The first week of December will see Ponsonby Road come alive with jazz and blues music.
This is Ponsonby’s first annual “Jazz on Ponsonby” event. The week long extravaganza features more than 75 of the best
musicians on the New Zealand Jazz and Blues scene.
David Paquette, who has been organizing the jazz festival on Waiheke for 13 years, is the artistic director for the
event. He said “It is with great pleasure that I have been asked to bring a jazz festival to Ponsonby, a more than
perfect place for jazz. We will bring music to the street and to some interesting venues. The best thing for me is that
the whole event is free to the public.”
The event will feature music in over 20 venues and draw from the whole spectrum of Jazz and blues music. Ponsonby Road
Promotions CEO Brigid Rogers, the sponsor of the event said “We wanted to create something different and one look at the
programme will show that we have achieved that. The range is amazing and we hope the event will go from strength the
strength.”
Ponsonby has a range of venues that specialize in Jazz and Blues music and they have been included in the programme for
the week. The full programme is available on www.ponsonby.org.nz/jazz.pdf
The week kicks off with the Nairobi Trio and includes names such as Kantuta, Julie Mason, Briar Ross and Gahu. There
will also be three nights of jazz and blues videos at a local café.