Jazz students from two universities – with two very different cultures and sounds – get a chance to show the reason they took jazz as a career. This year’s UKZN Jazz Band consists of 7 members and is an ever-evolving sound and shape-shifting ensemble. With the assistance of Neil Gonsalves, the band continues to develop and grow in musicality and creativity and their performance will include mostly African Jazz, with some American standards. The Stellenbosch Jazz Certificate Programme has grown impressively over the past two decades, and large numbers of students have joined to learn the theory and skills of improvisation on a practical basis. The band is led by the head of the Jazz programme, Ramon Alexander.