The Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band (SBNYJB) is a product of the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival, which takes place in Grahamstown in July each year as part of the National Arts Festival. It is the most significant youth development initiative in jazz in South Africa, and attracts the very best young players in the country, the cream of whom are selected for the SBNYJB each year. The band members are chosen from the 320 young musicians from around South African who come to the festival, and each is a highly competent musician, normally with a budding professional pedigree already, with an average age in the band of 20. The band is a vibrant reflection of the cosmopolitan nature of South African society, and has an interesting mix of gender and race, from quite different backgrounds and parts of the country. Some have formal postgraduate university jazz degrees; others have risen to the top through their extraordinary natural talent, despite their lack of opportunity. This year the conductor is Mike Campbell, one of South Africa?s leading jazz educators, composers and performers with extensive international experience and recording and performance credentials that include most of the top jazz players in the country. The SBNYJB will be performing his compositions and arrangements. Band members in 2010: Lou-Anne Stone (alto sax) Stellenbosch University; Sakhile Simani (trumpet) UKZN; Siya Charles (trombone) UCT; Monique van Willingh UCT; Gerrit Strydom (guitar) Tshwane University of Technology; Stephen Bell (piano) UCT; Romy Brauteseth (bass); Annemie Nel (drums) Stellenbosch University and Sandile Gontsana (voice) UCT