The National Youth Jazz Band presents a selection of the top young jazz musicians in the country between the ages of 19 and 25, selected through a gruelling online and in-person audition process. This year the band is under the musical direction of internationally recognised pianist, Bokani Dyer, himself an alumnus of this band in 2006. He has won numerous accolades including, in 2011, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz – one of the youngest ever to receive this prestigious recognition. Dyer has recorded five albums under his own name and has appeared on many more, winning a SAMA in 2019 for Best Jazz Album and performing regularly internationally, particularly in Africa and Europe.