The SWR NEWJazz Meeting, the legendary sound laboratory for jazz of SWR, helps artists develop exciting projects since more than 50 years. Kyle Shepherd, the most innovative and important pianist of the contemporary South African jazz scene, was the curator of the 2016 SWR NEWJazz Meeting.

“I see a particular value in exploring the music of my South African homeland and making it fit for the future.” Kyle Shepherd, born in 1987, is the most innovative and important pianist of the contemporary South African jazz scene. His sound boldly makes reference to the roots of township jazz and the Goema Beat of his hometown of Cape Town. Nevertheless, he refuses to be put into a pigeonhole; his horizon extends far beyond his beloved Cape Jazz.

Shepherd is the curator of the 49th SWR NEWJazz Meeting, the legendary sound lab annually set up by Südwestrundfunk (SWR) for improvised music. At his wish, four young jazz musicians from South Africa and the Benin-born guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke (who since 2001 has been living in the United States) met in November 2016 at the SWR’s Baden-Baden radio studios.

The musicians named their project “Sound Portraits From Contemporary Africa”. The African improvisers experimented for five days and developed a concert programme that they then presented on a tour in the SWR broadcasting area.