For lovers of jazz music in Kenya, radio provides the other main option for listening to their chosen genre, apart from their own jazz collections.

Most fans know the times and days FM radio presenters will be featuring Earl Klugh, Grover Washington, Paul Hardcastle, Charlie Parker or any other of their favourite jazz artistes.

Jazz Hour and Capital Jazz Club are aired by KBC and Capital FM respectively on Sunday evenings, and they are the only two stations that still feature the genre, down from four 10 years ago.

Metro FM, now a reggae station, had Metro Jazz every Sunday from midday, while Easy FM (formerly Nation) had Barbecue Jazz Curry and Jazz Jams on Sunday and Monday nights, respectively.

While most of the jazz music played on radio was – and still is – largely foreign, the last five years have seen the emergence of local jazz, complete with Kenyan artistes, gigs, a steady following, and lately, local albums.

Late last year, Aaron Rimbui launched his second album, Alfajiri, which has elements of contemporary music, and Keys of Life, his debut 2004 13-track album that featured elements of world music and understated benga percussion.

in launching Alfajiri at the Mavuno Dome, Mombasa Road, “Krucial Keys” as Rimbui is popularly known, followed a now well-beaten jazz path.

Those who went there ahead of him include Joseph Hellon, Chris Bittok, Grant Chamberlain, Jacob Asiyo and bands such as Four Winds, Harmoniq’s, The Usual Suspects and Ed Silveira’s Trio at the Coast.

While most of them hold live concerts, Rimbui and Hellon have cemented their images with albums, with Hellon having three to his credit, namely Zamar (encounter), Ekkaleo (come out) and Bizkuti, which was launched last year.

The albums feature elements of benga, chakacha, reggae, and zouk, to provide a blend of music that is not only Kenyan, but which can also be enjoyed by jazz fans anywhere.

In a country that has more hip-hop, ragga and gospel artistes, these jazzy ones are the odds one in, despite their genre being widely regarded as elitist.

Indeed, the only other African country with a homespun jazz tradition is South Africa, home to the iconic Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Zakes Nkosi, Jimmi Dludlu and Jonathan Butler.

And while South Africa’s annual Cape Town Jazz Festival is on the cards in April, the North Sea Jazz festival, its local version fronted by Rudy and Marion Van Dijck’s Sarakasi Trust, was last held here in February, 2006.

But undaunted, local jazz is thriving by borrowing from benga, the only truly Kenyan beat.

“Benga is the next big beat in defining Kenyan jazz, the way South Africans popularised theirs by infusing it with kwaito,” Hellon remarked during one of his concerts.

His albums, which borrow heavily from benga, contain songs with Jewish or Dholuo titles such as Berith (covenant), Selah (pause and think), Herani Kende (only your love) and Apako Nyingi (I praise your name).

On two Sundays every month, Double Take comprising alto saxophonist Bitok and Lawrence Mwai on keyboards, perform their repertoire of contemporary popular cover versions of vernacular, gospel and secular numbers at Tamasha, Hurlingham.

On the night I went there, Bittok, who plays by listening to the tunes rather than reading the notes, was belting out Eagles, Hotel California, Miriam Makeba’s Pata Pata, Steve Wonder’s Master Blaster, Otis Blackwell’s Fever, Paul Desmond’s Take Five, Sipho Mabuse’s Jive Soweto and Papa Wemba’s Rail On.

“It is easier to popularise a jazz culture by playing popular cover versions before introducing hard jazz,” says Bittok.

Bittok took up jazz 12 years ago, but since the genre did not have much following, he “played mostly at private functions and establishments such as Palacina and Village Market, as well as for my own enjoyment.”

Now most jazz musicians and bands are playing 19th Century music from New Orleans, US the world jazz capital, much to the amusement of a growing base of local jazz buffs.