartet, leads his own outfit, Bandwagon.

Sensing the excitement around some of the names on this year’s list of performers, those who want to be part of the festival must book now. With the festival this year taking place during Easter weekend and with the Two Oceans marathon being staged in the same period not only will there be a scramble for tickets but there will so much pressure on accommodation and travel arrangements to Cape Town.

Tickets are available at Computicket and Shoprite-Checkers stores.

Cape Town International Jazz Festival Event dates:
Sat 3rd April 2010 & Sun 4th April 2010

For more information go to www.capetownjazzfest.com

Photo by decafinata

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