About Me
Composer, instrumentalist, and educator, Collette started playing music at an early age. He was born and raised in South Africa during the apartheid era. During the struggle, he performed with many bands honing his skills while standing firm against apartheid. It was also during this time that he attended Witswatersrand University, in Johannesburg, where he studied classical music (piano, guitar, and music theory).Collette performed many venues in South Africa until exiling to the United States of America where he toured for 5 years with then group, Azumah (which played traditional African music). This group was based in Los Angeles where Collette also worked as a session musician (and still does to this day). After he left that group, Collette went on to perform with other groups until forming his own group which now bills under his name. Venues that Collette performed include the African Marketplace (Los Angeles), New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Oxnard CA, and many more. During this time, he opened up for acts such as Melissa Etheridge, Jackson Browne, and many more. Movie credits include "The Air Up There." And, not yet published children's book "Rhythms of Africa," which he co-authored.In Illinois, Collette founded the American Institute of Djembe and Marimba where he taught bass, piano, and percussion while attending Highland College. He was also active with his own group, The Positive Vibes---performing at Highland for the Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations, the Jazz On Chicago Summer Concert Series, and also at Chicago's Columbia College. In addition, he worked with local dance companies as an accompanist on djembe (a traditional african drum) fusing contemporary dance with world-beat/african drumming.In 2005 while performing at Western Michigan University's vocal jazz competition (Gold Company) with Highland's Royal Scots, Collette on bass and drummer Adrian Myers won 'Best Rhythm Section'.In academia, he has performed many recitals on piano, bass, and djembe. At (GVSU) Grand Valley State University, he received a Bachelors degree with a concentration in composition. During his studies at GVSU, he played in the Jazz band, New Music ensemble, and Orchestra. Currently, Collette is a graduate student at Central Michigan University, in Mount Pleasant MI, where he's studying composition.
