South African Association for Jazz Education

The SAJE Sisters in Sound mission is to encourage and promote the participation of young women in the art of jazz both educationally and professionally, through a mentoring program linking them with established women musicians.

In May 2009 we launched the SAJE Sisters in Sound project. At this special launch we were extremely fortunate to be able to feature and utilize the talents of the jazz band Helen Sung & NuGenerations who traveled to Cape Town courtesy of the US Consulate in Cape Town and the Rhythm Road Tour to Africa 2009 in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center. The band comprised of Helen Sung (piano), Quincy Davis (drums), Saundra Silliman (vocals) and Lonnie Plaxico (bass). The launch took the form of a workshop/demonstration conducted by Helen and Saundra in the Baxter Concert Hall, and by Lonnie and Quincy at the UCT College of Music - followed by a question and answer period.
 
The first priority of the SIS project is to continue the mentoring initiative launched in May 2009.

• We are looking to provide guidance and support for young women in jazz (and other music forms), whether they are instrumentalists or vocalists, professionals or just interested …
• We would also like to see more female clinicians available to participate in general mentoring programs and workshops as offered by SAJE. Some activities we hope to achieve in the not too distant future are workshops for female musicians on specific instruments, run by female clinicians, and the possible formation of all female jazz ensembles.
•  We are currently compiling a list of mentors for instrumentalists and have had some names forwarded by members of the jazz community. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, or would like to be mentored, please forward your name and instrument played (or sung) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• We are also looking for SAJE members to co-ordinate this important project in other provinces of South Africa. If you are interested, send your details to the above e-mail