High school jazz bands wows at #CTIJF warm up

The bands of between five and seven members each were all part of the music and career programme which forms a vital part of the run up to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

The bands of between five and seven members each were all part of the music and career programme which forms a vital part of the run up to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

Published Mar 30, 2017

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Cape Town - Eight high school jazz bands from around the Western Cape wooed an Artscape audience on Tuesday with powerful vocals, swinging brass and slick guitars licks which belied their youthful appearances.

The bands of between five and seven members each from Livingstone High School, Worcester High School, Wynberg High School, Alexander Sinton High School, Settlers High School, Groote Schuur High School, Heathfield High School and from Mitchells Plain, Cedar High School were all part of the music and career programme which forms a vital part of the run up to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

At the end of the show, the 10-piece 2017 All Star Band, chosen from the talented pool of high school musicians, performed a haunting rendition of a new composition by Frank Cuddumby, titled Mr Ribbons and Boeta B, a homage to Robbie Jansen and Basil Manenberg Coetzee.

The All Star Band players are Benjamin Lewis (keyboards), Timothy Arendse (drums), Shane Napoleon (alto sax), Jaden Philander (guitar, Alex van As (bass), Dene Paris (trumpet, Jordan Harrison (trumpet), Tiyane Stemmet (vocals) and Esihle Valeia (tenor sax).

All Star Band keyboard player Benjamin Lewis, 14 of Malmesbury who travels every day to attend Wynberg High School for the performing arts said he began to play piano when he was three years old and “I just improve myself, playing keyboards in different churches and that is where I get my different types of feeling for music from”.

Playing jazz came with the onset of high school and now “I have to tone down when I play in church because the church people don’t know about how I really play. They will get confused. My dad is very worried about that,” said Lewis who would like to “take my music anywhere I can”.

All Star Band vocalist, Tiyana Stemmet, 17 of Heideveld said her voice has always been “husky” and though she loves singing jazz now, she would like to be a soul singer one day because “the music touches my soul”.

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Cape Argus

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