Newport Live Presents Melanie Scholtz /Aaron Rimbui; Jazz From South Africa

Newport Live will present South African jazz artists, Melanie Scholtz with Aaron Rimbui (Kenya), for a performance with their group,as Newport Live Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of South African Independence by 4 unique, award-winning jazz artists from South Africa. The show will be at on Friday, June 21st, 7:30 PM at the Newport Art Museum, 76 Bellevue, Newport, RI . Call Newport Live at (401)400-2774.

These shows commemorate the April 1994 elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power.

Melanie and Aaron and their group invite you and yours to join us for an intimate eve of South African Jazz brought to us straight from the Motherland.

Night three of our Spring and Summer celebrating South African Freedom Day showcases a sublime performance featuring South African vocalist and composer Melanie Scholtz and Nairobi-born pianist Aaron Rimbui, honoring the memory of the legendary vocalist, songwriter, and social activist known around the world as “Mama Africa,” Miriam Makeba. A Cape Town native, Melanie Scholtz has been a major artist on the South African scene since the early 2000s, releasing five acclaimed albums, working with jazz legend and Miriam Makeba’s one-time husband Hugh Masekela, and touring the world with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2019. Her 2013 collaboration with the iconic poet and anti-apartheid activist James Mathews, Freedom’s Child, featured SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Soweto Kinch.

Melanie Scholtz is a South African born, multi-award winning jazz singer and composer. She started playing the piano from the age of 5 and went on to study opera at The University of Cape Town Opera School where she graduated Cum Laude with a Performer’s Diploma in Opera in 2000. Melanie has released five successful solo albums and has been a featured artist and guest songwriter on many albums nationally and internationally. She has been a professional musician for more than 20 years and has performed all over the world including her native country, South Africa, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Her most recent performances include touring with Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra in their 2019/2020 season, with shows in New York, Chicago, South Africa and Vienna.

Melanie has been involved in the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from 2008-2014 as a performer and teacher as well as part of the mentorship program with the Artscape Youth Jazz program from 2006-2013. She also went on to teach at the University of Cape Town from 2004-2005.She has taught internationally in annual Jazz Camps in The Czech Republic, where she lived for 2 years. She currently resides in East Village, New York and is a permanent member of the vocal staff at 92Y School of Music. For the past 3 years, she has also given workshops for the 92Y Center for Arts Learning and Leadership in Visual Art, Songwriting and Music Production. She is also frequently invited by Jazz at Lincoln Centre as a featured singer/ musician giving workshops for conferences and events. Melanie is also worked for The Leadership Program, a New York based Teaching Artist DOE approved organization, for the past 3 years as a music and visual artist teaching artist, teaching across the board from Kindergarten to High School. She has also hosted workshops showcasing Music Production, Electronic Looping, Visual Art, Improvisation at CUNY, University of Pennsylvania and Smith College.

Harun Kimathi Rimbui (born 15 October 1979) known professionally as Aaron Rimbui is a Kenyan pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and producer who also goes by the nickname Krucial. He is regarded as one of East Africa's finest pianists and has served as head the Tusker Project Fame band.

Aaron was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He has one brother Tim Rimbui and a sister. Like many jazz pianists, Aaron started with a classical music education. He picked up the drums and played them for most of his childhood and early teens when at the age of 15,he started on the piano. Aaron suffered significant burn injuries as a result of a childhood accident. An experience which he says led him to faith.

His studio albums include: 'Keys of Life'(2005), 'Alfajiri'(2009) and 'Mavuno Worship Project' (2007)