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26 Aug 2006

Artscape Youth Jazz Festival 2006 - Mentoring For Success



Mentoring the youth is a sure way of nation building. What the mentees get out of this is confidence, encouragement, advice and for sure, hands on experience. The success of the Artscape Youth Jazz Festival 2006 is truly evident of this.


A big thank you for this years mentors: Melanie Scholtz, Camillo Lombard, Kevin Gibson and Alvin Dyers.


The successful bands that were selected for this years festival are The Turfjamp Youth Jazz Band, The Levites, The Settlers High School Jazz Combo and Eccentric Sound Productions.

15 Aug 2006

From Martinique in the Caribbean to Cape Town, South Africa to Tokyo, Japan - Swingers Jazz Jam


We are not just connected by the sea

Last night, initially looking at the few patrons, I thought that it was going to be a quiet night at the jazz jam at Swingers. This was not to be. Guitarist, Alvin Dyers' resident band (Kyle Shephard - keyboards, Denver Furness - drums, Nic Le Roux - saxophone, Alistair Andrews - bass) started of the night as usual with their unique interpretations of some jazz standards and some South African jazz tunes.


Amongst the patrons there were a few jammers including the respectable 'Dr Huxtable'(bassist Spencer Mbadu) and saxophonist Claude Ncgkukana. Later some strangers entered the place. They looked like they just landed at Cape Town International.


"After the stage was suitably warmed up", the jam got very interesting. Besides the usual jammers(Julius May, Clayton September, John Russel, Tino Europa, Jonathan Rubain, Darren English), the jam was joined by jazz vocalist, Heinrich Frans, Daniel Gerard(guitarist from Martinique in the Caribbean) and strangely a harmonica/keyboard player, Tatsuya Nishiwaki from Tokyo, Japan. Some of the tunes they covered included Toots Thielemans' Bluesette, and John Coltrane's Impressions.


Did you ever expect a Caribbean, Japanese, South African jazz collaboration at Swingers. Then again, you never know who is going to turn up. The secret is, attend the jam as often as you can, whenever you can.


"Jazz and freedom go hand in hand. That explains it. There isn't any more to add to it. If I do add to it, it gets complicated. That's something for you to think about. You think about it and dig it. You dig it..." Thelonious Monk
"Jazz and freedom go hand in hand. That explains it. There isn't any more to add to it. If I do add to it, it gets complicated. That's something for you to think about. You think about it and dig it. You dig it..." Thelonious Monk

Hamba Kahle Winston Mankunku Ngozi - Tributes

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