Alex van Heerden (23 November 1974 – 7 January 2009) was a jazz musician from Cape Town, South Africa.
He was a self-taught musician who started to play trumpet at age 17, to avoid compulsory military training, during the apartheid era of South Africa.
Van Heerden also worked together with Swedish musician and producer Håkan Lidbo, creating electronic music on the side of the jazz and the vastrap he's been making.
He worked, together with his brother-in-law, composer and guitarist Derek Gripper, to recreate the rural music of the Western Cape within an acoustic setting.
Their two CD releases, Sagtevlei and Ale!x document this unique musical journey, as well as the score for the work for string quartet, guitar, accordion and trumpet Spore by die Bek van 'n Ystervarkgat.