Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s love and music in the Johannes household
THEIR story is tightly woven with strands of music, from jazz, classic, gospel, hip hop, traditional African beats to salsa.
At every opportunity, pianist and The Settlers High School’s music teacher Tracey Lee Johannes, 33, and her husband, bassist and UCT jazz studies lecturer Shaun Johannes, 35, of Bellville, love to share their talents on stage, in recording studios, with fellow musicians and their students.
During the festive season, live bands are sought-after for corporate functions, bars and musics festivals. The duo are in demand, whether it’s for Tracey’s band, QuinTessential, or gigs with other bands.
Tracey’s interest in music began with listening to her father Albert Appolis’s collection of “quality jazz” and teaching herself to play on Casio beginner’s keyboards, until she began formal lessons in Grade 4 at Excelsior Primary School in Stikland.
By the time she began
Grade 8 at The Settlers, she had the skill to study music as a subject. Furthering her music studies at UCT was a given after matric.
In his teens, Shaun was on track to becoming an accountant with an Allan
Gray Orbis Foundation scholarship, but he got bored and the keyboard proved a worthy distraction during youth activities at the Wynberg Congregational Church.
Shaun’s talent earned him a place in George Werner’s Little Giants project, at Jazzathon and in the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band at the Grahamstown Festival, where he met UCT jazz studies Professor Mike Campbell and senior lecturer Darryl Andrews.
At UCT, where Shaun and Tracey met in 2003, Shaun changed from studying accountancy to the College of Music, where he requested an audition and was accepted to study music.
“I have no graded music… everything I learnt was on the bandstand. I pretty much played all day long. I have a Master’s degree now and I’m busy with my PhD.
“I’m living the dream, a rags-to-riches story in music education. It’s what I am,a working musician with a long, lucky and illustrious career, and a lot of it stems from relationships built up through Little Giants, the National Youth Jazz Band and UCT.”
Shaun has played bass for Johnny Clegg, George Benson, Jonathan Butler and Katherine Jenkins, among others.
This holiday, besides performing and holidaying with Shaun and their two-yearold son Jaime, Tracey will be preparing The Settlers High School Jazz Band’s repertoire and writing music charts for their debut on the Manenberg Stage at the Cape Town International Jazz festival next March.
Shaun will be playing at several corporate functions over the festive season including New Year’s Eve at The V&A Waterfront’s One & Only Resort, with Jeremy Olivier and their band, Long Street Premium Band.
At the end of January, he and Olivier head to New York to tour and play on jazz drummer Will Calhoun’s latest album, which features tracks with Branford Marsalis and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.