Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2009

The Best of Jazz coming to Cape Town International Jazz Festival again in 2009

Cape Town will be celebrating in 2009 with the 10th Annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

Africa's Grandest Gathering will be taking place on 3 and 4 April 2009.

The Cape Town International Jazz Festival has grown into a hugely successful international event since its inception and attendance figures of the Jazz Festival have increased from the initial 14 000 to 32 000 in the last nine years.

The event brings the absolute best of international Jazz musicians and combines them with the best South Africa artists.

We can certainly say it is one of the best Jazz Festivals in the world; Melodytrip has ranked this proudly South African event as No.4 in the world, outshining events such as Switzerland's Montreaux Festival and even our Jazz Festival's founding father, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.

As important is obviously the line-up for the 2009 edition of the festival.

Reading from the first half of artists announced for next year, there will clearly be no departure from programming that has made the Cape Town International Jazz Festival where jazz sits comfortably with other jazz-related genres such as Afro-pop, soul, funk, blues, Latin and hip-hop.

2009 Cape Town Jazz Festival headliners will include award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, jazz-funk king Maceo Parker and smooth jazz guitarist Peter White. Legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela will join the three also as a headline act. His appearance at the festival forms part of his 70th birthday celebrations.

Those who prefer straight-ahead jazz sounds can look forward to John Coltrane’s disciple Dave Liebman, Miles Davis’ drummer Al Foster, a cappella group called New York Voices, local veteran drummer Maurice Gawronsky Quartet and Clint Eastwood bassist son Kyle Eastwood.

To expose local talent, festival organisers have contracted vocalist Emily Bruce and bassist Jonathan Rubain, both from Cape Town. One of the trademarks of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival is to honour groups that display longevity as well as young African musicians who are making it big internationally.

To be honoured next year for their staying power are The Stylistics whose sound goes back to 1968, acid-jazz group Incognito and Loading Zone; a Cape Town-based that celebrates twenty years of the group’s existence in 2009.

As for bands who currently hold the African flag high, we have a cappella quintet Zap Mama, South African master balladeer Ringo Madlingozi, indomitable Freshlyground and Rus Nerwich’s collective imagination.

Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2009:

Date: 3 – 4 April 2009
Venue: Cape Town International Convention Centre
Location: Foreshore | Cape Town

As always there will be a free community concert held in Greenmarket Square a few days before the Jazz Festival.

Ticket prices for the 2009 Cape Town Jazz Festival: single day passes will be R330.00 and full weekend passes will be R485.00.

As in previous years of the festival, there will be an extra fee of R25 per artist for patrons wishing to attend concerts on the Rosies stage.

The Line up of jazz and world music for The 2009 Cape Town Jazz Festival is arguably the best line up ever.

Read about the complete Cape Town Jazz Festival 2009 Line Up.

If you are in the mood for a little pre-jazz flavour to start your April month then a must is to attend the Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2009 Free Concert.

As a treat we offer South African music fans the opportunity to access Free Downloads of South African Music.

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