Good times a comin' to Jozi

LAST week something made me very angry and sad at the same time as I reflected on a once culturally flourishing period in Johannesburg - the 1990s and early 2000s.

I attended a press conference at a Johannesburg hotel, where dates for the long and eagerly awaited Jazz Meets Symphony series of concerts were announced.

The jazz concerts will take place at the Durban Playhouse on October 29 and then in Johannesburg on October 30 at the Theatre on the Track in Kyalami.

The jazz concerts will feature Gloria Bosman, who is very angry about the state of jazz in South Africa, the wise and gifted trumpeter Feya Faku, the enduring musical director and trumpeter Prince Lengoasa and American jazz musos Howard Johnson and Lynne Arriale.

With such stelar names it is definitely a jazz concert to look forward to.

And it is certainly not the reason why I was sad.

If anything, I am delighted because, supported by the 60-piece All Star Orchestra, these esteemed musicians will also have their music scored, some for the first time.

And it will also be the first time for most of the musicians to play with a 60-piece orchestra.

So why was I angry you must be wondering? The press conference was the brainchild of the Jazz Foundation and while listening to people talking I thought about how we are are denied live gigs of the standard and calibre of Jazz Meets Symphony - which is music in its purest sense.

Bosman put it well when she spoke of her own and other musicians' frustration at being reduced to the status of "gigging" artists in order to survive commercial pressures.

"Johannesburg has lost its rhythm and sound, which in a sense is essentially what made Johannesburg," Bosman lamented.

Oupa Salemane, chairman of the foundation, said jazz was not getting the financial assistanceit needed.

"Concerts such as Jazz Meets Symphony do not come cheap," Selemane said. "The two concerts, sponsored by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund and National Arts Council, will cost R8million.

"Jazz is also being shunned by young people who regard it as the music of the elderly.

"The elderly, particularly black people, regard it as music of the elite. We need help to preserve jazz. We appeal for help, especially from the Department of Arts and Culture and the private sector."

Our recent history supports Salemane. Jazz needs to be rescued. Popular festivals are now incorrectly marketed as "jazz" festivals by the gullible media and opportunistic promoters. Jazz concerts must be jazz concerts.

This is what Salemane and his colleagues in the foundation are fighting for.

How many jazz lovers remember those great evenings of good music and company at venues that used to host live jazz concerts?

In thosedays Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays were not boring. They were the days when people used to look forward to digesting the hectic week's activities. One never ran out of options for live gigs.

Kippies in Newtown, Johannesburg, used to host some of the best jazz in the 1990s.

And remember Bassline in Melville, when the Johannesburg suburb had real sophistication and you would go to the venue for good music and good company?

Baseline was frequented by a multiracial audience. This was the place where you would meet chief executives, academics, writers, filmmakers, and even politicians. Thabo Mbeki was one of many.

The place was the embodiment of the new South Africa. Baseline hosted mainly jazz, with a few exceptions - such as the time when the venue hosted the late singing legend Brenda Fassie.

We would go there to watch the hugely talented Abdullah Ibrahim. Though those of us who enjoyed alcohol used to complain that Ibrahim, who is a Muslim, demanded that drink should not be served during his shows , we never missed his concerts .

So is Jazz Meet Symphony a sign of good jazz times returning to good old Jozi?

I certainly hope so.