Robbie Jansen

Robert Edward Jansen (5 August 1949 – 7 July 2010) was a South African musician and a folk hero in the Western Cape. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa.

Jansen began his musical journey in pop bands such as The Rockets, performing music made popular by the South African radio stations such as Springbok Radio. The first instruments he played were the concertina and the mouth organ. The repertoire of the first bands he played with consisted of British pop of the hippie era. But after a trip to London, which was part of a prize in a band competition, he soon discovered black music from the USA and in particular the groups with brass sections and he decided he wanted to be a brass instrument player. Brass instrument bands were not new to him as his father was associated with the Salvation Army bands, but Jansen chose the rock and jazz genre for himself. He played in the brass section of Cape Town's cult jazz/rock group The Pacific Express, from where he went solo as an alto-sax player and singer.

His first nationwide recognition in South Africa was as a member of the Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) group. He and fellow saxophone player, Basil Coetzee toured and recorded with Brand, notably on the "Mannenberg" sessions. He later recorded with Brand then known as Ibrahim on other projects by the ground breaking jazz pianist.

His former bands were all in some way ground-breakers - such groups as Oswietie, The Hearthrob and Sons of Table Mountain all offered original music. Jansen was lead singer and multi-instrumentalist in these line-ups.

South African duo Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu brought him on board to play flute and saxophone on Juluka's debut album, Universal Men. Jansen joined the growing band for their next two albums, but departed between African Litany and Scatterlings to resume his solo career.

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