PIANIST Dr Kathy Brown has already put in motion her New Year’s wish. She says her next big project will be an album with South African influences which, if things go according to plan, should materialise in 2013.

The inspiration for the set came from Brown’s recent six-week visit to South Africa.

“It was an adventure, South Africa is an interesting country. Their music is wide and varied,” Brown told the Jamaica Observer. “When I sat back expecting to hear some African township music, I was so surprised to hear jazz standards being played. They love rock, pop, reggae and dancehall.”

While in South Africa, Brown played the Eldorado Jazz Festival in South Africa, alongside South African and Ghanaian musicians.

Another high point of Brown’s South African trip came on Sunday, August 26 in the Alexandra township, located in Gauteng province. The Alexandra Chamber of Commerce declared it Kathy Brown’s Day.

For Brown, a physician who is well known in local jazz circles, the proposed album would be her second. Her first, Mission: A Musical Journey, was released in 2008.