The Jazz Festival – bouquets & brickbats

Lisa Tomlins

And just like that, it's gone. Next!

After a solid month of writing about the Jazz Festival, I'm going to miss it. And it was a good one this year, so let's dole out a few bouquets and brickbats.

First up, James Morrison - what an inspired choice of headliner!

Everyone at the concert was blown away by James and his two sons. Superb music, presented with a real sense of pleasure by superb musicians.

Also a big cheer for some other Aussie visitors, like the gang from Melbourne who call themselves Shirazz. This was their second festival visit and once again they were a delight. Listening to their slick trad jazz and even slicker interpretations of tunes from other genres was a real treat.

In fact, everyone I've run into raves about a particular thing they saw, be it the opening night Joni Mitchell tribute, with a clearly nervous but ultimately wonderful Lisa Tomlins and a sinuous group of players from the capital, or Joel Fafard's shades of British Columbian blues.

There was also a plethora of excellence on display downtown - although once again there were many mutterings about stages being a little close to each other.

Noise pollution did seem over-prevalent in several spots.

Brickbats for me

The biggest brickbat, however, goes to me, because it appears I was sipping the bad Kool-Aid before last week's column. For some reason I erroneously imagined a completely non-existent extra stage over at Mount Maunganui. I have no idea what I was thinking.

Clearly a bad case of whiskey journalism at the midnight music desk.

May I take this opportunity to apologise to the festival organisers – who must have wondered what strange hallucinogens I'd indulged in – and to any of you who took me at my word and cruised up and down the Mount searching for music.

I am reminded of the man looking in a dark cellar for a black cat, that isn't there. Sorry again.

So, moving right along, more bouquets.

The Youth Jazz Competition, held at Baycourt, is now in its 41st year and was bigger than ever.

This is quite an achievement for the competition's director, Liam Ryan.

Almost a decade back there were real concerns about the Youth Jazz Competitions. With a rival event in Auckland, it seemed increasingly arduous for schools to make the trip to Tauranga over a precious long weekend.

These worries would now appear to be gone, with the competition revitalised and this year seeing the biggest numbers in its history - 320 students from 21 secondary schools, which adds up to 18 combos and 14 big bands performing.

Damn fine!

Local winners

I particularly wanted to give a little shout out to the Bay of Plenty students who won awards at the competitions.

This is a significant thing.

Past winners of these awards include Nathan Haines, Charmaine Ford, Grant Winterburn and many others who have gone on to enjoy national and even international careers.

So heartfelt congratulations to Finlay Burke and Troy Weenink of Tauranga Boys' College, who respectively won The Mayers Music Centre Trophy for Most Outstanding Guitarist and the Bill Hoffmeister Trophy for Most Outstanding Pianist, and to the Tauranga Boys' College big band and its combo, Kai Time, which both won gold awards.

Then there was the combo Thomas the Tank Engine - a joint venture between Tauranga Girls' College and Katikati College. This really was the little engine that could. They received a gold award and claimed the Norman Family Trophy for Best Jazz Combo.

Singing with that band was Shennazar Sta Lucia.

She not only won the Dave Feehan Trophy for Most Outstanding Vocalist, but also the big prize - the George Rawiri Trophy for Most Outstanding Young Musician.

Also in the band were Louie Campbell of Katikati College, who won the P&S Penman Trophy for Most Outstanding Bassist, and Gena Gray, who won the Bay City Music Trophy for Most Outstanding Keyboard Player. Outstanding!

So that's a singer, two keyboard players, a bass player and a guitarist. All trophy winners, all making music here. The Bay's jazz legacy would appear to be in good hands.

watusi@thesun.co.nz

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