Safaricom International Jazz Festival has become a solid part of the Nairobi festival circuit. In it’s 4th year, the festival has hosted some of the biggest jazz artistes on the planet including Richard Bona, Salif Keita, Brandon Marseilles, Jonathan Butler and Roberto Fonsecca. In 2017, the festival will be hosting American Alto-Saxophonist and six-time Grammy Award winner David Sanborn will be the headline on Sunday 26th February at the Kasarani Training Grounds.

Sanborn has released 24 albums – eight of them Gold and one Platinum – in a career spanning over four decades. A performer with the uncanny ability to draw in even the harshest jazz critics, Sanborn was introduced to jazz at the age of three as part of his treatment therapy after contracting polio, and went on to release his first solo album Taking Off in 1975.

Known for his masterful blend of traditional jazz, instrumental pop and soulful R&B, he has played with legendary musicians such as the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Luther Vandross, David Bowie, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder. David Sanborn will be joined on stage by an equally talented line-up of musicians drawn from the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa at the event, whose theme is: Music That Moves. Music lovers who attend the event can expect to enjoy a selection of pure jazz as well as a mix of jazz fusions with influences from around the world.

Taxi Wars from Belgium, all girl trio The Hazelnuts from Israel, British-Asian clarinetist Arun Ghosh, South African Bokani Dyer and Ray Lema & Saka Saka Band from the Democratic Republic of Congo will make up the star studded line-up, which will also feature Kenyan bands Shamsi Music, Nairobi Horns Project and Mwai and The Truth.

In a departure from previous editions of the Jazz Festival, Safaricom will this time host a VIP show, several cultural nights and a schools show targeting younger music lovers and students, all in addition to the main event.

Proceeds from the festival since launch reached KES 19 million in 2016 and will go towards supporting the Ghetto Classics, a non-profit programme that teaches music skills to youth from underprivileged backgrounds. The programme supports about 650 children from several low-income neighbourhoods in Nairobi.

One of my favourite (and probably one of his most popular) jams from David Sanborn is ‘The Dream’. I remember the first time I heard it and the way it made me feel. It’s a wonderfully dreamy composition and I can’t wait for David to perform this one. Take a listen to it below.

mwendeEventsMusicDavid Sanborn,Kenya,Nairobi,Safaricom International Jazz Festival
  Safaricom International Jazz Festival has become a solid part of the Nairobi festival circuit. In it's 4th year, the festival has hosted some of the biggest jazz artistes on the planet including Richard Bona, Salif Keita, Brandon Marseilles, Jonathan Butler and Roberto Fonsecca. In 2017, the festival will be...