All set for Winter Jazz Festival

virtuoso — who is based in Cape Town — will team up with more than 20 Zimbabwean musicians to entertain jazz connoisseurs at the festival that will be held over five days.
Son of a Zimbabwean father and a South African mother, Max is a prodigious jazz guitarist, composer and vocalist who boasts a Masters Degree in Musicology and Jazz.
This will be his first time to perform at the mega jazz event and his inclusion on the bill is likely to generate a lot of fireworks.
Max will perform on day four of the festival, which will be held on a Saturday and he will share the stage with Jabavu Drive, Cool Crooners, Willom Tight, Selmor Mtukudzi, Munyaradzi Mataruse, Josh Meck and Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana.
Prudence will be making her first solo act at the festival after having performed with Jazz Invitation before.
Apart from Max’s inclusion, another major highlight of the event is the mix of both old and young musicians, who will give revellers a mixed bag of the genres dating back to the 1960s and 1970s era to the present day.
“We have brought in the seasoned musicians to partner with the young artistes because we want people to learn from one another. The likes of Jabavu Drive, The Cool Crooners and Mbare Trio play a rare type of jazz that was popularised in the 1960s and 1970s which most of us have never experienced before.
“They are coming in to impact on the festival through the old-type jazz and township music,” Josh Hozheri, organiser of the festival, said.
Billed to perform on day one are veterans Mbare Trio, who have been in the jazz circles for a long time; Summer Breeze, Jazz Invitation and Amara Brown.
Amara’s performance will be a tribute to her late father, Andy Brown.
Talented acoustic guitarist and vocalist Victor Kunonga will lead female divas Dudu Manhenga, Edith Katiji and Jean Masters on the second day, which will be on a Friday, before Max Vidima and crew perform on Saturday.
The closing night will be more of a gig affair as men of the moment Jah Prayzah and Suluman Chimbetu will be joined by Too Open and Q Montana.
Jah Prayzah, who will be making his second appearance at the festival, will without doubt bring the roof down with his hit songs like “Ngwarira Kuparara”, “Gochi Gochi” and “Ndomutevera” among others that are currently topping the charts.
Sulu, on the other hand, has also impressed at previous editions and he is set to repeat the same feat.
“This year, the Winter Jazz Festival, which will be in its 12 edition, will be held under the theme, ‘Jazz is Not a State of Mind, It is A Fact of Life’ and we derived this statement from one jazz aficionado, Cannonball Adderley, whom we met at the Cape Town Jazz Festival three years ago.
“What this means is that jazz is a part of life. What drives us is the passion for jazz. When we first thought of this idea, we never thought we would get this far. This is the longest jazz festival in Zimbabwe and with or without sponsorship we have to move on,” Hozheri said.
Clerk of Parliament and jazz enthusiast Austin Zvoma is expected to be the guest of honour and will officially open the festival.