Polish singer-songwriter and record producer, Basia Trzetrzelewska (pictured), has a very loyal fan base in Cape Town.
One of the artists who will perform at this year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival, she expressed apprehension about playing here for the first time. Though, she does realise that South Africans were aware of her work at the start her career: “I remember seeing, we would get these charts about radio play, and there were South African ones on it and I was excited about it,” she explained.
The 60-year-old gained fame here when she worked with Danny White and Mark Reilly as Matt Bianco in the early ’80s and radio stations followed her solo career with interest.
Initially it was Latin-flavoured cross-over jazz pop which made full use of her three-octave range and this has evolved into more harmonically complex songs.
Though she grew up in Poland, Brazilian music was a huge influence on her: “People are always surprised, me being Polish, being so into Brazilian music. Latin music is huge at Polish jazz festivals. It’s still like that.”
She says it is difficult to describe how each of her albums have evolved over the years, since each one has drawn on new influences: “I’m very aware of what’s going on around the world; I listen to music, I buy records, so I am very much influenced by what I hear.”
The two elements that always remain, though, are her distinctive voice, and the production which she and partner Danny White handle together: “So, that’s why they all have certain similarities, like the way Steely Dan always seems to sound the same. But, we see the change.”
The Friday night concert will feature 10 people on stage because it is important to her to create a big sound: “I want people to have that impression that there is enough of a contrast between tracks – some tracks will be just me singing with a guitar, other songs with a bigger sound.”
• Jazz Festival runs Friday and Saturday.