V&A Waterfront Take the Stage series is a platform for emerging South African musicians and musical ensembles to showcase their talents at V&A Waterfront. Experience these emerging artists live for a series of pop-up performances starting November 2024 until the end of March 2025 which are free for all to attend.
Bheki Khosa is the well-known left-handed guitarist from Umlazi, Durban, South Africa. In 1991 he received a Talent Award and scholarship to study music in America. He returned in 1995 from studying at the University of Hartford, Connecticut, with the great Jackie McClean, one of the few living legends.
While in America, Bheki was resident with Larry Ridley’s jazz legacy playing the whole spectrum of African American music. The band was headed by Larry Ridley himself, who played with Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollin, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Kenny Burell, George Benson, Dexter Gordon and far too many other musicians great to mention.
by the time Bheki left America he was already making a name for himself playing clubs like Blue Note, Saint Mark’s Zinno’s and Smalls, a famous club often referred to as :The Mecca of Jazz” which has jam sessions every night to all hours. Khoza also played at the famous Shamberg auditorium in Harlem.
Some of the musicians he held the opportunity to play with included Kenny Barron, Hilton Ruiz, Kirk Ligtsey, Cecil McBee, Virgil Jones, Charlces Davis and Steve Davis, who now Anarchy, a jam club for African music, in particular. Gigs stemming from the African connection included backing vocalist FLoxy Bee from Nigeria and Thuli Dumakude, a singer from South Africa, of Mabatha Fame.
