Brief History of The South African Association for Jazz Education
Cathy and Darius Brubeck met Richard Dunscomb in Montreux in 1987 and from then on became determined to have a connection with IAJE. At that time, the University of Natal offered the only degree in Jazz Studies in South Africa and students were recruited from all over the country. Now as well as the University of Cape Town, Pretoria Technikon, Natal Technikon and Rhodes University, there are a number of privately run academies and state high schools offering jazz courses.
Cathy Brubeck fund-raised and organized for student groups to attend 5 different IAJE Conferences, the JAZZANIANS being the first multi-racial student jazz band from South Africa to perform in the United States and attend NAJE (Detroit 1988). The group made political and musical history in the apartheid era and were featured on CBS and NBC. Most of the band members have since become jazz educators or very well known performers in their own right, for example Melvin Peters, Johnny Mekoa, Zim Ngqawana, Lulu Gontsana and Rick van Heerden to name a few.
Since 1988, members of SAJE have performed or given papers at IAJE Conferences. It has been very important for South Africans to participate and on every occasion there have been direct benefits in the form of scholarships, educational material and practical assistance for our students and teachers. With much encouragement from US headquarters and by the Centre for Jazz & Popular Music (University of Natal), colleagues in South Africa worked together to form their own national association.
The founding conference of SAJE as a fully constituted chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators took place at the University of Witwatersrand in 1992 with the then President of the IAJE (Dennis Tini) in attendance. Subsequently, conferences were held at the University of Natal, Durban (1994), University of Cape Town (1996), Rhodes University, Grahamstown (1998), University of Natal, Durban (2000), Pretoria Technikon (2002), University of Cape Town (2004) & University of KwaZulu-Natal (2006).
Members come from all geographic regions of the country and include professional musicians and student members as well as music teachers from community projects, secondary and tertiary institutions. SAJE membership fees include membership in the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) at a greatly reduced rate.
Board members and Officers are elected to a two-year term of office, serving until the next conference. Logistics and funding considerations make it too difficult to have an annual national conference, but Board members meet between Conferences and members receive newsletters.
Sponsorship for conferences has come principally from SAMRO (South African Music Rights Organisation) which is a non-profit company formed to administer and protect the rights of South African composers and promote the composing of new music. Other sponsors include host institutions (universities) and participating organizations.
As with all large academic societies, much of the value has been the international exchanges and networking that bring fresh perspectives and methods to bear on music education in South Africa. The following IAJE members have visited and taught in South Africa: Bart Marantz, Bill Prince, Chris Merz, Butch Miles, Richard Syracuse, Dustin Cox,
Dennis Tini, Chris Collins, Bob Sinicrope, John Fedchock, John Edward Hasse, Bobby Shew, Fredrik Noren, John Baboian, Ron McCurdy, Willie Hill and Mike Rossi, who has joined the staff at the University of Cape Town.
Locally, members are working to upgrade the understanding and practice of music of all kinds, however our primary aim during this relatively early period of existence in South Africa is to introduce jazz education wherever feasible, especially at secondary level. SAJE members are therefore eager to offer expertise and effort towards incorporating more jazz-related skills and studies in the national syllabus.
The most important jazz education activity on a national level is the annual National Schools Jazz Festival in Grahamstown which was started by Mike Skipper, former secretary of SAJE. Alan Webster of Stirling High School is now the director of this very popular and valuable education event.
The distance between members and affiliated institutions remains a challenge to the establishment of a more cohesive interaction within the organisation, and the way forward here is undoubtedly the internet and a comprehensive SAJE website.
