Kids Love Jazz Band at Hugh's Jazz Club

Kids Love Jazz Band is a Johannesburg-based jazz collective and live band challenging the idea that jazz belongs to another generation. Born from a youth-led cultural movement, Kids Love Jazz brings together emerging and established young musicians to create a sound that moves between jazz, soul, funk, Afrobeat, electronic music and contemporary African sounds.

The collective operates as a living and evolving band, with its lineup intentionally shifting as different musicians, collaborators and musical voices enter the Kids Love Jazz universe. The current lineup features Ofentse Sebula (EWI), Tebogo J Mosane (drums), Diteboho Kobedi (keys), Blessing Tshifularo (bass), Vuyo Tshwele (vocals), Thabang Moloi (flute) and Michael Nkuna (trumpet). Each member is an artist in their own right, bringing their individual sound, experience and musical identity into the collective.

Rather than functioning simply as a backing band, Kids Love Jazz exists as a platform for artists to experiment, collaborate and perform outside the traditional boundaries of jazz. The musicians maintain their own solo practices and projects, while coming together under Kids Love Jazz to create a distinct collective sound and live experience.

The collective has shared stages with some of the most exciting names in contemporary African and international jazz. In 2026, Kids Love Jazz closed the Johannesburg leg of KOKOROKO's AfroDiaspora Connection, performing as part of the cross-continental exchange between African and diaspora musicians. The collective also recently performed at Free the Jazz, the free Heritage Day concert presented as part of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz ecosystem, alongside a new generation of South African jazz, experimental and alternative artists.

At its core, Kids Love Jazz is about young people making, performing and shaping jazz for themselves. The project has grown beyond a single event or band into a cultural movement that creates opportunities for musicians, introduces younger audiences to the genre and makes space for jazz to exist alongside the sounds, aesthetics and realities of contemporary youth culture.

With every performance, Kids Love Jazz asks a simple question: what happens when young people stop being told what jazz is supposed to sound like and start making it their own?

Doors open at 18:00

Show begins at 19:30

Please refer to our website for FAQ's.

www.hughs.co.za

Tickets are non-refundable