Well, it’s been an absolute age, the longest break from playing music that John and I have ever experienced. After an insanely busy year of performing, touring and teaching, we arrived in South Africa in late 2024, amid the global turmoil of endless armed conflict, censorship, civil unrest and major ideological divisions, to the peaceful Elands River Valley and its magnificent mountains and valleys.

My brother’s iconic Stone Circle Lodge & Museum had been suffering under some dubious management for a couple of years as he was occupied with sowing the seeds of One Small Town and the Ubuntu movement throughout many parts of the world, and so we hit the ground running, cleaning house and weeding out the bad seeds, so to speak. Everything was broken, or missing, and we have honestly never worked as hard as we have in the past three months. The rewards are significant, and we are now the caretakers of a glorious place where we enjoy working with a great crew of people and where we grow much of our own food, tend chickens, host guests and tours of the many historic sites in the area, and where we are about to start presenting monthly jazz weekends. We’re so damn excited about working with some of our favourite South African colleagues again, about introducing our sound to a whole new audience, about reconnecting with our friends and supporters, and even the possibility of collaborations with colleagues from abroad.

It’s a completely different life from what we’ve known. Yesterday was the first time since our arrival that we took some time and just played, it took a while to warm up, but quite a thrill. We’ve set the date and booked the band for our first jazz weekend, 5 April. Marc Duby has been a constant throughout my career, whether on stage or in academia, he introduced John and me to each other, and we cannot wait to play with him again. Godfrey Mgcina played on our last album and remains one of SA’s top drummers as well as being a great human. This is the dream quartet and a perfect way to start our jazz weekend series.

We have beautiful chalets, a country kitchen, a riverside bar, gorgeous grounds, a library, in depth tours of the stone circle ruins in the area, the Stone Circle Museum, the giant footprint, and the ancient Adam’s Calendar.

A quiet retirement? Not a chance.

www.stonecirclelodge.co.za

“Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter that has ever lived. He has had a greater influence on American music than any other one man. By freeing American song, and by introducing and perfecting Ragtime, he was the first to sow the seeds of an American music.” – George Gershwin.

Irving Berlin’s is the epitome of the American success story. 

He remains the most prolific of all American composers, whose career spanned 60 years, writing an estimated 1500 songs, many of which are still heard and played a century later.

American jazz pianist and arranger John Fresk and Czech/South African singer Barbora Tellinger have created a project which aims to bring together jazz musicians from across the globe in a celebration of Berlin’s music. 

Launching  March 3rd 2023 at the Jazz Dock in Prague, Between Berlin & Bebop will feature Ukranian Taras Voloscuk on bass, Welsh Osian Roberts on tenor sax, Czech drummer and educator Martin Šulc, Czech trombonist and teacher Přemysl Tomšíček, and Czech trumpeter Martin Jůzl.

The aim of the project – collaborating with a vast network of American, Czech and global jazz musicians – is to arrange, perform, and record a wide variety of Berlin’s material over the next few years.

We’re happy to share our year-end gig schedule for 2019. Beginning with a Friday at our 2nd home, Malyglen, with Milos and Martin. Then the first of two gigs at Prague’s oldest jazz club, the Reduta, on 8 November. We’re excited about our first Jazzboat appearance on 29 November, and just damn thrilled to be playing some of our own material with the Pribrami Big Band on 2 December. This will be followed by Malyglen, Christmas at the Reduta, and back on the Jazzboat on 27 December.

Great news!

Our new album, “As Long As You’re Living” is officially released! It is available as a physical, hard-copy by contacting us at [email protected], or as a digital download from the following sources:

iTunes – click here.
Amazon – click here.
Spotify – click here.
Google Play – click here.

Please support our efforts to be heard and distributed. We are very proud of this project, and we are sure you’ll love it!

Thanks so much –

John and Barbora

Our new studio album out next week. With Marc Duby on upright bass and Godfrey Mgcina on drums. Some familiar tunes for jazz lovers, some quirky songs from way back when, and some of our latest original material. Our best yet. Videos up soon.

If you click the link above, you can hear a sample from our upcoming CD. We’re excited to be releasing the album in March! The album features the quartet, with Marc Duby on bass and Godfrey Mgcina on drums. We’re doing songs from the Great American Song Book, some pieces from the contemporary jazz lexicon and several of Barbora’s great original pieces. Right now we’re still editing, mixing, mastering, determining the artwork and scheduling videos. Whew! There’s a lot involved, but in the end, it will be VERY much worth the wait!