Joseph Hellon can count on the fact that most people recognise his name, if not his face. The irony is that this fame is less for his sterling music than for the unsavoury public drama involving him and his associates for most of the last two years.
Before that disruption to his career, Hellon played smooth jazz to a select audience every last Thursday of the month at his Runda residence. His love for the saxophone goes back to the time he joined the Starehe Boys Centre band as a 10-year-old..
He made his debut with the album “Zamar” in 2005 followed by “Ekkaleo” released a year later. His last album in 2008 - an amalgam of jazz with the Kenyan music styles of benga, zouk and isikuti titled “Bizkuti.
Despite the sophistication of traditional jazz, Hellon thinks he has found the formula to make the music genre palatable to more Kenyans: “All I have done is adopt benga, which is authentic Kenyan music, by using my skills as a saxophonist “ he says. Read more: Business Daily, Feb 17, 2012
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