Wangaratta Festival of Jazz
Encyclopedia
The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz is an annual festival of jazz and blues held in the town of Wangaratta, 2.5 hours from Melbourne in North East Victoria, Australia. It has become the premier jazz event in Australia and is renowned internationally.
Since inception in 1990, the festival has grown to include 90 events and over 350 national and international artists performing each year. The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz also hosts the National Jazz Awards, Youth Jazz Workshops, master classes and events throughout Wangaratta and surrounding wine regions.
In 1999 the festival won a National Tourism Award and was inducted into the Victorian Tourism Hall of Fame. In 2000 the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz was elevated to a Victorian Hallmark Event.
Since its first year in 1990, the festival has demanded uncompromising excellence in performance and a balanced showcasing of all jazz styles. At the core are the National Jazz Awards for young musicians.
Today artists from around Australia are honoured to play at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz. The festival boasts 100 performances by local, national and international acts and the largest blues festival in Victoria. The festival has won numerous tourism and sponsorship awards, and is recognised internationally as the best jazz event in Australia. In 2000 the festival was awarded the status of Victorian Hallmark Event recognising the significance of the festival to the Wangaratta region and Victoria.
, Kendra Shank, Barney McAll
, Ambrose Akinmusire
, James Hunter (singer)
, Deborah Coleman
, Ari Hoenig
, Froy Aagre, Martin Litton (pianist)
, as well as an amazing array of Australian Jazz and Blues artists: John McAll
,Tony Gould, Bob Sedergreen, Julien Wilson, Kristin Berardi, Stephen Magnusson, Allan Browne, Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson plus many more.
2008's lineup featured international guests: John Scofield
–Joe Lovano
Quartet (USA), David Murray
Black Saint Quartet (USA), Jim McNeely
(USA), Gretchen Parlato
(USA), Ilmiliekki Quartet (Finland
), Los Krokodillos (Spain
); and leading Australian jazz artists including: Paul Grabowsky
, Joe Chindamo, Bernie McGann
, Dale Barlow
, James Muller, Allan Browne, Mike Nock
, Andrea Keller, Michelle Nicole, Sam Keevers and Ian Date.
Since inception in 1990, the festival has grown to include 90 events and over 350 national and international artists performing each year. The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz also hosts the National Jazz Awards, Youth Jazz Workshops, master classes and events throughout Wangaratta and surrounding wine regions.
In 1999 the festival won a National Tourism Award and was inducted into the Victorian Tourism Hall of Fame. In 2000 the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz was elevated to a Victorian Hallmark Event.
History
The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz began in 1989 as the dream of local business people who wanted to establish a significant festival for their town and region - a festival that would be unique and that would attract many tourists to the area. A feasibility study was commissioned and the study concluded that, although there were numerous festivals in Australia, there was the opportunity to base one on modern and contemporary jazz. As no such event existed in Australia, it was recommended that such a festival be built around an internationally recognised competition.Since its first year in 1990, the festival has demanded uncompromising excellence in performance and a balanced showcasing of all jazz styles. At the core are the National Jazz Awards for young musicians.
Today artists from around Australia are honoured to play at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz. The festival boasts 100 performances by local, national and international acts and the largest blues festival in Victoria. The festival has won numerous tourism and sponsorship awards, and is recognised internationally as the best jazz event in Australia. In 2000 the festival was awarded the status of Victorian Hallmark Event recognising the significance of the festival to the Wangaratta region and Victoria.
Artist lineups
2009 Lineup will include International Guests: Charles TolliverCharles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where, as a child, he received his first trumpet as a gift from his grandmother. He attended Howard University in the early 1960s as a pharmacy student, when he decided to pursue music as a...
, Kendra Shank, Barney McAll
Barney McAll
Barney McAll is a jazz pianist and composer.Barney McAll completed a Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, studying with pianists Paul Grabowsky, Tony Gould and Mike Nock and with guitarist Doug Devries.He moved to New York City from Australia in 1997 to join...
, Ambrose Akinmusire
Ambrose Akinmusire
Ambrose Akinmusire is a jazz trumpeter.In 2007 Akinmusire was the winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, two of the most prestigious jazz competitions in the world.-Biography:By the time the lone standard...
, James Hunter (singer)
James Hunter (singer)
James Hunter is a Grammy Award-nominated English R&B musician and soul singer.-Career:Hunter's career began with a band called "Howlin' Wilf and the Vee-Jays," who released their first album in 1986 entitled Cry Wilf. Later he released three more with his own band...
, Deborah Coleman
Deborah Coleman
Deborah Coleman is an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Blues Guitarist, Female" in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C...
, Ari Hoenig
Ari Hoenig
Ari Hoenig , is a jazz drummer, composer and educator known for his unusual and intense approach to drumming emphasizing complex rhythms. He currently leads a group that makes regular appearances in New York jazz clubs including the 55 Bar and the Blue Note, in addition to performing worldwide...
, Froy Aagre, Martin Litton (pianist)
Martin Litton (pianist)
Martin Litton is a British jazz pianist born in Grays, Essex, UK, most noteworthy for his work with Kenny Ball from 1983-1985 on his British tours and for recording sessions with George Chisholm. Litton has worked with various musicians over his career, including Humphrey Lyttleton, among...
, as well as an amazing array of Australian Jazz and Blues artists: John McAll
John McAll
John McAll is a pianist, composer, arranger and producer with experience ranging from jazz, pop, blues, contemporary classical, afrobeat and theatre....
,Tony Gould, Bob Sedergreen, Julien Wilson, Kristin Berardi, Stephen Magnusson, Allan Browne, Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson plus many more.
2008's lineup featured international guests: John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
–Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
Quartet (USA), David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)
David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
Black Saint Quartet (USA), Jim McNeely
Jim McNeely
Jim McNeely is a Grammy award winning jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.Jim was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City in 1975. In 1978 he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band...
(USA), Gretchen Parlato
Gretchen Parlato
Gretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Lionel Loueke, Wayne Shorter and Kenny Barron....
(USA), Ilmiliekki Quartet (Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
), Los Krokodillos (Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
); and leading Australian jazz artists including: Paul Grabowsky
Paul Grabowsky
-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...
, Joe Chindamo, Bernie McGann
Bernie McGann
Bernie McGann is an Australian jazz alto saxophone player. He began his career in the late 1950s and is still active as a performer, composer and recording artist.- Biography :...
, Dale Barlow
Dale Barlow
Dale Barlow is an Australian jazz composer, multi-instrumentalist: especially tenor, alto saxophone, soprano saxophonist, baritone saxophone and flute....
, James Muller, Allan Browne, Mike Nock
Mike Nock
Mike Nock is a jazz pianist, currently based in Australia. He began studying piano at 11 and by 18 was performing in Australia. He headed a trio that toured England in 1961 and then attended Berklee College of Music...
, Andrea Keller, Michelle Nicole, Sam Keevers and Ian Date.
National Jazz Awards
The National Jazz Awards, Australia's most prestigious jazz competition, has been a highlight of the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz each year since the festival began in 1990. The awards are designed to provide encouragement and exposure to young musicians (up to 35 years of age). The ten finalists each year are given the chance to perform with high-level accompanists at Australia's most important jazz event.Award recipients
- 2009 - Zac Hurren, SaxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- 2008 - Phil Stack, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- 2007 - Aaron Flower, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- 2006 - Jackson Harrison, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- 2005 - Elana StoneElana StoneElana Stone is a vocalist, songwriter, pianist, accordion player, and band leader based in Sydney, Australia. Described by John Bailey from Sunday Age as 'One of the most impressive singing voices in the country' , her album In the Garden of Wild Things was released in 2006 on the Jazzgroove label...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - 2004 - Felix Bloxsom, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- 2003 - Phil Slater, brassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
- 2002 - Roger Manins, saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- 2001 - Brendon Clarke, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- 2000 - Stephen Magnusson / James Muller (tied), guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- 1999 - Matt McMahon, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- 1998 - Michelle Nicolle vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- 1997 - Will Guthrie, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- 1996 - Scott Tinkler, brassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
- 1995 - Elliott Dalgleish, saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- 1994 - Julien Wilson, saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- 1993 - Tim HopkinsTim HopkinsTim Hopkins, is an Australian jazz musician who won the Australian National Jazz Award at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz in 1993.-Career:...
, saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - 1992 - Jann Rutherford, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- 1991 - Mark Fitzgibbon, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- 1990 - Barney McAll, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...