MOUNT Gambier became the weekend’s global headquarters of youth jazz as thousands of student musicians from across Australia shared the limelight with some of the world’s brightest jazz stars during the three-day Generations in Jazz (GIJ) festival.
A 6000-seat big top pavilion dominated a paddock on the outskirts of the Blue Lake city, but 12 more venues were needed in order to accommodate more than 350 school stage bands and vocal ensembles.
They came from a record 128 Australian schools, and between them, they performed more than 1000 musical pieces.
“We’ve had the largest number of students and public that we’ve ever had, we’ve had more concerts than we’ve ever had, more workshops, and most of all more music,” GIJ chair James Morrison said.
“We have venues all over the site – we use an onion shed, we use horse sheds – we use all sorts of things and put stages in them and turn them into venues for jazz, so it’s an amazing setting here out in the Australian countryside.”
US jazz sensation Patti Austin was a special guest artist at this year’s event, and described it as “the most concentrated, soulful experience I have ever had in my life.”
“It’s magic – so please take this magic with you, please spread this magnificent musical fairy dust on everyone around you – this is how we make the world turn the right way,” she said.
Hip party band The Cat Empire, jazz virtuoso James Morrison, US sax star Jeff Clayton, Madrid percussionist Nasrine Rahmani and Cologne-based trombonist Shannon Barnett also entertained and inspired the crowds during an exciting line-up of concerts.
Other special guests included Australian trucking magnate Lindsay Fox and his wife, Paula, and Jeff and Felicity Kennett.
Both couples were at GIJ for their second year in a row.
“It is the wholesomeness of it – over 5000 young people from all around Australia who love music,” Mr Kennett said.
“It’s very well organised and to be quite honest, it’s terribly uplifting.
I think this is one of the most underrated events in Australia, because all of these children come from all over the country, and then there are the musicians from overseas who come to play at the concerts; if I were still the Premier of Victoria, I would pinch this for Victoria.”
Lindsay Fox added that “seeing is believing”.
“Generations in Jazz is something that needs to be shown on a national basis to show the people of Australia and the regions our commitment to music and the youth of our country,” he said.
Major winners from the City of Mount Gambier National Stage Band Awards, ANZ Vocal Ensemble Awards and the University of South Australia Small Jazz Combo Awards were revealed at yesterday’s finale concert and awards ceremony, and Adelaide’s Marryatville High School dominated the top divisions of all three major categories.
The school was named the Division 1 Stage Band winner ahead of Victoria’s Blackburn High School. Marryatville High also had the Best Small Jazz Combo and the weekend’s top large vocal ensemble and finished runner-up in the small group vocal ensemble.
The top small group Division 1 Vocal Ensemble was Aquinas College (Victoria).
Melbourne’s Caulfield Grammar and St Peter’s College from Adelaide were the joint winners of the Division 2 Section 1 category of the National Stage Band Awards.
Balwyn High School (VIC) took out Section 2 of that division, with Westminster School (SA) finishing second.
The Band Director’s Award for the most outstanding educator went to Philip Walsh from St Peter’s College in Adelaide.
Two highly coveted scholarships designed to assist in career development were also handed out at GIJ.
Perth tenor saxophone player Jayden Blockley won the $10,000 James Morrison Scholarship for instrumentalists, which is sponsored by Melbourne philanthropist Andrea Evans and family in recognition of the late Ron Evans’ wish to encourage jazz talent.
Jayden, 19, will also receive a day’s recording at the ABC Studio in Sydney donated by ABC Jazz, which is valued at up to $5,000.
Jayden is currently in his second year studying a Bachelor of Music at the James Morrison Academy of Music.
Stephanie Russell, 20, from Newcastle NSW secured the $5000 Vocal Scholarship sponsored by The Border Watch Newspaper.
Stephanie is in her final year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music majoring in Jazz Vocals.
Mount Gambier cemented its reputation as the supreme host of the nation’s largest school jazz competition.
Host venue The Barn served nearly 21,000 meals over the weekend, while all accommodation within a 100-kilometre radius of Mount Gambier was fully booked, with many of the participating schools billeted in halls, clubrooms and private homes across the region.
