The Urban Sessions, a series of live streamed music concerts, is exploring a new way of online performance to help musicians hit badly by Covid-19 restrictions.
Brauteseth adds, "Much as we play music for ourselves and the wonderful moments of bliss when we're locking into our fellow musicians and speaking a wordless language that says so much, we also play because it brings joy and may make a difference... If it speaks to at least one person in the room, we're doing something meaningful outside ourselves."
One possible model for making live music happen again is offered by the Urban Sessions: a series of live streamed ticketed music sessions, whose jazz offering is curated by Aymeric Peguillan (former host of both the Orbit Jazz Club and, before that, neighbourhood venue Peg's Cosy Corner).
The equity business model means both short-term ticket earnings and longer term potential from streams such as video on demand, broadcast licensing and DVD sales will split 50-50 between the production team - "Everybody's investing their craft," says Olivier - and the bandleader.
"There's a huge social divide in the online South African music market," explains Olivier.
