National Jazz Festival Programme Launched

National Jazz Festival Programme Launched

National Jazz Festival Director Becks Chambers is pleased to announce the programme launch of the 54th National Jazz Festival Tauranga at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre tonight (5.30pm 28 January).

“We are delighted to be announcing the 54th National Jazz Festival. We pride ourselves this year on having some new events as well as our usual favourites. We have a good mix of free community events and ticketed concerts and have kept ticket prices as affordable as possible - we have great discounts available for students and some limited special offers too.

“We have a fantastic programme showcasing the many different areas of jazz - from traditional New Orleans jazz to swing, bebop, fusion, blues, funk and soul – with something to suit everyone’s musical tastes.”

Ms Chambers says this year’s festival showcases a mix of international and local musicians.

“We are proud to announce some of our international headline acts. We have Roy Phillips, the voice of legendary British jazz trio The Peddlers, and world acclaimed American blues guitarist, Chris Cain, joining together in an outstanding international show of jazz, blues, gospel and funk accompanied by the one-and-only Rodger Fox Big Band. From Australia we have two of Australia’s best jazz singers, Emma Pask (vocalist with James Morrison and The Voice Australia) and Darren Percival (runner-up The Voice Australia) with their Australian band FinnLand performing songs of Neil and Tim Finn. From Denmark we have Himmerland, a group of folk/jazz musicians from Denmark, Poland and Ghana West Africa, who are joined by Irish singer and flute player Nuala Kennedy for a special festival performance of folk world jazz.”

MS Chambers reports the festival is very pleased with the support it has received from the Tauranga community and from key sponsors.

“We rely on our community funders and business supporters to enable us to deliver such a large community event that really puts Tauranga on the map at Easter. It is thanks to our major funders Tauranga City Council and Tect, along with our media supporters, business sponsors, and community funders that we are able to stage events like Downtown Carnival, TECT Jazz Village, and the National Youth Jazz Competition.”

The 54th National Jazz Festival runs from 24 – 28 March.
For the full National Jazz Festival programme visit www.jazz.org.nz

ENDS

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