Free the Jazz turns a Sandton rooftop into a Heritage Day stage for emerging artists

Johannesburg will get a free jazz programme on Heritage Day when Free the Jazz takes over the Sandton City Rooftop on 24 September, one day before the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival opens nearby.

The new public concert runs from 10am to 7pm and is designed around emerging and independent artists working across jazz, neo-soul, jazz fusion, Afro-rock, house and experimental music.

What landed

Entry is free, although advance registration is required and attendance remains subject to venue capacity.

The line-up brings together artists at very different points in their careers. Jazz Maestro Sbu, winner of the Joy of Jazz #JazzReignited DJ search, is on the programme alongside experimental jazz and Afro-rock group The Brother Moves On.

Namibian house DJ and producer DJ Castro will also perform, while vocalist and composer Bokang Ramatlapeng and trumpeter Robin Fassie add younger live-jazz voices to the bill. The Jazzaholics, featuring Nothemba Madumo and Nonn Botha, and Kids Love Jazz are also part of the day.

The timing is deliberate. The main Joy of Jazz Festival takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre on 25 and 26 September, with paid day and weekend passes. Free the Jazz creates a lower-barrier entry point into the same cultural weekend before the main festival begins.

That matters because jazz in South Africa has a visibility problem that is different from a talent problem. The country continues to produce skilled young musicians, but discovery often depends on specialist venues, festivals and audiences that already know where to look.

Putting an emerging-artists programme on a public rooftop in the middle of Sandton changes the access equation. It gives casual listeners an opportunity to encounter the music without first committing to a premium festival ticket.

The programme also makes room for the ecosystem around jazz. Platforms including Kids Love Jazz, Sankayi Jazz Series, Hugh’s Jazz Club, Jozi Gold, Untitled Basement, Umanyano Lwe Jazz Festival and SAMPRA are expected to be represented.

That network matters as much as any individual performance. Sustainable music scenes are built by venues, promoters, educators, rights organisations, curators and audiences repeatedly creating places for artists to work.

Free the Jazz is therefore less interesting as a warm-up event than as a test of whether a major festival weekend can create a meaningful public-facing space for the next layer of talent.

What is still open

Free the Jazz takes place at the Sandton City Rooftop on Heritage Day, 24 September 2026, from 10am to 7pm. Registration is free through Quicket.