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| Tribute to Robbie Jansen: He’s a Reason I’m Here! |
By Carol Martin I settled in Cape town, because of the likes of Robbie Jansen (1949-2010), jazz saxophonist supreme, flautist, composer, and sometimes crooner, who epitomized the classical Cape jazz of this century. Now passed, at age 61, after respiratory bouts of emphysema, the tributes are pouring in from all over – Robbie was the World Cup of Cape and South African jazz! “Where is Robbie?” I asked when in Grahamstown recently at the National Arts Festival. He had just been hurried away to hospital after a performance.While I did not know bra Robbie personally, I know his music, and that’s why I’m here. Born a Cape coloured, he wedded his own Khoisan roots with European music, never shy to experiment with and boast those rhythms and sounds of the Cape indigenous peoples. In 2005, Robbie met death by an inch with chronic bronchitis, but miraculously recovered, found spiritual solace in this, and continued to the end, but with one functioning lung. He was coined the ‘Cape Doctor’ with incredible blowing skills (like the Cape winds). In 1974, he banded together with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, then known as ‘Dollar Brand’, to cut the jazz classic, Mannenberg. He has played with numerous bands, such as Express, Spirits Rejoice, and Workforce. Since then, his repertoire of not only Cape jazz standards, but of western American standards (his crooning of ‘Georgia’), grew and influenced a host of musicians who joined him on his journey, and he on theirs. As a resident anti-apartheid struggler, he voiced the not-permitted messages of justice and freedom. His liberation politics continued into the ‘rainbow nation’ multi cultural expressions on the stage. He groomed the young in concerts, sometimes playing for free, to raise those necessary funds for rising muso-entrepreneurs. I was always amazed how Robbie gave of himself, hoisting his bottle of oxygen and ventilator on stage, to blow one of the most unique sounds out of an alto sax that one could ever hear globally! In 2006, another award came his way: his album Nomad Jazz was nominated for Sama’s best jazz album. But Robbie remained too ill to travel to expose it. He kept on, even playing tribute concerts to former collaborators, like the late trumpeter Alex van Heerden who revived indigenous music of the Cape Solms-Delta communities. Even, just a few days before his death, he played in fundraising concerts for the presently ailing multi-instrumentalist Hilton Schilder who is fighting cancer. These musicians kept me thriving in Cape Town TONIGHT Online quotes Christian Syren of Making Music Production, with whom Jansen worked for over 20 years: "(Jansen) was a cultural activist, rather than simply an entertainer. He constantly re-interpreted and re-invented the music of the Cape, a calling which he pursued with an almost missionary passion, whether in studio of on the stage." Also, pianist George Werner, who often collaborated with the musician: "It's difficult to speak about Robbie in only one conversation. He was a giving person, I think he might have given a bit too much in the latter part of his life.” Robbie…..I’m still here, and will enjoy your jazz legacy even more now! |
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