Heavyweights for joy of Jazz

The 2012 Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival will this year be a fusion of the youthful sounds alongside legendary musicians. This will be the 15th festival to be held in the capital of arts, Newton in Johannesburg, the New Orleans of South Africa. Joy of jazz pulls together an audience of 20 000 and takes them around seven stages. The event began with thrilling performances five months ago in what is called The Road to Joy of Jazz. This is to prepare revellers for what is to come in the future.

Scheduled for August 22-24, the lineup for this year should be very interesting since the last performance by Wynton Marsalis in 2011. New Orleans Jazz is making a return to the festival this year and is joined by the US trumpeter Marlon and also son of the world acclaimed saxophonist Edward Jordan, affectionately known as Kidd. Marlon has performed alongside the Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis. “Over the years we have brought the finest jazz musicians to our shores as desired by the event fans, friends and supporters,” reveals event producer Peter Tladi of T-musicman. Tladi says because they believe all people deserve to hear the best musicians the world has to offer, the 2013 line-up pays tribute to the listener’s choice.

Satchmo Trumpet Summit will also rock the stage featuring James Andrew. The trio will share the stage alongside with South African female musicians Swazi Dlamini, Asanda Bam, Nokukhanya Dlamini and Mimi on The Dance Factory Line-up.

Line up for Mbira Stage is led by the South African Afro-fusion band Stimela, founded by the legendary Ray Chikapa Phiri in 1982. Ray Phiri was in Botswana a couple of months back for a workshop with Botswana’s very own jazz maestros at Botswana Craft. The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards will bring the Motown act to Jozi. They are sure to take many years back with their American Soul and R&B. Zonke Dikana, whose album Ina Ethe made double platinum, is among the legends. The Ina Ethe album features a song called Viva the Legend that is a tribute to her late father and musician Vuyisile Dikana. Also on Mbira stage will be Afrotraction, Eddie Daniels and Kabomo.

South African jazz giant Abdullah Ibrahim, Grammy Award winning trumpeter Terrence Blanchard and the pianist Ahmad Jamal are surely not to be missed on the opening night. For those whose musical years go back as far as Billie Holiday, then Carmen Lundy will be on the list. While eyes will be set on stages to witness American jazz as well as South African jazz, Argentina’s Tango String Quartet and DRC’s Ray Lema will not pass you by.  Other performances to look out for include Selaelo Selota, Mbuso Khoza, Ivan Mazuze, Jeff Maluleke, Themba Mkhize and Adam Glasser.