STANDARD BANK JOY OF JAZZ: HERE'S THE LINEUP

There will be a global mélange of sound at The Standard Bank Joy of Jazz when top international artists join the legendary Wynton Marsalis at the country’s premier jazz-travaganza!

Running from August 25 to 27, the 2011 line-up features artists from America, Brazil, Croatia and Belgium who will share billing with performers from South Africa and the African Diaspora.

America’s Dee Dee Bridgewater, McCoy Tyner, Gerald Veasley, Jeff Lorber, Alexander O’Neal and Frank McComb will be joined by Brazil’s Tania Maria, Croatia’sHGM Jazz Messengers and Belgium’s Brussels Jazz Orchestra who perform with our own Tutu Puoane.

South African jazz greats Hugh Masekela and Sibongile Khumalo are part of a strong South African line-up including Mango Groove, Simphiwe Dana, the African Jazz Pioneers, Tu Nokwe, Kwela Tebza, Victor Ntoni, McCoy Mrubatha, Ringo, Julius Schultz and pianist Bokani Dyer, the 2011 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Jazz.

They join performers from the African continent including Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi, Angola’s Bonga and Nigeria’s Olufemi.

Over the course a career that has spanned four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz diva Dee Dee Bridgewater has paid homage to monumental figures of the music world, recording albums dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald (the double Grammy Award-winning Dear Ella, 1997), Horace Silver (Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver, 1995) and Kurt Weill (This Is New, 2002). Bridgewater takes great pride in producing each of her CDs herself and all of them have received Grammy nominations.

Arguably modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists. Tyner has released nearly 80 albums under his name, earned four Grammys and was awarded Jazz Master from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002.

Jeff Lorber is a Grammy Award-nominated keyboardist, composer and record producer. After leading his own group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, he went on to pioneer the smooth jazz genre in his solo career.

Already announced for the festival is jazz great Wynton Marsalis who will perform at Emperor’s Palace on Thursday, August 25. The legendary trumpeter – winner of nine Grammy Awards® and the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music – is arguably the biggest jazz artist to come to South Africa. On the same opening night bill is the Gauteng Jazz Orchestra featuring The African Soul Sisters Nokukhanya Dlamini, Nombulelo Maqetuka and Wanda Baloyi.

The Standard Bank Joy of Jazz continues in Newtown on August 26 and 27 on seven stages including brand new venue The Conga Stage, to be specially built between Bassline and Newtown’s Turbine Hall. The Dinaledi Stage and the Mbira Stage will once again be erected on Mary Fitzgerald Square, creating three purpose-built venues to showcase this year’s line-up. Other venues include The Bassline, Sophiatown, Shikisha and Nikki’s Oasis.

Event producer Peter Tladi of T-Musicman says: “Securing Wynton Marsalis is a real coup for the festival and firmly reconfirms Gauteng’s status on the international jazz map. We are delighted with the range and calibre of artists this year and we predict the 2011 festival will be a sell-out like last year.”

Commented Mandie van der Spuy, Head of Art & Jazz Sponsorships at Standard Bank: “We have created a memorable jazz weekend each year, and 2011 will be no different – the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz has become a prominent social highlight for the city of Johannesburg and we have seen attendances significantly grow in size. The stature of the Joy of Jazz is built on the long-standing philosophy we share with T-Music Man, the Department of Arts and Culture and our city partners to create the rich blend of African and international jazz in the heart of Johannesburg, that brings jazz lovers together in a celebration of jazz and its heritage.”