Lex Futshane, the South African bass player in the 1992 student band NU Jazz Connection, was the first to tell me that the great South African jazz trumpeter Feya Faku had died while touring Switzerland on 23 June. He was born on 6 June 1962 and was just 63 years old.
Within a day of Feya’s passing, my wife Catherine Brubeck and I had heard from every member of the student band that I’d helped form, except the late Lulu Gontsana of course. They expressed great sadness and praised not just his playing but also the man himself.
