sCopy=February 2004 
The late Basil Coetzee, was a cultural figure and one of the gurus of Cape Jazz.. Although a loner, politically marginalised and personally frustrated and sometimes moody, those that got to know him found a sincere man with a special sense of humour behind the mask.
His distinctive raunchy tenor sound and the untiring commitment to his roots made him one of the best known jazzmen to come out of South Africa. He earned the nickname "Mannenberg" after the hugely successful collaboration on the track of the same name with Dollar Brand in the late seventies. Basil toured and recorded extensively with Brand (Abdullah Ebrahim). 
Together with Robbie Jansen the two horn men created the unique brass sound of the group Pacific Express inspiring many younger jazz musicians in Cape Town. Some of these recordings are to be heard on "Pacific Express Anthology Part 1 and 2." In 1986 Basil formed SaBenza with some former Express members, notably drummer Jack Momple and bassist Paul Abrahams. In 1987 he recorded the highly praised album of the same name. 
After a break of 2 years Basil joined up with Bass player Paul Abrahams as a duo. The two were personally close friends and they performed at political or arty events often for no payment. With Paul's musical contribution he recorded the album, Monwabisi in an attempt to establish his style of jazz which was different to the American tradition. This was against a turbulent political time in the Cape and work was hard to come by for the UDF aligned artist.
Basil's next main duo partner was guitarist Errol Dyers. The two performed together on his final album, merely entitled B, Basil's name amongst his music friends. The recordings for B were done in the last year of his life. He never heard the final mixes but many jazz fans site this album as his best work.
As one of the few local jazzmen that had in some sense made it internationally, Basil would use his position to help his less privileged colleagues to keep going in music.&