Cape Jazz

Cape jazz (more commonly spelled Cape Jazz) is a genre of jazz played in the very southern part of Africa, the name being a reference to Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Jazz began to emerge in 1959 with the formation of The Jazz Epistles, many of whom were from Cape Town , including Abdullah Ibrahim, then known as Dollar Brand. Cape Jazz is similar to the popular musical style known as marabi, although it is more improvisational in nature. Where marabi is a style of piano jazz, Cape Jazz initially (though not exclusively) featured instruments that could be carried in a street parade, such as brass instruments, banjos, guitars and percussion.