I haven’t done this type of music break (i.e., all jazz) in a while. But before counting down some good music (basically stuff I’ve been listening to lately), first let me promote an event: Later this month, on April 20th, the University of York in the UK will host a one-day “discussion” on “South African Jazz Cultures.” All the details are at the link, including the program, which includes contributions from the musicians Emmanuel Abdul-Rahim, Darius Brubeck (son of Dave, who teaches music in KwaZulu-Natal), and famed drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, who was a central part of the Brotherhead of Breath, the large ensemble of mostly black South African musicians, who helped shape the genre in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Europe.

Moholo-Moholo and Abdul-Rahim will discuss working with the late bass player Johnny Dyani. Also on the program are filmmaker Aryan Kaganof, music researcher Brett Pyper, and producer Matt Temple of Matsuli Music. Hopefully, they will put the whole thing online for those who can’t be there. Now for this week’s Jazz Breaks.

A while back, Brooklyn-based piano player and trade union lawyer Steve Jenkins introduced me to the music of another pianist, Jon Batiste. Louisiana-born, New York City-based Batiste, from a prominent musical family, released his first record at 17 (Christian Scott is also on the album), and is already a fixture on the American jazz scene (he is also an art director at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem) and takes over New York City streets with his band New Orleans style, so I was surprised that I had not heard about him or his music. I guess I’ve been too busy raising children. Anyway, it turns out Batiste starred in the TV drama “Treme,”  set in New Orleans’s music scene. Batiste also had an outsized, but small, role as a church organist in Red Hook Summer. Since then I have been catching up. Just Google him. Here‘s an interview with him from 2012.  He also plays the melodica, both a mouth-blown reed instrument and a keyboard.  Jon plays piano and sings accompanied by his band, The Stay Human Band in this clip.

Another piano player I’ve come to like is Guillermo Klein, who fuses the music of his native Argentina with contemporary jazz. He lives largely in Spain where he teaches jazz. Here‘s a sample with his band, Los Guachos.

A live recording of conductor Adam Rudolph and the Go: Organic Orchestra. And, yes, this is way more experimental.

Singer Madeleine Peyroux has a new album of standards; buy it here or listen to it on Soundcloud. Here’s the new video for one of the songs, the Buddy Holly song “Changing all these changes.”

Then there’s Secret Society, an 18-piece big-band brass band, led by composer Darcy James Argue (they also have a new album).  Sample here.

The American guitarist Marc Ribot. Nice, recent review of his playing in The Financial Times. To get a sense of his sound, listen to him performing live last year with his trio on New Jersey public radio (for a 70-minute set!).

Then there’s the jazz-inflected sounds of Moonchild, a South African band to watch:

Finally, Reginald Bowers is a sax player from Riverlea, a working-class coloured township in Johannesburg. He is not famous. He studied music. You have to love Reginald’s ambition (he wants to start a jazz school and premiere a Riverlea Jazz Band). The short film was made by Twenty Four Frames, which combines health politics with media. You can also follow them on Twitter.