Jazz Musician Andrew Lilley to Collaborate with Visual Artist Lisa Africa for Artistic Showcase at The Blue Room in Cape Town

Esteemed professor and director of The South African College of Music teams up with visual artist Lisa Africa, bassist Joshua Nemaire and dummer Joshua Klein to deliver an interactive performance of original music, improvisation and live painting at the Blue Room in Cape Town on Wednesday 6 September 2023.

The Blue Room at Grub & Vine is a live music and cocktail lounge that pays homage to the soulful sounds of jazz and the blues.

Andrew Lilley is a well established part of the jazz community in Cape Town and has performed and recorded with everyone and anyone on the jazz scene. He recently released a solo piano album called 'Silhouette', available on all digital platforms, heralded by well known Swedish Jazz saxophonist and art critic as 'A brilliant solo piano album' In this performance Lilley takes two of his proteges under his belt in a dynamic trio performing original works and pure improvisation which will form the stimulus for the Lisa Africa's visual work. Joining him on drums and bass, Joshua Klein and Joshua Nemaire are already making waves on the jazz scene in Cape Town.

The performance forms part of Heritage Month and as such is a rich integration of visual live artistic work 'performed' to a live interactive performance of jazz musicians. Aside from his accomplishments as a recording artist, Lilley is also a professor in the Jazz Studies Programme at the University of Cape Town where he was recently appointed as the Director of the South African College of Music. He holds a PhD in music and lectures in jazz piano, theory and improvisation.

As an academic, Lilley's main focus is jazz performance and composition, including the performance and composition of original works. He has extensive national and international performing and recording credits and is also the author of published works including the recently published book on South African jazz legend Bheki Mseleku.

Lilley believes that his own active performing and composing career is an integral part of his teaching practice.

"For me, music is not made up of independent subjects but is more about curiosity. All the great players spent hours practicing but also figuring out things, asking questions, being curious, and through understanding advancing the art. While emphasis is often placed on developing concepts in jazz improvisation, developing individuality of expression in the discipline is really the ultimate goal," he says.

Lilley's work is a testament to this and to his commitment to the craft. With its stunning compositions and innovative approach to recording, this performance is a must for any jazz enthusiast.

EVENT DETAILS:

Venue: The Blue Room
Address: 103 Bree Street, Cape Town CBD
Date: Wednesday 6 September 2023
Ticket Prices: R200 each
Time: Visual artist showcase starts at 19:00pm and the jazz show starts at 20h00pm
Tickets are available through the Blue Room website: https://theblueroomza.com OR via 087 153 5244.

MORE ABOUT ANDREW LILLEY:

• Andrew Lilley is a Cape Town-based musician and jazz pianist. Both his parents were Classical orchestral musicians. Early days were scheduled around musicians' lives, gigs and performances. He studied Classical music as a child but soon found himself attracted to more contemporary music forms including soul and jazz music.
• Growing up in Cape Town in the '70s to '80s exposed him to great local players like Winston Mankuku, Johnathan Butler and the Schilder brothers who were very active performing musicians at the time. Andrew found his way into the scene through the jazz workshop, an informal workshop school run by the legendary Merton Barrow.
• Andrew left SA and moved to Boston where he studied at Berklee College of Music, returning post-94 to take up a position at the University of Cape Town in the Jazz Studies Programme headed by Mike Campbell where he has remained and is now a Professor and the Director of the College of Music.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website: https://www.andrewlilleymusic.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrt_Tzir0JMHh-JkhOh0y3g

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