Presenting

BITOU BLUE
Quartet

Such an Awesome Local Jazzy Vibe

THE BAND

MARLENE BOYCE – Vocals
MARTIN WOLFAARDT – Keyboard, Piano
WALDEMAR VAN WYK – Bass
JAMES VAN MINNEN – Drums & Percussion

OVERVIEW

Marlene Boyce – Vocals
Song-bird, Marlene Boyce is self-taught. She is a seasoned jazz singer. She started as an amateur performer 15 years ago and has been performing professionally as part of several local jazz and fusion outfits for the past ten years.

Martin Wolfaard – Piano
Martin took up classical piano at the age of 11. His musical career as a composer and pianist expands several decades. He found his first band, “Funk Green Mesmeric Toadstool”, a psychedelic rock outfit at university during the 90’s. His focus shifted to jazz when he moved to the Garden Route and found the jazz trio, “Offshore”, who recorded their acclaimed album, Incident in 2008”. The album features Jono Sweetman on drums and jazz luminaries Buddy Wells and Marcus Wyatt and the horn section. Following the release of their album Offshore performed at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and Standard Bank Jazz Festival and won international funding for a nation-wide tour. They also joined Jonathan Crossley on his jazz-funk album “Funk for the Shaolin Monk”. Martin’s international collaborations include, guitarist, Guy Buttery, and New-York based multi-instrumentalist professor of ethno-musicology, Sam Thomas. He has also spent time in West Africa expanding his percussion skills with masters of traditional genres.

Waldemar Van Wyk – Bass
Waldi is a multi-instrumentalist who started playing cello, guitar, trumpet and piano at age 5. He has been a professional musician across various genres for more than 3 decades in South Africa and the United States. He was a founder member of several bands, including Bomvu, Skanky Corp, Knysna Jazz Quartet, and the Garden Route Music Collective and was a bass player for Wendy Oldfield (SA) and The Jazz Pigs (US). He has also played as a supporting act for Paul Simon, Johnny Clegg, PJ Powers and Sipho Gumede.

James Van Minnen – Drums & Percussion
James has developed his signature percussive sound over 20 years, gaining a level of professional musicianship on drums, cajon, frame drum, darbuka and other ethnic instruments. Over the years, based in Cape Town and England, he has been a founding member of several bands, as well as performing, touring and recording as a facilitator and session musician. His collaborations include Hot Water, ShenFM, Dave Furgeson, Jenny Eaves, Oh Mercy, Willie Mason, Emi Indaba, Riaan Smit, Guy Buttery, Brian Finch, Roger Lucey, Caroline Blundell, Reini Adelbert, Playing With Fire, Edi Niederlander, and Red Earth and Rust.

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