Jazz Quartet with Martin Wolfaardt and guests
Jazz at it best with Martin Wolfaardt, James Van Minnen and special guest Buddy Wells.
There are 2 shows, booking is essential as seats are limited. Price on enquiry
Martin Wolfaardt
Martin’s love affair with music began when he took up classical piano at the age of 11. He is best known as the founder of Offshore, a trio with local musicians Jonno Sweetman and Paul Gibbings. Offshore soon caught the ear of South African jazz luminaries like Buddy Wells and Marcus Wyatt, who appear as the horn section on the band’s acclaimed album “Incident” from 2008. In the following years Offshore performed at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and Standard Bank Jazz Festival and won international funding for a national tour. The trio also joined Jonathan Crossley on his seminal jazz- funk album “Funk for the Shaolin Monk”.
Apart from his work as composer and pianist for Offshore, Martin has also collaborated with international guitar innovator Guy Buttery, New York-based multi-instrumentalist and professor of ethno-musicology Sam Thomas and others. He also has a percussion addiction and has spent time in West Africa learning from masters of traditional genres.
Martin’s relationship to the muse is encapsulated in his observation that “the flow state characterising true immersion in the musical moment is an extension of the spiritual practise that ultimately motivates my every action”.
ABOUT JAMES VAN MINNEN
James is a professional drummer and percussionist. Apart from becoming fluent on drums playing contemporary Western music, his passion and focus has always been with ethnomusicology, honouring the ancient modalities of music, and finding opportunities to express these elements in settings where ordinary people from modern day life can tap into and access the deeper contemplation and healing which comes with exposure to these sounds and rhythms. He has appeared on many recordings in SA and abroad and was the author of The Cave Project recording in collaboration with Rootspring Music in 2017.
