Jabulani Leffall has a voice that cannot be ignored. It resonates with soul, clarity and authority, and he put it to impressive use for years as a commentator on business and world affairs on ABC World News, CNN and CBS Radio. He also co-created and hosted Central Standard on Kansas City’s NPR-member station KCUR 89.3… until an inner voice told him that it was time to move on.

Jabulani is now the vocalist/lyricist of the funk/soul duo Free! Mason Jar, which he founded with musician Benjamin Evans. Their debut album While Supplies Last is a collection of cautionary tales as to the dangers of greed, apathy and forgetting where you come from.

Jabulani joined us to talk about how his childhood church choir helped him find that voice, how a chance meeting ended his circuitous route back to music and led to the creation of Free! Mason Jar and why his decision to quit his promising radio career on the air wasn’t so much a breakdown as it was a breakthrough.

For more on the music of Free! Mason Jar, check them out on iTunes and BandCamp and follow them on Twitter @Free_Mason_Jar.

To find Jabulani’s essays, check out his blog.

And be sure to check Free! Mason Jar out in Portland at the Ash St. Saloon on April 5th, performing with Mz. Etta, Brian Foxworth, Dookie Green, Glen Hoover, Donte Ames along with Her AlphaFees, LaRhonda Steele and Nafisaria Scroggins-thomas.