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Okay, the Jazz Festival has officially started. There’s been jazz at the Mount hot pools, the youth band competition is done, and there have been lunchtime concerts in the city centre.
And, just missing last week’s deadline, the final piece of the complicated jazz festival jigsaw has been unveiled — the Uptown Downtown series.
It’s a really good new idea: a bunch of free music aimed exclusively at the people of Tauranga, not Auckland visitors and others just here for Easter.
‘More live music’
Jazz fest head honcho Marc Anderson said: “I wanted to get more live music across the week leading up to Easter and hopefully over the next couple of years it will take off”.
“I certainly hope so.”
The idea is that in the week building up to Easter, jazz and blues will take over the town, with local and national performers in bars, cafés, and restaurants throughout Tauranga City and the Mount. That’s from Monday, April 14 through to Thursday, April 17.
Hana Zreikat. Photo / Supplied.
Tristan Hancock. Photo / Supplied
Looking downtown, The Phoenix has music all nights: Monday with Melbourne’s Hana Zreikat and Bay guitar wizz Tristan Hancock looks particularly tasty as does the Wellington-based combo of pianist Pieter Bos and guitarist Jason Wilcox on Tuesday. They also play the Lone Star on Thursday.
The Charruas. Photo / Supplied
Down the road, The Cornerstone has a Brazilian session on Monday with The Charruas, who are actually from Uruguay. Then, there’s an intimate blues night with a stripped-back Kokomo and friends on Tuesday. There’s more blues at Macau on Thursday with Mike Garner and Joanne Melbourne, while, as a contrast, The Barrel Room has the Afro Jazz Ensemble that night.
Mike Graner and Joanne Melbourne. Photo / Supplied.
Over at the Mount, there are gigs throughout the week at Latitude 37, Mount Mellick, Voodoo Lounge, and Brew Co, and lunchtime music at The Soul Bowl and the Cruise Deck on Tuesday and Thursday. Very cool. I realise going out early in the week is not a regular Tauranga habit, but I would urge you to get along to something — all shows end by 9pm, and it might cement this as a regular part of the programme, which would be wonderful.
Kokomo. Photo / Supplied.
Something for all
This is, of course, a mere smidgen of certainly the biggest jazz festival I can remember. There’s not a single concert in Baycourt Theatre I wouldn’t highly recommend depending on your taste. Mine leans towards Adrian Cox’s brilliant clarinet-led New Orleans ragtime or Jess Deacon’s singing, with a side of bebop from Lockie Bennett’s ‘Boplicity’ Quartet, but there really is something for everybody.
On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about Saturday night’s Hurricane Party at Totara St. It’s a personal thing. I absolutely love The Mafia Cats from Ireland and their classy rockabilly. But while I’m sure Wellington’s Boogie Wonderland, an 11-piece featuring absolutely the best of the capital’s musicians playing the music of Earth, Wind & Fire, will surely be brilliant, I simply can’t abide that music. I’d rather be at a dentist than a disco. Call me a grumpy old bugger but there you go. Find it all at www.jazz.org.nz.
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