Jaedon Daniel

Jaedon Daniel is versatile pianist, producer and composer. Born in musical family, his first source of musical inspiration came from church music. His introduction to jazz was through his uncle, Melvin Peters, a renowned jazz pianist, composer and arranger. From an early age, he knew his life and work will be centred around music. His journey began with violin lessons at the age of 8. When he was 11 years old, he decided to take up piano lessons as well. He began to accompany his uncle to gigs, and witnessing the mastery and skill of his uncle and fellow jazz musicians, set him on the course to choose the piano and jazz music.

Through-out school, he was taking weekly piano lessons. His knowledge of piano and jazz expanded when he enrolled for a BMus music program at the University of KwaZulu-Natal under the tutelage of great pianists; Neil Gonsalves, Burton Naidoo, and Sbusiso Mashiloane. Their patience, guidance and lessons they taught him about the piano, jazz and music, has helped shape his musicality and sound. Even though he did not complete his degree, which he plans to do so in the next 3 years, he credits his time at the university as the foundation of his musical career.

His first project as a band leader and composer was with the Blvck Crystals, a jazz and hip hop group he founded in February 2016. The band comprised of 5 instrumentalists (piano, bass, drums, lead guitar, and bass guitar), two vocalists, and two rappers. The band first began performing music composed by Jaedon at jazz venues in Durban such as the Jazzy Rainbow, The Rainbow Restaurant, Centre for Jazz, The Chairman, and various local festivals, including the Durban Blues Festival, and Africa Day Celebration at the Durban City Hall. In June they went on a self-funded tour to Cape Town, where they performed at The Drawing Room, Piano Bar, The Waiting and Louis Moholo Moholo Arts Centre. In 2017 the band was the recipient of the ConcertSA Mobility Fund and travelled to Mozambique where they performed at prominent venues in Maputo and the annual Poetry Festival at CCFM. They also did live performances on day time national television programs.

In 2018 he released his first hip hop album titled Hold the Game. In 2020 he released several singles. Steez in March which features Deemo, Juice ft Da Pharo, Sookai & Wade, Leo Szn ft Ava & Namakau Star, and an EP titled Future Throwback. In 2021 He released a single titled Pray and an EP titled Poet’s Heart Killer. He also appeared on Enews to promote his performance at the Poetry Festival.

As a session musician, he works with Kyle Deutsch, with whom the relationship began in 2015. He has also worked with Shekhinah, Kelly Khumalo, Dj Lag, Roleen and Lucas Raps. He has also performed at the Splashy Fen Festival, Polo Vivo Festival in Johannesburg and Durban Day. He has appeared on SABC 3 Expresso performing with Kyle Deutsch...