By JOWIT SALUSEKI –
LEGENDARY singers Earl Klugh, Oliver Mtukudzi and  Mi Casa will headline this year’s second edition of the Stanbic Bank International Jazz festival slated for 2-3 October at Lusaka’s Levy Park Mall.
With a career spanning over 30 years, American Grammy Award nomination legendary Jazz maestro Earl Klugh will bring a unique sound particular only to him.
The 61-year-old has been performing since he was barely 13 years.
In 1981 Klugh and Bob James received a Grammy Award for Best pop instrumental performance for their album One on One.
Klugh has recorded over 30 albums including 23 top ten charts, five of them number ones on Billboard Jazz album chart.
Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi, a connoisseur of smooth jazz returns to this year’s festival having headlined it last year when he shared the stage with South African artistes Hugh Masekela and Zonke who were on the list of international musicians to grace the inaugural Stanbic bank Jazz Festival.
Johannesburg based Mi Casa consists of J’Something, Mo-T and Dr Duda. The trio are acclaimed for their debut project Micasa Music which catapulted straight to gold and won them several awards at the annual MTN South Africa Music Awards in 2012.
Local artistes such as Scarlet, Abel Chungu, James Sakala, AfroRed, Kiki and the veteran musician Jaggari Chanda are also expected to elicit a vibrant vibe for the audiences who will part away with K700 for VIP and K450 for ordinary tickets as entry fee on each single day.
Tickets to the festival went on sell last week at selected Stanbic branches and the Misty Jazz Restaurant, among other locations.
Pay Television channel Multichoice Zambia will give out 100 tickets to some of its lucky Premium subscribers.
Stanbic Bank Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Helen Lubamba said: ’’we realised as a bank that as a country we did not have a signature event that had international stature thus our sponsorship of the Jazz Festival which offers a passion point for music enthusiasts’’.
National Arts Council (NAC) Chairperson Mulenga Kapwepwe said the forth coming Jazz Festival is anticipated to entice foreign tourists who will flock to Zambia to sample what the country has in stock beside music.
Standard Bank Group is renowned for sponsoring of arts with signature events such as the Grahamton Jazz Festival and the famous Joy of Jazz in South Africa.