The two-time Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble takes over the former Orbit room in Braamfontein on 12 September, turning six human voices into the sound of an entire band.
Just 6 complicate the idea that a jazz ensemble needs conventional instrumentation to achieve rhythmic and harmonic complexity. Their appearance at Jazz at Jozi Gold also connects an internationally recognised South African vocal language to the former Orbit room at 81 De Korte Street, where an intimate Saturday-night jazz culture is being rebuilt in Braamfontein.
There is something slightly rebellious about walking into a jazz room and leaving the instruments at home.
They are not performing despite having no instruments. Having no instruments is the performance language.
No bass guitar. No drum kit. No piano waiting in the corner. No horn section.
When Just 6 step onto the Jazz at Jozi Gold stage in Braamfontein on Saturday, 12 September, all of that work will fall to six voices.
The South African vocal ensemble has spent years developing what it calls Afro-Vocal Play, an approach that stretches a cappella far beyond stacked harmonies. Bass lines are built vocally. Percussion is recreated by mouth. Horn phrases, rhythmic patterns and melodic textures emerge from the same six people singing at the centre of it all.
It means that, at its best, a Just 6 performance can briefly make you forget there is no band on stage.
The current line-up — Ntuthuko Malaza, Rashaka Mbevhana, Kwande Cakata, Mthandazo Hospas, Fezile Mavuso and Nkosie Hospas — moves across jazz, R&B, pop and African rhythmic traditions without treating those styles as separate boxes. Just 6 describes Afro-Vocal Play as its own musical language, and the ensemble's official biography traces its beginnings to the decidedly unglamorous choice of rehearsing in a bathroom because the acoustics worked.
What followed travelled considerably further.
Just 6's Grammy story is particularly interesting because of the category in which the ensemble has appeared. At the 65th Grammy Awards, Armand Hutton's arrangement of “As Days Go By (An Arrangement of the Family Matters Theme Song)”, performed by Hutton with Terrell Hunt and Just 6, was nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. A year later, Just 6 returned to the category with “Angels We Have Heard On High”, arranged by Nkosilathi Emmanuel Sibanda.
That second nomination put a distinctly Just 6 recording alongside work connected to Ludwig Göransson and other internationally recognised arrangers at the 2024 Grammys.
Yet Saturday's performance brings that global recognition back into a far smaller room.
A Different Kind of Return to Braamfontein
Jazz at Jozi Gold has quietly been rebuilding a Saturday-night habit around live jazz at 81 De Korte Street.
The address matters.
Before becoming Jozi Gold Brewing Company, the building was home to The Orbit, the celebrated jazz club that became one of Johannesburg's important meeting points for musicians and audiences before closing in 2019. In 2026, Jazz at Jozi Gold began putting live jazz back into the room through a regular programme of South African performers.
That does not make Jozi Gold a resurrection of The Orbit. It is its own space, with its own identity. But the musical memory of the building is difficult to ignore.
For Just 6, that context makes the absence of instruments even more interesting.
Jazz has always depended as much on listening, improvisation, interaction and rhythmic instinct as it has on the physical instruments used to produce those ideas. Just 6 strips the equation down to the body itself. Six performers have to become rhythm section, harmony, melody and texture simultaneously.
In an intimate room, there is very little distance for that technique to hide behind.
Nadia Jardine of Jozi Gold Brewing Company says the response to the venue's Saturday jazz programme has shown an appetite for exactly that kind of close encounter with live music.
“What has been incredibly exciting for us over the past few weeks is seeing just how strongly Johannesburg has responded to these Saturday nights,” Jardine says.
She describes audiences arriving early, remaining at the venue for the evening and returning for subsequent performances — signs, she believes, that Johannesburg still wants a regular live-jazz experience built around proximity between musicians and listeners.
Just 6 extends that idea beyond conventional expectations of what a jazz ensemble should physically look like.
“Six voices creating the sound and energy of an entire band in a room this intimate is going to be something very special,” Jardine says.
Johannesburg's September of Jazz
The timing also lands Just 6 inside a particularly active month for jazz in Johannesburg.
Less than two weeks after the Braamfontein performance, the 27th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz will take over the Sandton Convention Centre on 25 and 26 September 2026, bringing together major South African and international performers across multiple stages.
Jazz at Jozi Gold offers almost the inverse experience.
Instead of a large festival footprint, six singers enter one comparatively intimate room.
Instead of moving between stages, the audience stays close to one performance.
And instead of an orchestra of instruments, the entire sonic architecture begins and ends with the human voice.
For a group whose story reportedly started with six people chasing good acoustics into a bathroom, there is something fitting about that simplicity.
The rooms have become more prestigious. The audiences have become international. Grammy nominations have entered the biography.
The central experiment, though, has barely changed:
How much music can six voices make?
On Saturday night in Braamfontein, Just 6 get another chance to answer.
Event Details
Just 6 Live at Jazz at Jozi Gold
Date: Saturday, 12 September 2026
Venue: Jozi Gold Brewing Company
Address: 81 De Korte Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Bookings: Quicket
Reporting basis: Based primarily on event material supplied around Just 6’s 12 September 2026 Jazz at Jozi Gold performance, including the date, venue, booking information and comments from Nadia Jardine of Jozi Gold Brewing Company. Just 6’s membership, Afro-Vocal Play terminology, bathroom-rehearsal origin and public description as a two-time Grammy-nominated ensemble were independently checked against the group’s official website. The Grammy history required a technical clarification. The Recording Academy confirms that the 2023 and 2024 nominations connected to Just 6 were in Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, which is formally an arranger’s award. Armand Hutton was the nominated arranger for “As Days Go By” in 2023, with Just 6 among the performers; Nkosilathi Emmanuel Sibanda was the nominated arranger for “Angels We Have Heard On High” in 2024, performed by Just 6. The venue context was cross-checked against Time Out Johannesburg and Viranova’s existing reporting on Jazz at Jozi Gold. 81 De Korte Street was formerly home to The Orbit and began hosting the new weekly Saturday-night jazz series through Jozi Gold Brewing Company in 2026.
Story index Key points, people & topics
Key points & topics
- The South African ensemble behind two Grammy-nominated a cappella arrangements takes over the former Orbit room in Braamfontein on 12 September, turning six human voices into the sound of an entire band.
- No bass. No drums. No piano. When Just 6 arrive at Jazz at Jozi Gold on 12 September, six voices will have to do all of it. Their self-developed Afro-Vocal Play turns a cappella into rhythm section, horn line, harmony and...
- Just 6 bring six voices and no instruments to Jazz at Jozi Gold on 12 September, taking Afro-Vocal Play into Braamfontein’s former Orbit room.
Frequently asked Answers from the desk
Who are Just 6?
Just 6 are a six-member South African vocal ensemble known for a style they call Afro-Vocal Play.
Who are the current members of Just 6?
The current line-up is Ntuthuko Malaza, Rashaka Mbevhana, Kwande Cakata, Mthandazo Hospas, Fezile Mavuso and Nkosie Hospas.
What is Afro-Vocal Play?
Afro-Vocal Play is Just 6’s name for an approach in which the human voice performs the roles normally associated with instruments including bass percussion rhythmic figures and other band textures while drawing from jazz pop R&B and African musical traditions.
Does Just 6 perform with instruments?
Their core Afro-Vocal Play performance style is built around six human voices recreating the sound and functions of a band without conventional instruments.
When is Just 6 performing at Jazz at Jozi Gold?
Saturday 12 September 2026.
Where is Jazz at Jozi Gold?
Jozi Gold Brewing Company at 81 De Korte Street in Braamfontein Johannesburg.
Was 81 De Korte Street previously The Orbit?
Yes. The address was previously home to The Orbit one of Johannesburg’s most important jazz venues before it closed in 2019.
How can people book for Just 6 at Jazz at Jozi Gold?
Bookings are through Quicket.
Is Just 6 Grammy nominated?
The group describes itself as two-time Grammy nominated. Technically both Grammy nominations connected to the ensemble were in Best Arrangement Instrumental or A Cappella which is an arranger’s award and listed Just 6 as the performing artist on the nominated arrangements.
What was Just 6’s first Grammy-connected nomination?
Armand Hutton’s arrangement of As Days Go By was nominated in 2023 with Armand Hutton featuring Terrell Hunt and Just 6 named as the performers.
How we reported this Sources, verification & accountability
- Reporting type
- News
- Verification
- Official source
- Reporter / responsible desk
- Viranova Music Desk
- Primary evidence
- Based primarily on event material supplied around Just 6’s 12 September 2026 Jazz at Jozi Gold performance, including the date, venue, booking information and comments from Nadia Jardine of Jozi Gold Brewing Company. Just 6’s membership, Afro-Vocal Play terminology, bathroom-rehearsal origin and public description as a two-time Grammy-nominated ensemble were independently checked against the group’s official website. The Grammy history required a technical clarification. The Recording Academy confirms that the 2023 and 2024 nominations connected to Just 6 were in Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, which is formally an arranger’s award. Armand Hutton was the nominated arranger for “As Days Go By” in 2023, with Just 6 among the performers; Nkosilathi Emmanuel Sibanda was the nominated arranger for “Angels We Have Heard On High” in 2024, performed by Just 6. The venue context was cross-checked against Time Out Johannesburg and Viranova’s existing reporting on Jazz at Jozi Gold. 81 De Korte Street was formerly home to The Orbit and began hosting the new weekly Saturday-night jazz series through Jozi Gold Brewing Company in 2026.
- Additional verification
- Just 6’s official biography currently lists Ntuthuko Malaza, Rashaka Mbevhana, Kwande Cakata, Mthandazo Hospas, Fezile Mavuso and Nkosie Hospas as the six members and defines Afro-Vocal Play as a style in which jazz, pop, R&B and African rhythms are recreated through the human voice. The Recording Academy lists “As Days Go By (An Arrangement of the Family Matters Theme Song)” among the 2023 Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella nominees, crediting Armand Hutton as arranger and Armand Hutton featuring Terrell Hunt & Just 6 as performers. For the 2024 Grammys, the same category listed “Angels We Have Heard On High”, with Nkosilathi Emmanuel Sibanda as arranger and Just 6 as the performing artist. Time Out Johannesburg confirms that Jazz at Jozi Gold operates from 81 De Korte Street, the former Orbit address, as a weekly Saturday-night live-jazz programme. The 27th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz takes place at Sandton Convention Centre on 25 and 26 September 2026.
- Image
- Two-time Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Just 6 · Supplied by I Be Music
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Filed by Viranova Music Desk for the Music desk · Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa. Published 08 Sept 2026.
Sources
Primary material
Viranova obtained, attended or witnessed this directly.
- Just 6 is scheduled to perform at Jazz at Jozi Gold on Saturday 12 September 2026 Jazz at Jozi Gold / Jozi Gold Brewing Company event material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 8 September 2026
- The Just 6 performance takes place at Jozi Gold Brewing Company at 81 De Korte Street in Braamfontein Johannesburg Jazz at Jozi Gold / Jozi Gold Brewing Company event material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 8 September 2026
- Nadia Jardine says Johannesburg audiences have been arriving early staying through the evening and returning for subsequent Jazz at Jozi Gold performances Jazz at Jozi Gold / Jozi Gold Brewing Company event material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 8 September 2026
- Nadia Jardine describes the prospect of six Just 6 voices creating the energy of an entire band in the intimate Jozi Gold room as particularly suited to the series Jazz at Jozi Gold / Jozi Gold Brewing Company event material supplied to Viranova · Verified Viranova original information accessed 8 September 2026
Secondary material
Reported first by another publication or organisation, and credited here.
- Just 6 defines its musical language as Afro-Vocal Play combining contemporary jazz pop R&B and traditional African rhythms while recreating instrumental sounds vocally Just 6 official website accessed 8 September 2026
- Just 6 currently consists of Ntuthuko Malaza Rashaka Mbevhana Kwande Cakata Mthandazo Hospas Fezile Mavuso and Nkosie Hospas Just 6 official website accessed 8 September 2026
- Just 6 says its early rehearsals included using a bathroom because of the acoustics Just 6 official website accessed 8 September 2026
- The Recording Academy lists As Days Go By among the 2023 Best Arrangement Instrumental or A Cappella nominees with Armand Hutton as arranger and Just 6 among the performers Recording Academy accessed 8 September 2026
- The Recording Academy lists Angels We Have Heard On High among the 2024 Best Arrangement Instrumental or A Cappella nominees with Nkosilathi Emmanuel Sibanda as arranger and Just 6 as performer Recording Academy accessed 8 September 2026
- Jazz at Jozi Gold is a weekly Saturday-night jazz series operating at 81 De Korte Street in Braamfontein the former home of The Orbit Time Out Johannesburg accessed 8 September 2026
- The 27th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz takes place at Sandton Convention Centre on 25 and 26 September 2026 Standard Bank accessed 8 September 2026
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