The Jazz Standard
The adventure of rich storytelling about the world of Jazz continues with Brenda Sisane on Kaya 959's The Jazz Standard.
Ralph Louis Smit on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Ralph is a multi-instrumentalist and film student whose work is rooted deeply in the soil of Southern Africa. He was an apprentice to the late Smiles Makama, the Eswatini master of the musical bow. Ralph uses the trumpet and electronic looping to expand what he refers to as "forgotten archives.
Ciko Thomas of Nedbank Group on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
We are chatting to Ciko Thomas, Group Managing Executive of Personal and Private Banking at Nedbank Group about Nedbank being a Presenting Partner for the Montreux Jazz Festival South Africa and how Nedbank is positioning itself as a cultural enabler in private wealth banking.
Eddie Henderson on The Jazz Standard with Brenda Sisane
Trumpeter and flugelhorn player Eddie Henderson came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi band, one of the most adventurous ensembles of the electric jazz era. Over the decades he has moved seamlessly between acoustic and electric traditions, recording landmark albums and collaborating…
Marquis Hill on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Chicago-born trumpeter and composer Marquis Hill joins us as we preview his latest project Beautifulism — a work that sits at the intersection of jazz, hip-hop, and spiritual inquiry. A former winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition, Hill’s music continues a lineage shaped by figures like Roy…
Vimbs Mavimbs on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Today we shine a spotlight on Vimbs Mavimbs — a musician whose path has taken him from South Africa to Hamburg, where he is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at the Frankfurt University of Music & Performing Arts. His debut album Late Bloomer, set for release in 2026, is a…
Lerato Tshabalala-Mini on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Archives do not only live in books or institutional collections. Sometimes they live in places — in neighbourhoods, community halls and cultural centres where history continues to be spoken, performed and remembered. One such place is Eyethu Heritage Hall. It is here that a fascinating storytelling platform titled Jazz In…
Kwanti Leeh! on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Tribute, remembrance, lineage — these are not only international conversations. Here at home, musicians are also returning to the work of South African elders whose compositions continue to shape the sound of the present. The collective known as Kwanti Leeh! brings together Ayanda Sikade, Sisonke Xonti, Andile Yenana and Herbie…
Nono Nkoane on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
With Nono, we move past the façade — past the filtered Instagram squares and glossy festival brochures — and into the engine room of the Western Cape’s live music machinery. How is it really functioning? Is it sustainable? Is it inclusive? Is it evolving or merely repeating what has worked…
Darren English on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
More than the accolades, Darren English is a storyteller. His music holds memory, migration, improvisation, and a deep sense of purpose. And in this episode we get to sit down and listen closely to Darren guiding us through the inspirations, the experiments, and the moments behind He Said, She Said…
Asher Gamedze on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
We turn toward drummer, composer, thinker Asher Gamedze as he opens up his new project, A Semblance. A title that already resists certainty. A likeness. A trace. A suggestion of something once known — or perhaps something still becoming. With Asher, return is never simple. It is layered, political, spiritual…
Mr Ron Carter on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Ron Carter is not simply one of the most recorded bassists in jazz history; he is a custodian of time, a sculptor of resonance and a musician whose tone is deliberate, weighted and inevitable. From the disciplined corridors of the Eastman School to the restless laboratories of 1960s New York;…
Kyle Shepherd Trio on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
The fourth edition of the Absa Jazz Sessions at Marble is proud to present the Kyle Shepherd Trio as their headlining act this February. Kyle is one of South Africa’s leading jazz, film and theatre music composers and pianists of his generation. Internationally recognised for his distinctive compositional style and…
Professor Simphiwe Sesanti, Dr Athambile Masola and Nkosinathi Biko on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
2026 marks what would have been the 80th birthday of Steve Biko, and the December 2025 release of the isiXhosa translation of I Write What I Like arrives as both remembrance and gift - a return of his words to a language that carried his earliest consciousness. This isiXhosa edition…
Tyreek McDole on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
A Haitian-American vocalist, songwriter, and composer, his rise over the past few years has been both swift and notable. From being named Outstanding Vocalist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition by Wynton Marsalis, to winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, to topping American jazz radio charts…
Bheki Khoza on The Jazz Standard with Brenda Sisane
In a room where every note can be heard and every silence matters, Bheki Khoza invites us to sit inside the story with him ahead of his performance at Alma Cafe in Cape Town. A left-handed guitarist shaped by the African Jazz Pioneers and sharpened under the mentorship of the…
Javon Jackson on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Across more than three decades of recording, Javon Jackson has become somewhat of a musical archivist — revisiting the work of John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and collaborating with poet Nikki Giovanni in a powerful fusion of jazz, gospel and spoken word. Soon he brings another tribute project to…
Chien Chien Lu on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
A Taiwanese vibraphonist, contemporary percussionist, and composer whose work moves fluidly between discipline and freedom, tradition and reinvention, Chien Chien Lu has emerged as one of the most compelling artists of her generation. Her debut album, The Path, announced her arrival with clarity and conviction, while her collaborative work with…
Author David Africa on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
We’re joined by David Africa, author of Lives On The Line, to unpack a covert chapter of South African history, the realities of urban terrorism, and what it means to live - and listen - inside the tension between order, survival, and conscience. Lives On The Line is not the…
Zama Phakathi on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Zama Phakathi is a South African art researcher and curator whose work foregrounds African narratives, cultural memory and social agency through art and public-facing exhibitions. Based in Paris, Zama combines rigorous research with creative practice to challenge dominant art histories and uplift voices often marginalised in mainstream cultural spaces. Through…
Simnikiwe Sondlo on The Jazz Standard With Brenda Sisane
Ahead of the Newtown heritage Jazz Festival we speak to Simnikiwe Sondlo, founder and owner of Niki's Oasis, a space where jazz is not only performed, but held, nurtured, and passed on. This conversation speaks to that continuum: from legendary accompanists like Themba Mokoena, to contemporary voices like Tshepo Mngoma,…