A short while back, a love letter made me cry. It was from Gavin Minter and it wasn’t to me. Well, it was, but it wasn’t only to me. It was to all fans and supporters of The Green Dolphin, a seminal jazz dinner venue on The Waterfront . The letter announced its closure, and heralded the end of an era. Or perhaps the beginning of a new one?
“I am not sure if you realise the impact this will have on our local and national music lovers and musicians,” Gavin said in the letter, “speaking to musicians and listeners over the past month has made me realise how important this venue has been to the music industry. Besides a few hotel/restaurant type venues – there will be no jazz club available for Cape Town musicians to ply their trade and earn a living from.”
This is not the first loss for a jazz venue in the city. Opened in 1994 in Adderly Street, Manenberg’s Jazz Café later moved to V&A Waterfront, attempting two venues before closure after a few years. In this case, however, The Green Dolphin has 20 years behind it, and is not about to drown in obscurity. We chatted to Gavin about its achievements, contributions and plans to relocate in some form.
The Green Dolphin wasn’t just a financially sustainable home for local jazz musicians, it was a platform for international music exchange and an inspiration.“Most International jazz lovers already now about the Green Dolphin way before they step into Cape Town,” Gavin points out. Projects included sponsored showcases involving the New Jazz Talent and others, facilitating side-by-side performances between emerging talent and their idols. In a slight deviation from the norm, The Levis Vintage Sunday sessions warmed winter up with live acoustic versions of favoured contemporary rock, pop and alternative acts.
We chatted to Gavin about The Green Dolphin’s achievements, accolades and plans going forward.
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This image compliments of The Green Dolphin
CCT: How long have you been involved in the Green Dolphin, and in what capacity
Gavin: I played the venue as a musician for 20 years – I was in my 13th year as entertainment manager.
CCT: As someone who’s been intrinsically involved with The Green Dolphin, how do you feel The Green Dolphin has contributed to the fiscal sustainability of jazz music in the Western Cape over time?
Gavin: We have been a showcase an incubation platform for some of SA’s finest jazz artists. So many of the top players cut their teeth on that stage – and over 25 000 bookings of jazz musicians fed a lot a people. It taught musicians to engage with audiences and etiquette on the stage with other players. It groomed them for other function work – as well as enabled them to hone their craft.
CCT: What are some of the key projects that really pleased audiences/promoted the status of Jazz in Cape Town ?
Gavin: 1 – Chivas Regal New Jazz Talent Showcase – through an elimination of auditions – young up and coming jazz artists were able to perform on a recognised stage – with top musicians as their backing band and learn everything from performing, receiving their first pay cheque for it – knowing what repertoire to call on the night – how to present themselves – how to engage an audience etc.
2 – Johnnie Walker Jazz Impressions- same as the Chivas Regal.
3 – Levis Vintage Sundays – exposing new audiences to a wider spectrum on listeners – allowing support acts to open for their idols – bringing free music to the patrons – with a slant on acoustic and intimate settings with bands that don’t normally play in that style or type of venue.
4 – VusiMahlasela, Shaun Phillips, Louis Mhlanaga, Jonathon Butler, some of the bigger names in and out of the jazz genre.
CCT: How does a venue like The Green Dolphin fill in gaps that an event like Jazz Fest cannot?
Gavin: the festival runs 3 days a year [with the free concert] – we ran 365 days a year.
CCT: what do you feel jazz needs in order to become more robust, widely and frequently supported, and financially sustainable?
Gavin: government funding that endorses the music by subsidizing the musician’s fees and enables the longevity of clubs. If the arts councils are supposedly the patrons of the arts, why does support stop at tertiary level or the occasional big event. Why are the clubs who are in the trenches, holding the flag and running with the drummer boy the ones who are not supported? It is the heartbeat of the music that exists in the clubs -take for instance the SAMA’s – a big affair; glitz, glamour, entourages – fairy land. I would imagine that at least a third of those musicians had to beg their record companies to pay for their flights up to JHB and put them up in a room .I am sure the winners of some of those non-commercial categories don’t have a gig to play this week!
Often media opts not to feature live music content because events are subject to change, the industry is largely informal, unpredictable and doesn’t have a particularly glossy image in the public eye. Does a dedicated jazz venue make it easier for media to feature jazz/live music?
Gavin: The Dolphin ran for twenty years with music every night. You always knew that there would be music of the highest level performed there 7 nights a week. You would think that that would put you in favour of the media, however some fly-by-night venues and clubs that generally lasted one or two years certainly got more of the publicity in recent years; we were grateful for the weekly listings. When we had something exciting to cover we generally got some support.
What are some of your fondest memories at The Green Dolphin?
Winston Mankunku performing on one of The Coltrane Tribute nights, The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra , Moreira Chonguica performing with Bed on Bricks, so many incredible nights of watching emerging talent shine, people like Bokani Dyer, Kyle Shepherd, Tribe, Shannon Mowday, Melanie Scholtz, Judith Sephuma, The Billie Holiday Show , Jonathon Butler, Johnny Fourie with James Scholfield – too many as a player and as an organiser!
Where does the music go to die? We’ve come through a lot, from apartheid to economic downturn, yet we are still singing!
Gavin : I think that any artist, specifically in the jazz genre [as it is a hard way to make money] is involved in this art form because his calling demanded it.In any of the music genres, if you have to debate whether music is your intended vocation ,it isn’t. All the social-economic goings on are not who we are as people and definitely not who we are as artists. They are merely small, enticing ingredients mixed with many others that add to the melange of choices we adopt or allow to filter into our being. True artistry comes from a deeper place. If we look at Miles, Trane, Parker, Mankunku, Jansen, Mozart, Joni, Dylan, Stravinsky, we can see that they lived their intended vocation. We also recognise the honesty, integrity and commitment to their art form.
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Finally, a word of praise from Gavin to the people who pulled it off.
“My thanks are to Ralph Shulman, Jack Goldblatt, Carl Bayhack, Henry Shields; all the staff and managers over the years, all the guests who supported, all the press who helped notify the music lovers, and most importantly, the musicians who left their hearts, love and dedication to the greatest art form in the world. That is jazz – on the stage every night !”
The Green Dolphin may swim again. Gavin Minter and his team are looking at venues at the moment and weighing up the options. Email him at realmint@iafrica.com with ideas and insights.
All images (c) Jonx Pillemer unless otherwise stated.
