Eddie Petersen Official Website

Eddie Petersen was born in Cape Town, South Africa.  His musical influences stem from His father who performed with several dance and jazz bands in and around Cape Town.  His mother was active in the performing arts as well and was a tap dancer for local variety clubs.  Music was always a key feature in the home as he, from an early age, cut His teeth on the sounds of Astrud Gilberto and Walter Wanderley.

In high school (1975) he heard a family friend, John Isobell, play guitar the way he had never heard it played before.  He was sold and started to learn Classical Guitar with his brother (Leon) and a schoolfriend (Gregory Petersen).  The word obsession best describes his passion for music from that point on.

In the early 80's, he joined a jazz band, Tarkus, as a keyboard player.  A very hard and humbling experience having little or no technical ability on this instrument.  It could well be said that he learned on stage.  A few years later, he was one of the founder members of Concert Boulevard, a jazz band based for a long time at The Galaxy, a night club in Athlone (CT).  This band offered him a blistering experience and not long after, he joined several other bands on the local circuit performing in a very vibrant local jazz scene.

It was during the mid 80s when he met two musicians who influenced him profoundly in terms of performance and musicality.  He was approached by Lionel Beukes to join his band Time Machine.  With his wife, Rosalyn on Saxophone, they were resident at The Cotton Club (subsequently, Duke Ellington's) for a long time.  Sammy Hartman was the other musician who inspired him during that period.  The insights and skills of these musicians has since had an influence on his craft even to this day.  Their contribution to the musical heritage of Cape Town is something that needs to be recognised along with many others not mentioned here.  

During this time he was a full time school teacher, guitar tutor, arranger and composer (theatre), and a student of music technology.  He quickly built up his own studio and produced backing tracks for solo artists and provided a facility for rehearsals for select local artists.

It was, perhaps, performing on the local restaurant circuit where he met an incredible amount of people including musicians who have had an effect on his musical life.  Eddie had an established duo with his wife, Ursula, and together they performed as the duo 'Flipside'.  For a long time, Leon, joined them on Bass and Vocals and they became a well-established trio on the local music circuit.

In 1998, Eddie and Ursula moved to New Zealand.  He settled into the teaching profession to secure employment and musical performance took a backseat for a while.

Recently, he started a jazz band - Vuyiseka - and invited a few friends to join him.  They are Lance Philip (drums), George Packard (bass) and Steffen Gores (guitar).  As a band they love to perform Latin Jazz (Brazilian) and related genre.  They do, however, cater for the diverse Wellington music scene.

Eddie is currently working on a recording project and performing with various local artists.