Photo by Vicky Bergallo
Benjamin Jephta: Bassist Benjamin Jephta is one of the youngest bandleaders to perform as this years Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
By Atiyyah Khan
Bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta will have his homecoming this weekend. The twenty-three year old is one of the youngest musicians to play at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival this year, performing with his quintet.
Jephta relocated to Joburg a few years ago and has performed previously at the festival but this will be the first time as bandleader. Last year Jephta released his debut album ‘Homecoming’ to huge acclaim. He will perform compositions from this along with some new material at the festival.
Jephta was born in Cape Town, as the son of parents who both serve in the South African Police Service. He grew up in the Cape Flats community of Mandalay, situated between Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. “I always had a yearning to be a musician as a child and I would often mimic some of my music icons with a small wooden guitar by going on stage in church and sitting in with the band. This dream of becoming a musician, and my parent’s guidance, kept me focused and dedicated, even though I could easily have gotten caught up in a life of gangs and drugs that I was surrounded by in my community,” Jephta says.
Jephta attended primary school in Mitchells Plain for a few years before going to Muizenberg Junior School where he had the opportunity to play music and act in theatre productions. “My father used to be a singer in a top-40 cover band back in his day. He still has a great love for music, especially jazz. He has a big album collection as well as random instruments in the house. I naturally gravitated towards music because of this,” he says.
Jephta first started playing drums, then piano and guitar before eventually wanting to play the bass after seeing Sammy Webber perform. He pays huge credit to his music teacher Fred Kuit from Muizenberg High School, “He exposed me to jazz I had not heard before and also encouraged me to constantly play, transcribe and listen to music. He is probably one of the main reasons I am playing music today.” Kuit is also responsible for musicians such as Darren English and Claude Cozens.
It was during matric that Jephta realised he wanted to pursue music for the rest of his life. He attributes the Monday night jam sessions at Swingers Jazz Club in Wetton as a significant venue that helped his music education. “My dad would take me to Swingers for the jam on most Mondays. There I got to play with many musicians, learn lots of music and basically stay up late on a school night. I eventually joined the house band when I was in university.” Other Cape Town venues, such as Tagores and Straight No Chaser also became important for him as an emerging musician.
After completing his degree at UCT in music, Jephta felt that a change of scenery needed to be made and moved to Joburg. “I thought I was capable of much more and I was not being utilized properly. There’s also the factor of regular work and being financially happy. Also, I just wanted to live on my own in a new city as I became too comfortable where I was,” he explains.
Joburg has offered a new range of possibilities from playing with orchestras to hip-hop artists, and big bands to playing for TV shows. Jephta has found major support for his music in the city and says, “I enjoy how interactive the Jozi audiences are at performances. If they dig it, you’ll know!”
For Jephta, his debut album Homecoming was mostly an introduction to who he is. “There is so much more that people will still get to know about me. It has become difficult to describe the music I write, since I draw from lots different things. I still remain a big fan of melody, although I’ve decided to take some more liberties when it comes to harmony and rhythm,” he says.
Jephta says that he is incredibly excited to be playing at the jazz festival this year and he applauds the festival for including so many young local musicians on the line-up. “When it comes to jazz, people are always excited to see international acts, even if they do not know who they are, but what they don’t realize is that we have world-class performers within our country,” he says. Pianist Thandi Ntuli is one of these performers and a long-time friend of Jephta’s. The pair met at university and have played interchangeably in each others bands. Jephta will feature in Ntuli’s band at the festival tonight too.
After the jazz festival, Jephta has a few performances in Joburg and has a big show planned at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town with his quintet in June. He will also play at the National Arts Festival in July with Siya Makuzeni, this year’s Standard Band Young Artist Award winner for jazz.
Article appeared in April 2, 2016 in The Weekend Argus
For more info visit www.benjaminjephta.com or @benjaminjephta on Twitter.
Atiyyah Khan is an arts journalist writing for The Weekend Argus and independent news publications and is also the founding member of vinyl archiving/ DJ’ing collective, Future Nostalgia based in Cape Town
Grant Jurius 