Robbie Jansen, the cape doctor, saxophonist, Cape Jazz, jazz safari, Cape Town, South Africa

Robbie Jansen - the cape doctor

With a career spanning thirty years, Robert Edward Jansen can truly be termed a fixture of the Cape Town music scene. The virtuoso alto saxophonist, flute player, arranger and composer is proficient on several instruments and in a variety of genres, and has played with many of South Africa’s most illustrious bands, including Pacific Express, Sabenza, and Juluka. His status as a guru and forerunner of the unique brand of port music known as Cape Jazz cements him as one of the greatest life-long contributors to South African culture.

Born in Cape Town in 1949, the self-taught musician’s first instruments were the concertina and mouth organ. He entered the music business as a guitarist, playing clubs with bands such as The Rockets to satisfy the demand for music in the style of the British pop that had taken the world by storm.

A trip to London introduced him to the latest black music from the United States, particularly the bold and imaginative use of brass sections that was emerging in jazz and jazz-influenced music of the 60’s.

Inspired, Jansen decided to teach himself the saxophone, and set about mastering the jazz idiom. In the 70’s, he was inducted into the tightly knit jazz fraternity of the Cape when he joined the legendary godfather of Cape jazz, Abdullah “Dollar Brand” Ibrahim, and fellow sax and flute player Basil Coetzee, to work with the cult jazz/rock band Pacific Express. Jansen’s raw yet lyrical alto sax sound can be heard alongside Coetzee’s tenor on the seminal Ibrahim album, Mannenberg, the title track of which is still widely acknowledged as representing the unparalleled embodiment of the Cape Jazz sound.

In the turbulent 80’s, Ibrahim joined the mass exodus of black and coloured musical talent to live in exile in Switzerland, and Jansen moved on to collaborate with bands such as Spirits Rejoice and Workforce. He maintained close links with Basil Coetzee, however, performing and recording with his band Sabenza on numerous occasions, and continuing his commitment to the role of music as a vessel for protest and unity. 1989 saw the release of his debut solo album, Vastrap Island, in South Africa, Germany and the U.K.

When a serious illness nearly took Jansen’s life in 2005, the Cape Premier announced that the state would meet his hospital bills. This decision brought Jansen back into the public imagination and gave him well-deserved recognition as a living piece of musical history and a cultural legend of the Cape.

These days he can be heard playing alongside Mac McKenzie and Hilton Schilder and the Goema Captains of Cape Town, as well as fronting his own band, Sons of Table Mountain. Their first album, 2001’s The Cape Doctor, takes its title from Jansen’s own industry nickname, which is in turn the local nickname of the Southeaster that clears the city of smog.

His most recent album, 2006’s Nomad Jazz, was nominated for a SAMA Award.

You can meet Robbie Jansen personally on the Cape Town Jazz Safari!

More articles on Cape Town Jazz:
The Custodians of Cape Jazz
Mac McKenzie
Hilton Schilder
Jazzing the 7 seas
One Jazz riff after another in Cape Town (New York Times)