They tackled compositions by folks like Duke Ellington, Nana Kwame Ampadu, George Gershwin, Johnny Green, Victor Dey Jr, Cole Porter, Bernard Ayisa, Morgan Lewis and Kojo Antwi.
It was a vibrant effort from the 36 young musicians that benefited from the third edition of the Accra Jazz Academy (AJA) and they showed themselves off well to the audience last Sunday, October 26 at their final concert at the +233 Jazz Bar and Grill in Accra.
The concert was a sort of ‘passing out ceremony’ after the week-long training programme organised by the Ghana Jazz Foundation (GJF), Thomas Dobler Music and +233 Jazz Bar & Grill.
The bunch of singers and various instrumentalists rendered material in different Jazz presentation groupings: soloists, duets, trios, quartets, mini big bands and big band.
The learning period had comprised demonstrations and explanations from tutors as well as assignments and long hours of practice by participants, two of whom came from Kumasi and Lagos in Nigeria respectively. The final concert was everyone’s chance to illustrate what amount of improvement they had brought to their skills.
Some of the pieces performed were fairly known Jazz standards but which were handled with distinctive, individual touches.
Perhaps one of the standout moments was when a quartet of guitar, bass, drums and keyboard dished out an instrumental track put together in the course of the training session. No wonder nearly everyone at the programme applauded the quartet.
A Victor Dey Jr. re-arrangement of Kojo Antwi’s well-known ‘Dadie Anoma’ for big band was also beautifully executed. It went down well with the audience.
“Perhaps the intensity of the moment inspired some of the guys to really outdo themselves,” said saxophonist and one of the AJA tutors, Bernard Ayisa. “For example, I actually discovered at the concert that we’ve got some great trombone players here who can really play.”
He stated that seven participants from the recently-held edition of the AJA will join visiting musicians students from the Haute Ecole de Musique (HEMU) in Switzerland for a concert on Saturday, November 1 at the Alliance Francaise Accra.
“The seven were selected based on their ability to read well, ability to improvise well and their general level of musicianship,” Ayisa added.
According to him, several young musicians who came to see last Saturday’s concert have expressed interest in sharpening their skills at the next edition of the AJA which is being tentatively considered to happen in the first half of 2026.
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