I composed all of this music about a year ago and feel it’s time for it to be recorded to get my music out there . I need R30 000 to start my project and get into studio.
Blake Hellaby has been playing piano for 19 years, starting with classical training and eventually moving onto studying jazz piano.
He obtained his BMus Jazz Performance at the University of Cape Town.
Blake has been playing in various groups all of his musical career, mostly playing other people’s music. He has learnt a lot from many musicians and have been fortunate enough to perform with and get to know many of the South African musicians he grew up admiring.
“I now feel I am ready to record my own music and put it out there.”
The music that he has written is a mixture of Afro Jazz, ghoema, straight ahead jazz, and funk.
He wants to record the whole album in a live set-up with live HD video recording.
He needs R30 000 to pay for studio time, A further R60 000 will help complete the video recording and editing as well as designing & printing the CDs.
Blake Hellaby is a young emerging artist in South Africa, making a name for himself across many musical genres.
He graduated from the esteemed University of Cape Town with a BMus Performance in 2014.
Blake has performed with local artists such as McCoy Mrubata, Frank Paco, Mark Fransman, Ian Smith, Buddy Wells, John Hassan, Nono Nkoane, Adelia Douw and the Delft Big Band.
In 2013 he produced, mixed and mastered his band’s, ‘Under The Influence’, first EP ‘Hindsight’, which was signed to the Chicago based record label and radio station ‘Chicago House FM’. Of the 5 songs released, 2 made it onto the Heart 104.9fm top 10.
Blake was selected to be part of the Standard Bank National Youth Band, The Standard Bank Schools’ Big Band, The Miagi Youth Orchestra, he was also the regional winner of the Yamaha Key of Note awards.
He has performed at The Oslo Jazz Festival, The Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the Jo’burg Joy of Jazz Festival, The Grahamstown Jazz Festival, The Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin, Jazz on The Rocks – Titties Baai. He has also toured Burgundy, France with The Delft Big Band.
Blake’s local performances includes a weekly performance at the Grand Café and Beach in Granger Bay with his band, “Under The Influence” as well as at The Bascule Whiskey Bar at the Cape Grace Hotel, performing in the Frank Paco Art Ensemble, the Jo Kunnuji Experiment, The Delft Big Band as well as other musicians in Cape Town.