Welcome home: South African bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta is about to release a new album.
Last month Benjamin Jephta released Still I Rise (Part 1), the lead single from his forthcoming album Homecoming Revisited. The song’s title, of course, comes from Maya Angelou’s famous poem, a declaration of resilience that Jephta first set to music more than a decade ago.
“I wrote the original version for my debut album,” he tells me during a virtual interview. “Back then, I was trying to capture that victorious vibe, the feeling of overcoming whatever is put in front of you.”
This revisited version does more than update old work. It folds in the sounds Jephta lives with daily — Afrobeat rhythms, hip-hop textures, amapiano grooves — refracted through his grounding in South African jazz. The result is youthful without being naïve, complex without being inaccessible. It is jazz, yes, but jazz that feels at home on a dance floor, on a car stereo or during quiet late-night listening.
When Jephta speaks about Homecoming Revisited, he repeatedly returns to the word “gratitude”. Ten years after releasing his debut, he sees this project as both a reflection on his journey and a tribute to the peers who shaped it.
“I’ve been overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone who invited me into their spaces,” he says. “So, with this album, I wanted as many musicians on the tracks as possible. It’s my way of honouring the young South African jazz scene.”
The result is a sprawling collaboration of about 30 musicians, among them Linda Sikhakhane, Ndabo Zulu, Kujenga, and Leagan Breda. Jephta smiles as he recalls the process of bringing so many artists together. “You’d think it would be difficult to align everyone, but honestly, we just get it. The South African jazz community is diverse in sound, but we share this common thread. We grew up in a post-apartheid, democratic South Africa, and we’re all trying to articulate that complex identity through music.
“So, when people came into the studio, they understood. They added themselves to the music and it grew into something new.”
The project took shape quickly — one day of foundational recording, followed by weeks of layered contributions between Cape Town and Johannesburg. “It was a process that took about a month,” Jephta says.
“But, in truth, I had been thinking about it for years.”
It is easy to forget, listening to Jephta speak with calm assurance, that his career began while most teenagers are still figuring out their identities. He was performing professionally in Cape Town by the age of 14.
“I was already gigging around the city in different jazz and pop bands when I was in grade 10,” he remembers. “So, I’ve been in the industry since then.”
That early start came with its own challenges: “Back then, it was hard to find role models who were both great musicians and able to sustain themselves and their families. There was a lot of struggle. So, I think my 14-year-old self would be proud of where I am now — able to support my family and build a sustainable career just through music.”
That career has spanned two continents: studies at the University of Cape Town, a master’s degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, years in New York City performing with Danilo Perez, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dianne Reeves, and now a return to Johannesburg, where he composes for film and television and lectures at Wits.
Critics often describe Jephta as a bridge between jazz tradition and innovation, a label he accepts cautiously. “Sometimes I’m conscious about pushing the music forward,” he says. “But, in many ways, it happens organically. I genuinely enjoy other styles of music, so they influence me naturally.”
Those influences are all over Homecoming Revisited. Afrobeat grooves intertwine with horn lines. Hip-hop’s rhythmic punch sits comfortably alongside lush jazz harmonies. Amapiano, the sound that currently animates South African dance floors, makes a subtle appearance.
Jephta recently orchestrated Calvin Momo’s Red Bull Symphonics, a live music event in Johannesburg, and some of that sensibility seeped into his own writing. Yet through it all, there remains a distinctly South African core. His time abroad sharpened his perspective on this.
“In the States, you realise that jazz is their music, rooted in their history. But coming back made me appreciate how unique our voices are. Our jazz scene is shaped by our own history, our trauma, our aspirations. The intention behind our music cannot be duplicated.”
At its heart, Homecoming Revisited is not a solo statement but a communal one. Jephta lights up when talking about the new wave of South African jazz artists, many of whom he brought onto the project.
“Maybe 10 years from now, people will look back and say, ‘This album brought together a lot of young South African jazz cats who went on to do incredible things,’” he says.
Live, he hopes the music retains that same spirit of collaboration. The band set-up can be sprawling — multiple horns, percussion, keys, vocals — but the goal remains connection.
“I love South African audiences because they’re responsive,” he says. “There’s this call-and-response energy that’s inherent to the music.
“Young people especially are showing up. For the past decade, most of my gigs have been filled with young audiences, which is amazing for jazz.”
Jephta’s artistry extends beyond performance. As a composer for film and TV, he brings a cinematic quality to his music. “Even when there’s no visual narrative, I want to take listeners on a journey,” he explains.
Teaching has sharpened that instinct, forcing him to break down complex ideas into their core elements. “It has made me a better musician,” he says.
Offstage, he is grounded by simple pleasures: coffee culture, tennis, walks with his dogs. He is also navigating fatherhood, recently welcoming his first son. The sleepless nights, he says with a laugh, are worth it.
I ask Jephta how he hopes people will describe his contribution to South African jazz years from now.
He pauses. “I don’t think too much about legacy,” he says finally.
“If a song I wrote resonates with someone, if it reminds them of a moment in their life or helps them through something, that’s enough for me. And if people see this album as a moment where a lot of us came together, that would be cool too.”
What lingers after speaking with him is not just his technical mastery, or even the ambition of his new project, but his generosity — his insistence on lifting others, on honouring his community, on blending the past and the future into something that feels alive right now.
Ten years since releasing his debut album and with a new one on the way, Benjamin Jephta is not only revisiting his roots but reimagining them, offering SA jazz a fresh chapter, one that rises with joy, gratitude and resilience.