Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, with South African and Jamaican ancestry, Zwelakhe-Duma began studying with Jeff Fuller at New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts before receiving both a BM and MM from New England Conservatory in Boston. At NEC, he studied acoustic bass with Cecil McBee and Don Palma, as well as improvisation and composition with Jason Moran, John McNeil, and Jerry Bergonzi, and joined the studio of legendary bassist Ron Carter.

This education laid the foundation for a career spanning more than two decades and encompassing recordings and performances across Western and Eastern Europe, the UK, the US, Asia, and Africa. A recipient of the 2011 Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Fellowship, he is also a teaching artist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Jazz for Young People,” Litchfield Jazz Camp, and the New England Conservatory’s Jazz Lab. Zwelakhe-Duma currently resides in New York City and is an integral member of Grammy-award winning Arooj Aftab, and Blue Note Artist Nduduzo Makhathini ensembles respectively.