‘Cape Jazz’ is an important and unique musical style in South African music generally. Because of the high ethnic diversity of the peoples of the Western Cape, improvised music has crept into indigenous musical expressions, thereby offering an array of rhythms, themes, lyrical messages, styles and harmonies. [Please see article and artist lists under Background]

Themes that are prevalent in the local music industry often appear in the artists’ compositions: of sexist portrayal, male hierarchical attitudes, and even gender-based violence issues, economic exploitations, etc. [See article and artist lists under Background]

Notable South African and Pan-African/World influences are enabling more jazz collaboration to develop and highlight contemporary moods and styles from various sources. THEMES and THREADS emerge with South African styles guiding this journey into other sonic European and global rhythms, while finding a rootedness in African-ness of sounds and message. [See artist and article lists under Background]

Jazz in the Native Yards, a small Nonprofit Organisation established to provide spaces for jazz artists, traces its ancestral footprints to the 1960s when impromptu live jazz sessions took place every weekend in Cape Town’s townships and elsewhere. [See more under Background]

Formal and informal learning programs started to flourish with more trained music teachers in High Schools and at Tertiary levels, as well as at community levels where social development and mental health issues among youth called them towards arts training as a respite from the social ills they lived with daily. Initiatives like Youth Music Programs, and various Cultural and Music Festivals held throughout the year, often with their appending Conferences, all provided learning and mentorships. [See artist and article lists under Background]

Carol Martin loves jazz and enjoys getting to know the musician’s story, the how’s and why’s of developing this artistry. She writes these stories, not to critique or ‘review’ the artistry, but to highlight what drives or motivates the artist to do what she/he does in this type of South African music. Why THAT sound and where does it come from?
Some 180 articles, written over a 12 year period (2012-2025), posted mainly on the All Jazz Radio Internet Radio website Blog, contained her interviews and discussions with musicians about their journeys in improvisational jazz expression that represents the various ‘moods and styles’ they personally encounter and put forward. She has recorded what they would like to reveal, and has narrowed down this collection to 150 articles which tell their stories. [See more under Background]

Title page, foreword, introduction, themes, and artists