Today (Monday) we flew into the Jo’burg airport for fourth time on this tour. Finally we will be staying and have the opportunity to see the city.

We went directly from the airport to the Music Academy of Gauteng, a jazz school run by South African trumpeter Johnny Mekoa.
Some students played for us and then we played for them. After that we broke up into smaller groups for master classes which we thought would be more helpful than giving our usual workshop.

Some kids seemed to just be starting, but others already knew a lot and were eager to expand their knowledge. Lack of information and teaching materials seems to be an issue and hopefully we can send them some things that they’ll find helpful once we’ve returned to Chicago. It is a nice program with good facilities, wonderful kids and a great leader in Johnny. It was exciting to meet and hear these students and see their eagerness to learn. They deserve any support and encouragement that we can give them.