Bilal, one of the world’s most well-respected and highly sought after live acts performing exquisite, pitch-perfect, old-soul hip-hop tinged vocal gymnastics like no other completes the line-up for the 11th Cape Town Jazz Festival.

At various points along the four-decade continuum of George Benson’s career, he has been heralded as a jazz guitarist of unparalleled chops, a vocalist with great emotional range and sophistication or a combination of both. However, he regards himself as an entertainer in the broadest sense of the word – a singer of songs, a spinner of tales. That’s the essence, Songs and Stories.

At 71 when most individuals are thinking of ways to slow down and kick back, Charles Lloyd has shifted to a higher gear and keeps going higher. To celebrate his 70th birthday in March of 2008, he released his first live quartet recording in over twenty-five years, “ Rabo de Nube,”

The phenomenal young drummer Kesivan Naidoo is Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz for 2009. He has made his presence felt strongly in South Africa over the past decade and he has begun to carve himself an international reputation.

When everywhere the talk is about cuts and scaling down in response to the recession, organisers of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival are going big. They are bringing to the festival which takes place during Easter (Saturday 03 and Sunday 04 April 2010) a doyen of jazz piano and multi-Grammy Award winner, McCoy Tyner.

Amanda Tiffin has made her name in Cape Town, South Africa as a versatile vocalist and pianist, performing any number of styles from jazz to rock.

Nobody on today’s contemporary urban jazz scene knows more about the power of perfect, timely partnerships—or what it takes to keep the #1 hits coming—than Rick Braun.

Every now and then, an artist creates a special project so rich in content, so joyous in emotion, so fresh and inspired, that it becomes almost impossible to find a title that fully embraces the range and heart of the project.

Jean Toots Thielemans was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1922 and immigrated to the USA in. He started playing accordion at age 3 and played the harmonica as a hobby. He won his first guitar in a bet. He got "Hooked" on Jazz during the German occupationof Brussels. Django Reinhardt was his first idol, with Charlie Parker being an early influence. He was nicknamed "Toots" after musicians Toots Mondello and Toots Camarata.

Rachelle Ferrell began singing at the age of six, which contributed to the "development of her startling six and change octave range. Her range also includes the ability to reach the whistle register, as stated in an editorial review in which she references her whistle note in "It only took a minute" as "Minnie Riperton-like wailing".

Regina Carter (born August 6, 1966, Detroit, Michigan) is an American jazz violinist. Carter began as a classical violinist, but became interested in jazz , and is considered one of the finest violinists in the genre. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.

Tyner's blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music.