THE Zim Ngqawana tribute concert that was scheduled to take place at Wits University this weekend in memory of the late saxophonist has been called off, Sowetan has learnt.

Ludwe Ngqawana, son of the late jazzman, yesterday confirmed that the event had been postponed to a later date.

Ngqawana suffered a major stroke and died on Tuesday.

"We sat down as a family and reached a decision that we rather postpone Saturday's event due to a number of reasons. We concluded it was going to be a disservice to the man to put together a tribute concert at such short notice.

"For example, I received a lot of telephone calls from fellow musicians that he has performed with, especially from New York, who expressed their wish to take part in such an event.

"We therefore decided that it was better to postpone the concert to another date to give more people the opportunity to take part in a properly planned tribute concert.

"What we know for now is that it will happen within two weeks, but we have not yet finalised the date," Ludwe said.

The jazz maestro, who was highly respected both at home and overseas for his talent and skills in creating good music pieces, was buried immediately on Tuesday as required by his Muslim faith.

Ngqawana was widely considered one of South Africa's pre-eminent contemporary jazz composers and performers.