WeeklySA_AdminREINVENTION: Montreux Jazz Festival makes its African debut in Franschhoek this March — with Robert Glasper, Thandiswa Mazwai, Ezra Collective and more set to headline a boutique, world-class celebration of sound and soul…
By WSAM Showbiz Reporter
For nearly six decades, the Montreux Jazz Festival has drawn the world’s greatest musicians to the shores of Lake Geneva. This March, that legacy lands in the Cape winelands.
From March 27 – 29, the inaugural Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek (MJFSA), presented by Nedbank Group, will bring global icons, African legends and genre-defying innovators to one of South Africa’s most intimate cultural destinations.
But organisers are clear: this is not replication. It is reinvention.
Founder Mark Goedvolk describes the festival as a reimagining of the Montreux platform “rooted in African creativity, excellence and storytelling”. Franschhoek, with its blend of heritage architecture, food culture and vineyard landscapes, provides the setting for what is positioned as a boutique, hospitality-led experience with limited capacity.
Two Stages, Two Worlds
The festival unfolds across two core venues: The Arches Main Stage at the Franschhoek Monument and the Jazz Village inside the town’s historic church.
Friday at The Arches opens with The Kesivan amaBig Band Experience, led by South African drummer and composer Kesivan Naidoo. Sharing the bill are UK pop icons Wet Wet Wet, Irish art-pop innovator Róisín Murphy, and Brother Kujenga — a politically charged collaboration fusing Afro-futurism, soul and experimental rock.
Saturday leans deeper into jazz’s contemporary frontier. South African cultural force Thandiswa Mazwai joins Mercury Prize-winning UK collective Ezra Collective. The evening closes with a headline collaboration between Robert Glasper and Bilal — two architects of modern jazz and neo-soul whose partnership promises improvisational intensity and musical dialogue.
Intimacy at the Jazz Village
If The Arches offers scale, the Jazz Village delivers depth.
Friday’s programme includes Grammy-nominated vocalist Stacey Kent, alongside Madala Kunene and Sibusisle Xaba. Stellenbosch-based pianist Ramon Alexander performs with acclaimed saxophonist Buddy Wells.
Saturday’s highlight is A Kind of Blue, a Miles Davis centenary tribute featuring Eddie Henderson, Javon Jackson, Donald Harrison, George Colligan, Buster Williams and Lenny White.
South Africa’s Kyle Shepherd Trio closes the Village programme with a set rooted in lyrical modernism and African resonance.
A Festival Beyond the Stage
On Sunday, formal stages pause for a “Slowdown” along the Montreux Mile on Huguenot Street. Un-ticketed performances, public bars and curated wine activations extend the experience beyond traditional concert spaces.
The Montreux Jazz Festival, founded in 1967, has hosted legends from Miles Davis to Nina Simone. The Franschhoek edition seeks to carry that legacy forward — not through scale, but through curation.
With further announcements still to come, the message is clear: Africa is not simply joining the Montreux story. It is reshaping it.
A Kind of Blue Band’ – with Eddie Henderson
‘The 2026 Montreux Jazz Festival Miami opened with a landmark Miles Davis Centennial Night at the Miami Beach Bandshell this year, and not to be outdone, Montreux Franschhoek will share in the joy of celebrating the music of one of the most influential figures in music history.
The A Kind of Blue Band, featuring Eddie Henderson, Javon Jackson, Donald Harrison, George Colligan, Buster Williams and Lenny White, is an all-star collective that performs music from the iconic 1959 sextet session Kind of Blue, and the hard bop and exploratory music of Miles Davis in the 1950’s and 60’s. Together they bring all the weight of the trumpeter’s modal jazz to the Cape Winelands.
Ezra Collective (UK)
Since their disruptive third studio album, Dance, No One’s Watching, in 2024, Ezra Collective have continued to break down barriers for UK jazz. They are the first local jazz band to win a BRIT Award (Group of the Year), having been nominated for four awards; they have a Top 10 album in the UK; have been playlisted on BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra; have performed on Live Lounge; and have been nominated for the BBC Sound Of poll.
Written during a blistering 2023, which saw Ezra Collective tour the world, No One’s Watching continues to be an ode to the sacred, joyous act of dancing. Together they fuse elements of Afrobeat, Calypso, reggae, hip hop, soul and jazz.
A Tribute to Bheki Mseleku, presented by Gareth Lockrane and Bokani Dyer
Bokani Dyer and Gareth Lockrane present a heartfelt tribute to the late Bheki Mseleku – a giant in the legacy of South African music. As a key member of Mseleku’s group in the UK before the jazzman’s passing in 2008, virtuoso flautist Lockrane doubled as band co-ordinator tasked with notating the compositions they would perform. At the time of his death, Lockrane had built up a sizable collection of unrecorded works, and now for the first time these songs will be performed in the country of Mseleku’s birth.
Thandiswa Mazwai (SA)
Nothing short of mesmerising, Thandiswa is one of the most influential post-Apartheid singers in South Africa. She began her career in 1996 with Jack Knife and pioneering kwaito act Bongo Maffin.
After 6 award-winning albums with Bongo Maffin, she ventured into a solo career which saw her first project, Zabalaza, reach double platinum status, winning a Kora award for Best African Female and four South African Music Awards. Her critically acclaimed sophomoric release Ibokwe and third album, Belede, reached gold status within a few weeks of release.
Sankofa, her fourth album, combines archival Xhosa samples, jazz and West African music. It includes songs produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, Chris Bruce and Nduduzo Makhathini.
Known for her electrifying performances, the iconic singer has appeared all over the world and continues to be one of Africa’s most dynamic artists.
Msaki presents ENTROPY: The Heart as an Echo Chamber ft Jesse Clegg (SA)
Asanda Lusaseni Mvana, fondly known as Msaki, is a much-loved composer, singer, and songwriter. Trained in fine art, graphic design, film photography, and curation, she embodies the rare fusion of musical and visual storytelling.
She contributed to Black Coffee’s Grammy Award–winning Subconsciously album and her Fetch Your Life collaboration with Prince Kaybee became one of South Africa’s most iconic anthems – topping national charts. Her debut EP Nalithemba (2013) and full-length album Zaneliza: How the Water Moves (2016) also established her as a formidable songwriter.
Often described as a “song catcher,” she creates atmospheric soundscapes that bridge traditional African rhythms with contemporary global sounds.
For her presentation at Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek, Msaki unveils ENTROPY: The Heart as an Echo Chamber, a deeply intimate and emotionally layered work exploring love, vulnerability, healing and transformation.
She is joined by Jesse Clegg, whose melodic sensibility, expressive vocal presence and songwriting depth add a powerful complementary voice to the performance, creating a moving dialogue between two of South Africa’s most compelling contemporary artists
