Jazz legend Herbie Hancock headlines Wellington Jazz Fest

The annual Wellington Jazz Festival, 5-9 June, is the highlight of Aotearoa’s mid-winter music calendar, featuring some of the finest musicians from across New Zealand and around the globe.

Throughout the Capital’s streets, cafes, bars and live music venues, jazz aficionados and intrepid newcomers can explore more than 140 gigs across the city, with five days of serious play bringing the sounds and spirit of jazz to Wellington.

The Festival opens with maestro of jazz Herbie Hancock on Wednesday 5 June and continues over the next four days with groundbreaking trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire (Thursday 6 June), the explosive funk ensemble Ghost-Note (Friday 7 June) and the exquisite vocals of Alicia Olatuja (Saturday 8 June).

A new commission from composers Lex French and Jasmine Lovell-Smith performed by Canadian/NZ collaborators CODE Quartet, along with perennial favourite the Rodger Fox Big Band and acclaimed helden-tenor Simon O’Neill, spearhead the distinct sounds of New Zealand jazz in two weekend matinees.

Creative Director Marnie Karmelita says this year’s programme offers audiences everything from legendary artists and emerging musicians to the sounds of New Zealand jazz.

‘I’m thrilled to welcome grandmaster musician Herbie Hancock to Wellington for his only New Zealand appearance alongside exciting new voices and New Zealand artists,’ said Marnie. ‘We are committed to offering New Zealand’s jazz composers the opportunity to feature new music on the main stage.’

‘We are looking forward to welcoming jazz lovers to Wellington and our new hub at the Michael Fowler Centre, creating an intimate experience for both artists and audiences in the superb acoustics of the space.’

Winner of 14 Grammy Awards during his illustrious career, Herbie Hancock has had an unparalleled influence on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B for more than five decades. From his early beginnings with the Miles Davis Quintet, to collaborations with the likes of Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock is equally at home performing with contemporary artists including Annie Lennox, Christina Aguilera, Paul Simon, Pink and more recently with Thundercat and Kamasi Washington.
In 2019, the 79-year-old maestro of modern jazz remains at the forefront of world culture, technology, business and music – don’t miss Herbie Hancock as he opens the Wellington Jazz Festival.

Described by The New York Times as ‘the most distinctive, elusive and ultimately satisfying trumpeter of his generation,’ Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet promises a powerful performance of genre-defying music, that sits within the centre and at the periphery of jazz, while intersecting the circles of hip-hop and classical music. Along with his quartet, Ambrose Akinmusire promises an evening that will challenge, surprise, and charm.

Friday night is all about the funk with explosive ensemble Ghost-Note ready to deliver danceable grooves and a contagious feel-good energy. Headed by Snarky Puppy’s multi-Grammy Award-winning percussion duo of Robert ‘Sput’ Searight and Nate Werth, with next level musicians who have performed with Prince, Kendrick Lamar and Toto. This dynamic ensemble is pushing funk music into the future, building on the uplifting pioneering foundations laid out by the likes of James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone, and infusing their fresh take with tastes of afrobeat, hip-hop, psychedelia, world folklore and more.

Praised in The New York Times as ‘a singer with a strong and luscious tone,’ acclaimed vocalist, composer and arranger Alicia Olatuja combines the earthy with the sublime, bringing a grounded relatability to genres as lofty as classical, as venerated as jazz, and as gritty as R&B. Alicia first gained international attention as the featured soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Wellington Jazz Festival is thrilled to bring this vocal sensation to New Zealand for the first time, to perform songs from her acclaimed album Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women.

WREDA Chief Executive Lance Walker says each year the Wellington Jazz Festival entertains thousands of music lovers with hot musical performances as the colder months set in.

‘The Jazz Festival remains an important cornerstone of Wellington’s winter events calendar and we encourage Wellingtonians to bring their family and friends from both within and outside the region to experience jazz at its very best.’ Walker adds, ‘Tickets are always highly sought after so our advice is to get in early, so you don’t miss out.’

Wellington Jazz Festival tickets go on sale to the general public on Wednesday 13 June.
Full programme of more than 140 events will be released on Wednesday 17 April.

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