Jazz Finds Its Way Back to Braam as Sydney Mavundla Takes Jozi Gold

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By Viranova Music Desk06 Jul 2026Music

Few addresses in Johannesburg carry jazz memory like 81 De Korte Street.

For many Joburg music lovers, the Braamfontein space is remembered as the former home of The Orbit, the jazz club that helped give the city a steady live-music pulse before its closure in 2019.

Now, that address is finding new life through Jozi Gold Brewing Company, where Jazz at Jozi Gold is building a weekly Saturday-night home for South African jazz.

This Saturday, 11 July, the series welcomes celebrated trumpeter Sydney Mavundla for a live performance at Jozi Gold Brewing Company. The event is listed for 18:30 to 23:30 at 81 De Korte Street, Braamfontein, with tickets from R350 and an age restriction of no under-18s.

That setting matters.

Jazz is never only about the musician on stage.

It is also about the room.

The listeners.

The memory of who played there before.

The way a city gathers around sound and slowly gives a venue meaning.

In that sense, Jozi Gold’s Saturday-night jazz series is not simply programming. It is cultural reactivation. It takes a space already loaded with Joburg jazz memory and asks whether a new audience can build fresh rituals around it.

Mavundla is an especially fitting musician for that task.

Born in Johannesburg and raised in Barberton, Mpumalanga, he has travelled a long road through South African jazz. His early musical development led him to the University of Natal, where he studied jazz under Professor Darius Brubeck, before later spending time at Florida International University in Miami, where he studied with Cuban trumpet icon Arturo Sandoval.

His debut album, Luhambo, released in 2016, earned him a 2017 South African Music Awards nomination in the Best Jazz Album category, placing him alongside artists including Nduduzo Makhathini, Thandiswa, Darren English, Dave Reynolds and Pops Mohamed.

More recently, Mavundla’s Dirge for Our Fathers has continued that sense of musical memory. The album has been described as a tribute to the elders, legends and musical ancestors whose artistry shaped the path for future generations. It also received a 2025 Metro FM Awards nomination in the Best Jazz Album category.

That makes his upcoming Jozi Gold performance feel especially fitting.

This is not only another jazz night in the city.

It is a return to a room with history — a space where Braamfontein’s cultural past is being reactivated through live sound, audience connection and the presence of musicians who understand the weight of legacy.

“Joburg has one of the richest jazz histories in the world, and this series is about honouring that legacy while giving audiences a place to experience it live every week,” says spokesperson Glynis Jardine. “Jazz at Jozi Gold on Saturday nights is about creating a consistent space where great musicians and real music lovers can connect.”

That consistency is important.

One-off events can create excitement, but scenes are built by repetition. A room becomes part of a city’s music life when people know they can return. When musicians know there is a stage. When audiences know Saturday night has a sound. When cultural memory is not only celebrated in nostalgia, but practised in real time.

The July programme is set to continue with Linda Sikhakhane on 18 July and Vusi Mahlasela on 25 July, extending the series’ commitment to putting major South African musicians back into the heart of Braamfontein.

For a city that has always carried jazz in its bones, Jazz at Jozi Gold feels like more than a weekly programme.

It is a signal that Braamfontein’s cultural rooms are not finished speaking.

Event Details Bookings: Quicket Venue: Jozi Gold Brewing Company, 81 De Korte Street, Braamfontein Date: Saturday, 11 July 2026 Time: 18:30–23:30 Tickets: From R350 Age restriction: No under 18s

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