The Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band presents a selection of the top young jazz musicians in the country between the ages of 19 and 25, who have been selected through a gruelling online audition process. This year the band is under the musical direction of award-winning pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, who has kept jazz fresh by combining it with his intimate knowledge of African culture and of music’s healing power. With a range of accolades from 2015 Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz to a SAMA for Best Jazz Album and an AFRIMA Best Artiste in African Jazz, it’s refreshing to hear the young virtuoso articulate his music through spiritual and cultural lenses. Makhathini is the head of the Music Department at Fort Hare University, and, working with this group of young musicians, he will be presenting a programme of original material augmented by the musicality of our country’s finest young jazz talent.