I never imagined the Cape Town International Jazz Festival would become so big a national event. In 2000 the first festival had 6 000 people a night. Now there are 15 000 a night — and more than 70% of them from outside of Cape Town, with 15% from the United States, Europe and the rest of Africa.
I remember being envious of all the festivals I saw when I travelled as a photojournalist. In 1998 I was at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Istanbul and Montreux. I looked at this event: under one roof, multiple stages, the genre not strictly jazz, but spoken word and things Miles Davis had done. I knew it could work, but I thought: ”How could I ever do it? Here this darkie boy comes along … people would just say, ‘Who the fuck are you?”’
Now we are recognised as a credible festival, and it’s based on the hospitality we offer all our artists. The artists talk to each other, it’s them who make or break your event.
Our partnership with the North Sea festival and its director, Theo van den Hoek of Mojo Concerts, made it all possible. They created the South African stage at the 1999 North Sea, the first time a country had a dedicated stage, to launch the Cape Town festival abroad.
There were scary parts. One week before the launch, in July 1999, we still didn’t have flights. I was playing it cool and collected, doing logistics and hotels and production riders. Somehow, I was banking that there must be a Lord. A week before, Fred Robertson (African Harvest) provided for the tickets. I still had to play it calm because I was in the North Sea offices, so I just said, ”Okay, the flights have come through.”
I do this because I want to sustain a listenership for jazz music in South Africa. I do it because I love the music. I have met incredible artists, people such as Christopher Porter, the editor of Jazz Times; journalists such as Dan Ouellette from Down Beat; Bruce Lundvall, the president of Blue Note; and Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux jazz festival.
I’ve also met amazing musicians. Meeting artists such as Ron Carter, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Kenny Barron, Billy Cobham, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny and Dave Holland is like a dream. Their music is a part of my life and my therapy.
I’ve always wanted to meet Carlos Santana and, in 1999, I did. I went to the hotel where I knew the artists were staying and I was wearing one of my caps, maybe it was a fez. I walked up to security trying to look like a guest and one guard said, ”Good evening, Mr Santana.” I walked in and he was sitting inside the bar. I introduced myself and told him I was from South Africa. I didn’t tell him what happened — I suppose there must be some resemblance. He said, ”Ah, a son of Mandela,” and we had a serious conversation. He wants to come here and we are talking.
Jose Feliciano was hard to get to because he’s not on the tour circuit, just doing clubs. My booker — my daughter, Yana, who I’ve taught to handle artists — tracked him down. Once we got him, he bought it immediately. It was almost as though he was waiting for this request. He won all the Latin awards and, in his press release, he said his next shows included Cape Town. That’s when you know the festival is growing.
In terms of cultural tourism, the festival is a point of entry. People who have flown 10 or 20 hours to get here don’t do it just for a weekend. The trend is that they stay for seven to 10 days, and that means they travel in the country.
Each year, I have to consider the future of the festival. How do we continue? Do we throw in the towel and go on with the other work that our company, espAfrika, produces? Do we have to move to another province that sees the bigger picture of the economic potential? It has to be realistic and based on numbers. We have a very loyal audience coming all the time, and we are thankful for that. Obviously we cannot please everyone, but we will certainly try.
Sometimes you decide it’s not about the money anymore, it’s about the need for the festival. There are the artists I know I have to get. Jan Garbarek has told me he’ll do it, he just needs the dollars — and I will do it. Keith Jarrett is another, and Tony Bennett. He’s a painter who I met in a lift; he said he’d love to come out and paint our landscapes. He asked what koppies were; can you believe that? I asked him if there was someone I could talk to to get a lead to get him here. Then the lift opened and he just said, ”I’ll see you in your country sometime.” Now it’s back to the agents.
Paco Pena, one of the world’s greatest guitarists, wants to come, but he’s got conditions. He wants to work with an African choir. Sometimes you think, ”Just do the gig and go home!” But Paco is amazing — and he’s good friends with John Williams. If he comes, maybe he’ll decide to phone his friend John.
I can also confirm our last To Be Announced artist, but I have to be careful. Once a journalist wrote ”TBA” as an artist in the line-up! Monty Alexander is coming. I talked with him in New York and he told me he was inspired by a visit, when he was 15, to Bob Marley’s studios, and by Marley’s message about liberation and freedom and equality. He wanted to come and I said we wanted the Marley tribute. All he said was, ”I’m on, can you fly the guys from Jamaica?” I said, ”No problem. Kingston here we come.”
Rashid Lombard was interviewed by Cape Town journalist Evan Milton
Jazzing up the Cape
The Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2006 runs from Friday March 31 to Saturday April 1 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre with a free concert hosted at Greenmarket Square on Thursday March 30. Tickets are available from Computicket with a single day pass setting you back R265 and a weekend pass R399. For up-to-the-minute information on prices, travel packages and more, visit the official website at www.capetownjazzfest.co.za