Auckland Bands Win National Youth Jazz Competition

Auckland Bands Win National Youth Jazz Competition

Two Auckland bands have picked up the major awards in the Port of Tauranga National Youth Jazz Band Competition held in Tauranga over the past two days as part of the National Jazz Festival.

Pukekohe High School Stage Band won the New Orleans Trophy for Best Big Band on Friday and today, the Avondale College Combo (pictured) beat 14 other bands from around the country to take the Award for Best Secondary School Jazz Combo.

Both bands will perform at the More FM Young Guns Showcase at Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga tomorrow, along with Mt Roskill Grammar Jazz Combo who also impressed the judges.

The contest, now in its 33rd year, attracted entries from around the country with bands travelling from as far afield as Christchurch, Kerikeri and Wellington.

Adjudicator Rodger Fox said the standard among the bands has increased this year which is encouraging for the future of jazz in New Zealand.

Pukekohe High School Stage Band leader Niels Leffelaar said he was “thrilled for the kids – they have worked incredibly hard and really deserve this”.

He said the band decided to change a song on Tuesday, giving the musicians and vocalist Rochelle Fausett just three days to learn the music and lyrics.

“We have been practicing for months, but one of the pieces just wasn’t working, so we changed it earlier this week and performed Some of My Best Friends. It was the right decision.”

Pukekohe High School has been a regular entrant in the competition and won ‘Best New Band’ six years ago, but despite winning other jazz competition prizes around the country, the Tauranga prize has been “elusive.

“We have done well at other competitions, but the standard in Tauranga is always very high. This rounds off our trophy cabinet nicely,” Mr Leffelaar said. The $1000 prize money will be put towards the band’s South Island tour later this year.

Avondale College had previously won the Combos section in 2004, but this win was the first for band director Ross Devereux.

“It is really awesome and very exciting,” he said. “The students have all worked incredibly hard.”

The seven-piece combo was the first to compete in the Combos section, playing on Friday afternoon and most of the band returned to Auckland before the winners were announced, leaving tenor saxophone player Jo Walker and pianist Hayden Randles to collect the trophy and frantically call the rest of the band to tell them the good news.

“It is really exciting,” Jo said. “Most of us have been playing together for the past three years, but we have a new bassist this year.”

Dr Fox said the band’s innovative approach to the music they played sealed the award. “They don’t just play the material – they came up with different ways of playing and they have a very good handle on the jazz language.”

The More FM Young Guns Showcase, featuring the winners of the Port of Tauranga National Youth Jazz Band Competition, takes place on Sunday 4 April at 1.30pm at Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga. Tickets are available from TicketDirect 0800 4TICKETS (484 253) or http://ticketdirect.co.nz For more information on the National Jazz Festival visit http://www.jazz.org.nz

ENDS

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