Guitarist

Born and raised in Cape Town’s historic Langa township, saxophonist and flutist McCoy Mrubata has come to represent the South African city’s glorious jazz legacy.

As a child he absorbed the soulful hymns of the Zion Church, the chants and rhythms of traditional healers and the South African swing of the Merry Macs, an early Cape Town jazz combo that rehearsed across from his home. Leaving school after the bloody 1976 Soweto uprising, he threw himself into music, studying with Langa legends such as pianist Madoda Gxabeka, tenor saxophonist Winston Ngozi, trumpeter Fezekile “Blackie” Tempi and penny whistle master Robert Sithole.

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McCoy Mrubata

SFJAZZ Center

A celebrated musical explorer known for founding genre-mashing ensembles, South African guitarist Derek Gripper has taken his well-traveled instrument into previously unimagined realms. In his Bay Area return to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Freedom Day, he’s playing solo acoustic guitar, focusing on his extraordinary original compositions and transcriptions of music by West Africa’s greatest masters of the 21-string kora, particularly Mali’s Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko.

Derek Gripper

Cape Town-based guitarist Derek Gripper draws inspiration as a global music improviser from classical repertoire spanning Bach to Arvo Pärt, and from Brazil’s Egberto Gismonti to Mali’s Toumani Diabaté and South Africa’s Madosini. Observers are welcome for this Improvisers Exchange Ensemble class; admission is free.

Improvisers Exchange Workshop With Derek Gripper (an Ellnora Reverb Event)

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

In this Global Transfer concert, Kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko transports listeners across 700 years of Malian griot tradition and beyond through brilliant collaborations with dynamic, improvising artists such as Derek Gripper, a South African classical guitarist acclaimed for transcribing and recording legendary kora works performed by the masters, as debuted in the United States at ELLNORA 2013.

Derek Gripper

Guitarist

Events

Apr 28, 2024

McCoy Mrubata · San Francisco Jazz

Apr 25, 2024

Derek Gripper · San Francisco Jazz

Mar 22, 2024

Improvisers Exchange Workshop With Derek Gripper (an Ellnora Reverb Event) · Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Mar 21, 2024

Derek Gripper, Guitar And Ballaké Sissoko, Kora (an Ellnora Reverb Event) · Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

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