[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0mPUpojd84&w=500&h=307&rel=0]

This past summer at least three prominent figures of the Cape Town jazz scene–the saxophone players Robbie Jansen and Ezra Ngcukana and, most recently, pianist and historian Vincent Kolbe–passed.

For me, this recent live recording of “Os se mense” (Our people) by a representative of the next generation of Cape Town jazz musicians, Kyle Shepherd Trio, is a fitting tribute to these men.

* BTW, it is worth reading the historian and photographer John Edwin Mason’s separate tributes to these three giants on his blog.  Mason also includes a link to a film of Kolbe by Rio Allen.

Further Reading

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.