A jazz festival aimed at younger people, and which features collaborations between professional and student musicians, takes place in the Illawarra region, south of Sydney, at the end of February.
The Wollongong Youth Jazz Festival, which runs 29 February – 1 March, is an original event not simply because of the collaborative nature of the program but also because it isn’t making artistic compromises in order to attract people in their teens and 20s.
Artists include Baecastuff, the Elana Stone Band, the World According to James, the Vampires and the Ali Foster Quartet. Ali was the 2007 recipient of the Jann Rutherford Memorial Award.
Saxophonist Dave Theak, leader of the Theak-tet and the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, will direct and perform with the Wollongong Conservatorium Jazz Orchestra, featuring many of the best young players in the Illawarra.
The festival is an initiative of drummer Alex Masso, who told Jazz Australia that Wollongong is home to many young talented jazz musicians.
Jazz Australia: Wollongong seems like an unlikely place to be a jazz centre. What’s happening there to make it so?
Alex Masso: Yes it’s unlikely that anywhere outside of a major city can become a “jazz centre”. A few places certainly have a scene: Byron Bay and Lismore, for example, and, of course, Wangaratta has a huge festival. Some places are able to put on occasional gigs, but I think Wollongong is a different story.
There are some professional musicians in the area, including Jens Hoppe and Eric Dunan, and a number of older musicians who play jazz on a semi-professional or amateur level, but the majority of the musicians are students.
The students really drive everything in Wollongong. They excite the professional musicians who want to perform and present workshops there, they definitely inspire those of us who organise events, and they go to gigs.
The key thing that has happened has been the jazz program Eric Dunan has created at Wollongong Conservatorium. I shouldn’t neglect the fact that there has for a long time been a jazz festival in Kiama and in the Illawarra (run by the Illawarra Jazz Club) and people such as Dennis Koks who have supported the scene for a long time, but Eric’s work over six years has really brought contemporary jazz into people’s consciousness.
Even as I begin to understand how the scene in Wollongong, and the rest of Australia works, I am always impressed that a place exists where high school kids and a large number of regular concert-goers know about Steve Magnusson, Simon Barker, Mike Majkowski, Phil Slater and so many other Australian jazz musicians.
JA: Are there many regular jazz venues in the Illawarra?
AM: Not really. There have been a number of venues over the years where jazz is held, and at the moment I can think of a couple, but most of what I’m aware of is based around the Conservatorium, and the gigs are often held there.
The Illawarra Jazz Club presents concerts and some cafes, restaurants and clubs chave jazz gigs from time to time.
JA: The festival is very participatory, involving workshops and other forms of collaboration between student players and professionals. What are you aiming to achieve from such activity?
AM: One thing I find really important in jazz education, particularly as a student, is being exposed to different people’s ideas about music. You or I or any other person can’t define what jazz is exactly, or teach somebody everything about jazz or improvised music or any other related music. I think we all have to have access to different ideas and find our own way.
I’ve tried to include people from different backgrounds and at different stages of their careers, including people like Steve Brien and Andrew Dickeson, Phil Slater, James Greening as well as younger musicians such as Shannon Barnett.
I also think that one of the best ways to learn is from direct involvement with musicians who are good at something, whatever it is. I like the idea of younger musicians performing with established professional musicians. We did this in the Con-Verge Jazz Festival held at Sydney Conservatorium and there’s an element of that in this festival.
The groups I’m most interested in seeing are not the established groups but the two projects where Wollongong-based high school students are collaborating with more experienced musicians. These are Finn Ryan’s group with Mike Majkowski, Jono Lake and Simon Ferenci, and the group Pa-Paw, which will play with Shannon Barnett.
JA: How important is it for high calibre players to visit an emerging scene like Wollongong?
AM: It’s important for high calibre – or maybe we should say interesting or quality or experienced players to be involved wherever there are students of creative music. Wollongong is a great example of this happening. We now have young musicians who are going to study at Sydney Conservatorium or otherwise immersing them in a higher level of jazz performance, who have spent their high school music education seeing workshops by artists and groups, such as Will Guthrie, Mike Nock, James Greening and Vada.
JA: Have you identified many young players in the area who show real promise?
AM: Yes! I can name a few: Finn Ryan, Jono Lake, Freyja Garbett, Lucy Clifford, Jodie Michael and Dave Reglar.
There are a number of players still in their early-mid 20s who have moved through tertiary education and are now getting more established. These include Nick Garbett, Matt Smith (now based in northern NSW), Aron McCulloch (now based in Melbourne), Al Hicks (who recently returned from a long stint in New York), and Kayne Jansen who is at Sydney Conservatorium now, but grew up in Kiama.
Even in younger students, from primary school or early high school, I see a lot of promise because I know they have a lot to look forward to, and many of them are already reading, listening, playing and of course improvising.
JA: How is jazz perceived by the young people you come into contact with?
AM: It’s hard to generalise but I’m always surprised at the interest younger people have in jazz. When I was at school in Bowral there wasn’t much of an understanding of jazz and certainly nobody really playing or checking it out (notable exceptions being the Waples boys around the corner), but now in Wollongong the kids are really taking it on board. Maybe it’s cool because so many of their peers are involved; they can go to a Matt McMahon gig and socialise with their friends.
JA: Are you planning to make the Wollongong festival an annual event?
AM: I’d like to think so. At the moment I’m trying to survive this year’s festival. It’s a huge amount of work, but I really like festivals so I’d like to keep it going. I think things need to keep happening regularly – Wangaratta and NOWnow are the two great festivals that come to mind which have happened every year and continue to present creative music on a high level.
JA: You have been touring the NSW north coast with The Vampires. How did that go? How were you received?
AM: It was cool. These regional tours are always a bit unpredictable. I find small places like Glen Innes really rewarding places to play; people really appreciate it. The Glen Innes gig was funny. We were playing at the Agricultural Show along with the burnout competition and the dagwood dogs and the rides.
JA: Were you able to get your new CD South Coasting played on local radio as moved through places like Byron Bay, Ballina and Glenn Innes?
AM: Yeah I think so. In my experience with The Vampires and Trio Apoplectic a lot of regional areas are quite supportive. A lot of people actually tell you they heard the CD on Mal Stanley’s show [on ABC Classic FM]. I think that has the most impact as far as national coverage goes.
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Find out more
Wollongong Youth Jazz Festival
Wollongong Conservatorium of Music
Photo: Elana Stone
