The music scene in Cape Town, let us rephrase that, the jazz scene in Cape Town has always been a hotbed of young talent with many talented youngsters cutting their teeth at community events, and even in church worship teams.
Any local musician will tell you that it is not easy making a living in the music industry.
Over the year’s promoters have been hard at work to ensure that these talents do not go unnoticed, back in the day live shows in community halls across the Cape Flats was buzzing with talent concerts, live bands and if you were lucky you got to perform at the Luxurama in Park Road Wynberg with Percy Sledge, Engelbert Humperdink, Richard John Smith, Taliep Petersen, The Rockets, Pacific Express, and a very young Jonathan Butler.
Sadly, the Lux and similar venues are no more, and local promoters had to be more inventive to turn around an industry that was not accessible to music lovers of all ages and communities.
In the nineties, the club scene was thriving as the only outlet for local musicians.
The vision of Craig Parks who with John Esterhuizen and Quinton Raaff formed JCQ Productions, to promote jazz and local musos saw them launch the Cape Town Jazzathon twenty-two years ago.
After John Esterhuizen and Quinton Raaff passed away, Parks vowed to keep the Cape Town Jazzathon active and with the help of a tight-knit team, he achieved that this past weekend when a stellar line-up packed-out the V&A Waterfront amphitheater.
Locals music lovers know that this event packs-out the venue from morning into the evening, and an early start to the day is needed to ensure a much sought-after seat in the amphitheater in order to catch a closeup of the likes of jazz giants Ebrahim Khalil Shihab, Alistair Izobell, Jonathan Rubian, Top Dog and Vuzi Khumalo.
Not only did these artists bring the house down, the emerging talents the likes of Chadleigh Gowar, Keegan Williams, Little Giants and the Phakama Arts Foundation musicians etc held their own amongst their more illustrious contemporaries.
Over the years the Cape Town Jazzathon has schooled the likes of Judith Sephuma, Jimmy Dludlu, Jonathan Rubain, Cameron Ward, Don Vino Prins, and Claire Philips to name a few, in the art of live performance.
Next up is the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, taking place at Cape Town International Convention Centre from 29 -30 March 2019 with a line-up that includes international stars Chaka Khan, Elaine Elias, Cory Henry as well as South African jazz legends Don Laka, Oliver Mtukudzi, Vusi Mahlasela and The Soweto Gospel Choir to name a few.
Once again local young musicians will be afforded the opportunity to perform alongside the international stars via the ESP Young Legends programme, another example of our burgeoning music industry.
Now it is up to you and me, to ensure that our support for local musicians does not waiver in the face of the digital music age so that the future of jazz and its practitioners continue to thrive.
For more info go to –
https://www.facebook.com/jazzathon/.
https://www.waterfront.co.za/events/the-cape-town-jazzathon/.
http://www.capetownjazzfest.com/.