Carlo Mombelli returns to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival with “Chapter 7”, marking a new era as he embraces life as a full-time musician.
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After more than four decades in music, acclaimed South African bassist and composer Carlo Mombelli is not slowing down, he is starting again.
As he prepares to return to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Mombelli speaks less about legacy and more about renewal, a deeply personal shift he calls “Chapter 7”.
“Well, ‘Chapter 7’ is, for me, a new chapter in my life,” he said. “Because I was at the university for 20 years, I ended up being the head of the music department there, and I retired last year.
“Now I’ve basically retired from academia, and I’ve gone full out, 100% musician again.”
It marks a significant turning point for an artist long regarded as one of the country’s most distinctive jazz voices. Born in Pretoria and largely self-taught, Mombelli built a career defined by curiosity and collaboration, performing across the world while helping shape South Africa’s jazz landscape at home.
For years, his life balanced two demanding roles, educator and artist.
“At the same time I was busy with academia, I was still doing my music and composing and recording, that never stopped,” he said.
Now, without the structure of university life, he finds himself returning to something more instinctive.
“I look at the different chapters in my life, and I realise that this next chapter is Chapter 7. I’m just a full-out musician again, practising, performing, composing new works.”
There is both freedom and urgency in that shift.
“You know, we are playing a 2 000-seater venue, but I’m going to treat it as if it’s a 50-seater venue and try and play the music as intimately as possible.”
At the centre of that performance is collaboration, particularly with singer and poet Msaki.
“The audience can expect quite a unique experience, where we take a singer and a poet-songwriter like Msaki and blend it in with my music,” he said.
He will be joined by a line-up of musicians he describes as deeply expressive, including pianist Shepherd, trumpeter Marcus Wyatt and drummer Jonah Sweetman.
For Mombelli, the festival is woven into his own story.
“I knew Rashid Lombard very, very well, he started the festival, and I played at the first one. I’ll never forget that first festival that I played on,” he said.
More than two decades later, that connection still carries weight.
He estimates he has performed at the festival about five times, each one leaving a lasting impression.
“It’s always been a magical experience because people are actually going there to get something, they’re there to experience something,” he said.
“I love the fact that they put on so many South African musicians, so that it makes it a very special South African experience, but also a lot of international performers. It’s an international festival for me, it definitely matches the great festivals in the world.”
This year’s set will also feature new material from his upcoming album, recorded in Europe and now in its final stages.
As he steps onto the stage once again, not as an academic or mentor but simply as a musician, there is a sense of both reflection and renewal.
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