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Tribal Echo is a vibrant South African Band, that have developed their own Afrikaans musical style, called, Eclectic Roots and KlipKlopRock. The band, who write their own lyrics and music, consists of session musos: Lead vocalist and guitarist- Frazer Barry, Female Drummer, and vocalist – Deniel Barry & Bassist- Earl Witbooi.
Inspired by travels to Africa, Japan, Brazil, Europe, and the US. Slow to fast, samba to swing, second line to jazz rock, kwela to ghoema, mbaqanga to mzabalazo, and more! The Mike Rossi Project features a kicking horn section alongside an energetic rhythm section. Good vibes throughout!
Cape Town based composer, arranger, and virtuoso guitarist; Derek Gripper is known for his ground-breaking technique evoking the West African kora on solo guitar. His work creates an unprecedented meeting point between written and oral traditions, re-writing the language of African and Classical Guitar.
A must see for anyone who gravitates towards Sting or Norah Jones and who would like a calmer moment at the Journey to Jazz festival, Karien De Waal is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator from Cape Town. After having completed her studies in contemporary writing at Berklee College of Music in the USA, Karien returned to Cape Town and found her calling by helping young South Africans get opportunities in music too.
(The Netherlands – 1956) jazz double bassist, was born into a musical family and played violin from the age of eight years old. As a teenager, he played guitar in local rock bands, but also had an interest in jazz, being the son of an excellent amateur jazz saxophonist.
John Hassan, veteran percussionist, has been crafting his skills for over 20 years. He is a highly acclaimed musician who has shared the stage with other music legends and top recording bands. He has recorded more than 100 albums and has his own albums as a session musician on top of the numerous albums he has done with his own bands over the years, such as ‘Asante Sana’ and ‘Look now, see now’.
Amanda Tiffin is Associate Professor, Head of Jazz Studies, and runs the Jazz Singing section at the University of Cape Town. She holds a Masters Degree in Jazz Composition and Vocal Performance, which was awarded with distinction. Amanda has become one of Cape Town’s best-loved vocalists-pianists, and a respected musical director/arranger, orchestrator, and composer. She is also part of The Lady Day Big Band, South Africa’s first all-female big band, consisting entirely of professional female musicians. She serves as conductor and musical director for this project.
The University of Cape Town Music School has for decades, produced some of the finest young jazz musicians in the country. Presented here is a selection of UCT’s top jazz vocal and Big Band music co-ordinated by Amanda Tiffin, the highly experienced Head of Jazz at UCT.
Madeleine Barnard is a writer, journalist, and amateur singer-songwriter. She has published a book (Cape Town Stories 2008, Struik) and three albums of original songs. She found her “sweet spot” as a community musician and mentor to young musos in Prince Albert, where she has performed several times with various musicians, including her friends from the A cappella group, Unity Male Voices. They did a very successful retro jazz show – Summertime – in 2015 in The Showroom, where they performed a variety of vintage jazz songs, mostly from the 1930’s to 1960’s. They are rehearsing to reprise and expand on this as “Autumn Leaves” for the Journey to Jazz festival in May 2023.
The Karoo Jazz project features artist from Both Prince Albert and Leeu-Gamka (LG) such as – Naaim Briesies, Waldon Paul Ewerts, Ryno Klink (LG), Claudia Hendriks, Derek Hendriks, Mpumelelo Kamkam, Divaan Links (LG), Elnigra Douglas, Wilbur Klaaste, Loranda Lottering and Islanay Van Rooyen in collaboration with Tribal Echo and Jazz maestro Ramon Alexander.
The music for the project was composed by the artist themselves and Jazzified by Tribal Echo and Ramon Alexander in a series of workshops leading towards the Journey to Jazz Festival May 2023, where it will make its debut. The project is the first of its kind to be launched in the Central Karoo and is there for a show not to be missed!
If you are looking forward to having a great night of music together with your family, then this is the show for you, Tickets are available on quicket
One of South Africa’s leading pianists, film, and theatre music composers of his generation, Kyle Shepherd is internationally recognized for his distinctive compositional style and performances. Shepherd has released seven jazz albums and a number of film, TV and theatre scores including: Blood and Water Season 2 (Netflix) , Savage Beauty Season 1 (Netflix), Surviving Paradise (as additional music composer (Netflix)), William Kentridge’s Waiting for the Sibyl, Indemnity, Barakat (South Africa’s Official entry into the Academy Awards 2022) ,The life and Times of Michael K (Handspring puppet company theatre production based on the Nobel prize winning Novel by J.M Coetzee), Fiela se Kind (Silwerskerm award for best score), Vlugtig and Noem My Skollie (Call Me Thief), South Africa’s official entry to the 2017 Academy Awards.
Currently resident in New York, USA, South African born Melanie Scholtz is a multi-award-winning singer and composer, dancer, visual and spoken word artist, as well as teacher who has made a mark for herself locally and abroad.
Based In Belgium and a friend of the Prince Albert musical community: Celle Adriansen has been studying keyboard since the age of 6 and has studied classical organ and piano. Celle and his son Adrian are jazz lovers and instrumentalists who will be performing at JTJ on guitar and keyboard. Father and son, will be leading the jazz jam sessions at the festival too.
Cape based, pianist and composer, this jazz artist is one of the few scholars of the South African Ghoema subgenre who has performed at the Cape Town Jazz festival.
Chester Meyer, started with piano lessons at the age of ten in the Karoo town of Colesberg. He completed his Unisa Gr 8 piano exam under Ada Malherbe in 1999.He started playing organ in church at the age of 15 and has been a full time church organist for the past 26 years. He completed his BMus degree in piano and organ in 2002 at the University of the Free State. In 2008 he achieved his B Mus Honours degree in choral direction and in 2015 finnished a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology with a focus on the religious music of the Griqua people, both at the UFS.