The K Jazz Show Podcasts

This Sunday, on The K Jazz Show George Burton, the Brooklyn piano provocateur bringing Dark Science, his daring musical collaboration with Siya Makuzeni, to Johannesburg. Jazz, electricity and beautiful rebellion. Your Sunday just got interesting. #TKJS #GeorgeBurton #TakeMeThere

Travelling 10 years back in time, we open a very special chapter in the story of one of South Africa’s most distinctive musical voices. Ten years ago, Siya Makuzeni released Out Of This World — an album born of spirit, imagination, collaboration and a fearless search for her own musical language. A decade later, we return to that music with the woman who created it. We talk about where the album began, the extraordinary musicians who helped shape its sound, the stories hiding between the notes, and what ten years of life has revealed to Siya about the music she made then. But we don't stop at the anniversary. We get to know the woman behind the trombone, the voice and the stage — and look ahead to the music, ideas and possibilities beginning to gather on her horizon. It's intimate. It's reflective. It's joyful. And there are a few things Siya shares that I think you'll want to hear.

There are conversations you have because, for a moment, you want to sit down and listen to a life. Since April, The K Jazz Show has been taking you on a journey towards this year's Standard Bank Joy of Jazz — introducing you to the musicians, the composers, the voices and the stories that will make Johannesburg sing when the festival arrives. We have travelled across borders and musical traditions. We have spoken to artists about legacy, reinvention, resistance, rhythm, hope and that beautiful, slightly mysterious thing that happens when musicians from different worlds meet on the same stage. And today, we arrived at our final artist conversation.

Because talent may introduce you to the world, but knowledge, ownership and the right connections are what allow you to stay in the room. This September, the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz is making space for the next generation of African music makers through Jazz Wise—a powerful conversation about the business behind the music and the tools young creatives need to build careers that last. And joining us this morning is a woman who knows that journey intimately. A celebrated vocalist, curator, creative entrepreneur and the force behind the Folklore Festival, she understands the artistry, the hustle and the architecture behind a sustainable creative life. Pilani Bubu is in the house on The K Jazz Show.

This Sunday, The Jazz Circuit welcomes Linda Sikhakhane home to The K Jazz Show, as he opens the door to LINDA, his fifth album: a deeply personal meditation on purpose, belonging, ancestry, love and the making of a man. From Umlazi to KwaNongoma, from the memory of those who came before to the restless sound of what comes next. Linda brings the whole journey with him. A saxophone. A lineage. A searching soul. And a conversation about what happens when a man stops trying to become something else… and begins to compose himself.