Johannesburg new Jazz Venue

For years Johannesburgers have wondered how it was that a city like this, so full of sound and fury and bits of culture, could be without a dedicated jazz bar. Visitors from abroad, admirers of Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim, would stare in despair as tourist guides told them there wasn’t really a home for jazz in Johannesburg.

The Orbit is on two floors: the restaurant on the ground floor and the music venue in the fabulous stage space upstairs. The stage, with massive piano hauled all the way from Germany, dominates. Our lovely friends Kenneth Creamer and Faranaaz Veriava were off to see the celebrated Marcus Wyatt Quintet, and asked us to tag along.