Cape Town trumpeter wins scholarship to USA

This comes after he performed with the Standard Bank National Youth Band at the recent Joy of Jazz festival in Johannesburg, and also attended a recent workshop with Bob Mintzer of American jazz band The Yellowjackets, who headlined the recent jazz fest.

Marcelle’s remarkable performance with Standard Bank National Youth Band impressed not only the local music lovers but also legendary saxophonist and jazz educator, Bob Mintzer. The American star is also a professor at the University of Southern California, where he offered Adams to come and study upon seeing the young musician play. Adams, a regular soloist in the Delft Big Band, is currently finishing his second year of studies at University of Cape Town (UCT), after which he will be off to the US to pursue his scholarship.

The 18th annual Standard Bank Joy of Jazz took place at the Sandton Convention Centre for the second time and brought together over 29 000 people in a three-day jazz affair, with over 40 musicians performing on its four different stages. The festival’s programme is designed to include both international jazz luminaries and local stars on its stages, also giving up-and-coming musicians an opportunity to share insights and exchange with their heroes and international industry leaders.

The organisers of the Joy of Jazz, T-Musicman and Standard Bank, celebrated Marcelle’s breakthrough success as one of the beneficiaries of the festival’s development initiatives.  

The Yellowjackets have been dishing out their own brand of jazz fusion with R&B leanings for over 30 years now. They've raked in many awards over the years along with enjoying the respect not only of jazz purists the world over, but mainstream audiences too.