The finest jazz musicians from home and abroad will get Tauranga jumping and jiving and grooving this Easter Weekend with the return of National Jazz Festival.
Today marks the start of the 55th annual festival, and festival director Becks Chambers says with so much musical goodness scheduled for the five-day event there'll be a little something for everyone.
'We're really excited – everything has going to plan and tickets have flown out the door, so all we're really hoping for now is for the weather to hold out and everyone comes and has a great time.”
As per tradition, the festival begins with the 40th National Youth Jazz Competition, which showcases the very best young jazz players from throughout New Zealand at Baycourt today and Good Friday.
This year's competition features a staggering 300 students, who'll be vying for the title New Zealand's best combo and big band.
'With it being the 40th anniversary of the competition we're feeling incredibly proud – and to celebrate we've set up an exhibition in the Baycourt foyer, which showcases the band leaders and participants who've been involved in the competition over the years.”
Baycourt will also be bursting at the seams with great music on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, with standalone concerts from renowned musicians Nichaud Fitzgibbon, Rodger Fox, Paul Ubana Jones, and headline act Alchemy featuring Kiwi singers Ria Hall, Anna Coddington, Julia Deans and Bella Kalolo.
Becks says she's especially looking forward to seeing Alchemy in action – the foursome will be performing 19 iconic Kiwi pop songs that've been reworked into jazz-style arrangements.
'They're all amazing vocalists who're all from different backgrounds and perform different genres, and they'll be backed by an amazing band of some of the country's best jazz musicians like Grant Winterburn and Dixon Nacey.”
Things will also kick up another notch with the Hurricane Party on The Strand waterfront featuring Swamp Thing and Brilleaux on Saturday night, followed by The Hipstamatics and The Cactus Channel on Sunday night.
While the central city will also explode into life with more than 20 bands and musicians playing across six stages at various locations as part of the Downtown Carnival on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday, from 12pm-6pm.
This year's carnival sees the inclusion of the Grey Street Precinct, which features Dixieland on the Grey St stage, says Becks.
'We've got some different things happening in Grey St, which will be fun and add a new vibe to the festival, while on-stage will be Tauranga favourites like Bay Dixie who've played the festival for years and years, Ben Wilcock's solo boogie, plus fantastic Melbourne band Shirazz.”
A new event, and one Becks is particularly looking forward to, is the Waterfront Gala being staged at the new Tidal Stairs on the waterfront and will help close the festival on Easter Monday.
It'll feature two of the country's most vibrant music ensembles, the 20-piece Tauranga Big Band and the 22-piece Queen City Big Band from Auckland, plus a family fun zone with tonnes of entertainment for kids, plus the Little Big Markets and 'lots of awesome Easter things”.
'It has been really nice creating something new for the festival. I think we needed something new to focus on and it's been exciting working on something a bit different and using the space as well.
'This will be the first event to use the Tidal Stairs so I can't wait to see the location being utilised – and, for me, I'm really looking forward to having a relaxed day, mooching around the markets while listening to some amazing jazz and finishing the event on a nice, cruisy, and hopefully sunny day.”
Check out this week's Life+Style for a profile on legendary multi-instrumentalist Robbie Läven, who's performing with Bay Dixie, Kokomo and the Bay City Ramblers during the National Jazz Festival.
The 55th National Jazz Festival takes place at various locations in Tauranga from April 13-17. For more information, visit: www.jazz.org.nz