Marmalade Jam Band Members

On Tour in Singapore!
Marmalade Jam, the four-piece vocal version of Marmalade Circus are currently on tour for Musica Viva in Schools in Singapore, working for the Young Musicians Society (sponsored by Macquarie Bank). The tour is going really well. The audiences have been enthusiastic, excitable and huge (between 300 and 800 – more than twice as many kids per concert as in Australia) with a wide variety of age groups covered (from 5-19). It has been great seeing how the kids here respond to the songs and as per usual songs about animals (like Dents in the Fence) are still the most popular.

The group are performing 33 concerts in 17 days, so the workload is pretty intense at times, with very early starts, but the music teachers in the schools, Celeste (our boss here in Singapore) and our driver Mr Lim (yes, we are being chauffeured around—certainly the safest option!) have been looking after us extremely well (we will all come back carrying a few extra kilos). We love Singapore!

We have uploaded some photos of Bella just in case anyone wants to see what the dog in the song looks like!

Marmalade Jam is a vibrant, energetic, funky world-jazz quartet which has been performing across Australia in schools since 2002 for Musica Viva in Schools. The band features Susan Ferguson on vocals, Shireen Khemlani on bass, John McDermott on drum kit and Mark Simeon Ferguson on piano. For those who have read the rest of the site, yes, this band is the original Marmalade Trio complemented by Susan Ferguson.

In conjunction with Musica Viva in Schools, Marmalade Jam have created an interactive hour-long concert for Primary School level children (although the show has also been redesigned to work at High School level too). The show is based around some of Mark's songs (such as ‘Dents in the Fence' which tells the story of Bella the dog who likes to jump against the fence) and a few popular jazz/latin tunes (such as ‘The Peanut Vendor' which extols the virtues of selling peanuts in Cuba). Activities have been designed around each song so that children can be actively engaged in the concert.

The beauty of the Musica Viva system is that Teachers who book the band are provided with a CD of four of the songs from the show (which includes breakdowns of the tunes), a resource book full of activities, and are encouraged to attend a Professional Development workshop where they can learn the songs and how to teach the activities. So, at many of the shows the students already know half of the repertoire, can sing the words, participate in a dance they have already learned, perform a simple arrangement of one of the songs and perform a rap they have written. In the concert the band also brings in new songs and activities to keep the experience fresh.

All four members of Marmalade Jam are practicing music educators, working as either classroom or instrumental music teachers in High schools, Primary schools and as lecturers in the University of Adelaide's Jazz department.

In 2008 Marmalade Jam are touring Singapore for the Young Musicians Society of Singapore and Perth WA for Musica Viva in Schools. In 2007 and 2006 they spent four weeks each touring Western Australia.

In 2004 the band undertook a six-week “Across The Top Tour” from Perth to Brisbane for Musica Viva which was funded by the Australia Council. They performed in schools by day and to the general public by night in venues as diverse as the Darwin Entertainment Centre and the Oomboolgurri School Playground.

Marmalade Jam performed at the opening ceremony of Come Out 2003 (the South Australian Festival for Young People) to 5000 children and the group's singer, Susan Ferguson compered the event. They also performed as part of the Adelaide Festival Centre's Rural Access program in 2002.

The line-up of Marmalade Jam existed originally as Susan and the Marmalade Trio then Marmalade Fiesta. In this commercial format they played a mix of laid-back lounge music and groovy latin-jazz. Their blend of Bacharach, Gershwin and Latin cabaret classics made them a popular club and corporate act in Adelaide. Latin-ised interpretations of well-known songs became their trademark.

In 2004 Marmalade Fiesta recorded their debut CD, True Colours. The album features 12 songs spanning their diverse repertoire-from a haunting rendition of the Latin classic “Sway” to a vibrant arrangement of “I've Got You under My Skin”, to a reflective contemporary jazz interpretation of the Cyndi Lauper classic “True Colours” and a the vocal version of Mark's tune “Dents in the Fence”.