Join multi-award-winning Durban-based pianist, Melvin Peters, and his former student, Naresh Veeran, in what promises to be an epic Saturday afternoon of old school jazz in Morningside.
With an international music career spanning some four decades, Peters shared the stage with many jazz legends both in South Africa and abroad. A student at the former University of Natal in the early 1980s, he toured the United States with his university band, the “Jazzanians”, and then went onto to build an enviable performance career. A sought-after soloist, session musician and jazz education examiner, Peters is a former jazz education lecturer who also holds qualifications from Harvard University.
Performing his “final year” undergraduate examination pieces after 30 years, Peters’ former student Naresh Veeran says he plans on simply playing in tune this time. Deploying a combination of tenor saxophone and flute, Veeran will cover, among others, such standards as Black Orpheus, Besame Mucho, In A Sentimental Mood, My Favourite Things and a 2022 version of Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond’s iconic, Take 5.
Veeran took a break from music performance in his late twenties to join the SABC and, eventually, corporate South Africa. A best-selling author and a filmmaker along the way, he began performing publicly 18 months ago as a semi-retirement gift to himself. Veeran has since performed in venues in and around his home town of Durban. A martial arts and meditation practitioner in the Renshi Kung Fu tradition, Veeran is an MBA/PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Jazz Conversations On My Lawn is Veeran’s initiative to share his Morningside garden and Durban’s weather with musicians, picnic lovers and fans of live music on the last Saturday of the month.
Kicking off the first of such sessions, Peters and Veeran will perform on May 28 at 14h00. Pack a picnic, a blanket and your favourite tipple. Entrance is R100. Limited space so book early on 0823760799.
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