Ten Reasons to Attend Blues & Jazz Festivals In Australia
Australia is a wonderful place to go and attend the Blues and Jazz Festival. It has a long past history of Jazz music. When we refer to Jazz it is a music form that has its beginnings in the chord progression of Blues music. And Blues started from the southern states of America as melancholic music of the African-American community. Australia has a long association with this form of music and has somehow inspired its locals more than anyone else. If you are a freedom-loving soul, hooked to music and the many intricacies therein, then you must be loving the varied forms of jazz. Australia offers many exotic places to visit in its coastal towns and cities, along with rainforests and lovely landscape filled with native and rare flora and fauna. In this backdrop imagine yourself listening to live jazz performances! Here you will find 10 compelling reasons to attend Blues and Jazz festivals in Australia .
1. Melbourne International Jazz Festival
The quaint city of Melbourne has music running through its veins. Jazz is very popular with the locals here. No wonder you have the finest International Jazz Festival being held in Melbourne in the months of May and June. It is a Jazz festival that compares with any that is held on the map of the world. You just cannot afford to miss whether you are a Jazz enthusiast or not. The beauty of the festival is that it is carried to various venues and offers free shows. It also promotes Jazz by showcasing local talent with international figures. You will see this festival taking place in concert halls, jazz clubs and even on the streets of Melbourne. All you need to do is be there in Melbourne while the festival is on, and you will be treated with the best that jazz has to offer.
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2. Jazz By The Bay Festival
In case your itinerary takes you to Western Australia in the month of May- June, then you need to check out this interesting festival. Jay By The Bay Festival is conducted over 20 venues spread across the Margaret River region and is famous for its sterling line-up of Jazz musicians. This is a most anticipated festival in Western Australia and is conducted in the fascinating part of the world. You will be able to listen to the various Jazz strains coming from the ensemble while sipping your favourite wine in an exotic location in this region, The landscape will bewitch you, coupled with gourmet food and excellent wine from the many wineries around. This festival has been getting rave reviews from Jazz lovers in particular and music aficionados in general. There is no reason for you to abstain yourself from this heady mix of lilting Jazz music and exquisite wine in an enchanting location in the Margaret River region. Believe you me, it will feel like heaven on earth.
3. Devonport Jazz Festival
Held each year in the northwestern coast of Tasmania during the Australian winter month of July, Devonport Jazz Festival is the ultimate in taking Jazz to every doorstep. It is conducted over 30 venues and is instrumental in making Jazz popular in that part of the world. You will find this festival being held in cafes, clubs, churches, pubs, community halls, art venues and in every conceivable public space. The main of the festival has been to win overall shades of music lovers, young or old. You will be treated to the best of Jazz from famous international artists as well as local ones. The celebrations in Jazz will simply blow your mind, with over 200 distinguished jazz artists rendering various genres just for you. The festival ensures that no one gets left out from getting introduced to Jazz by is various immersion programmes like workshops, industry collaborations and also free shows. You will certainly not be untouched by the power of Jazz in this Festival.
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4. Wangaratta Festival Of Jazz & Blues
Come November and the South Western region of Australia becomes agog with the expectations of the start of Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues. This is a massive festival celebrating Jazz music, with over 350 national and international Jazz luminaries rendering 100 odd performances in Wangaratta, a town about 250 km from Melbourne. For the organizers, this Festival serves as a vehicle for featuring new talent and also presents leading names in the world of jazz. They are very particular in maintaining a fine balance between staging massive electrifying shows on one hand and conducting intimate jazz sessions in churches and clubs on the other. You will get your money’s worth in this Festival as you sway to the mystifying chords of Jazz from leading names in the business. If you want to get immersed in the depths of Jazz, come and attend this Festival in Wangaratta – you will feel truly blessed.
5. Byron Bay Bluesfest and Beyond
Byron Bay hosts one of the biggest Blues festivals in Australia. With luminaries like Lionel Richie and Robert Plant gracing the stage at Byron Bay Bluesfest in 2018, this festival has become a rage in Australia for Blues lovers. This festival is held at a Tea Tree Farm in November, with seven stages and over 200 national and international Blues exponents. You may also like to attend Blues at Bridgetown Blues Festival in the same month of November. After that, head to Sydney in the month of December and attend Sydney Blues & Roots Festival there. It is a favourite with the locals and boasts of presenting big names from the world of blues. Then to bring the curtains down to the year, you should attend the Bluestone Blues Festival at Murgheboluc on New Year’s Eve. If that makes you want more of Blues, you can enjoy the music in the month of March at Tasmania’s Forth Valley Blues Festival. This can be followed by Blues on Broadbeach in May, to complete the Blues circuit in Australia.
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6. Newcastle Jazz Festival
This really big and long Jazz & Blues Festival one has to attend to live the Jazz spirit. Newcastle Jazz Festival attracts jazz enthusiasts not only from all over Australia but also New Zealand. It is a magnetic Jazz festival celebrating jazz in all its forms. In this festival, you can enjoy jazz in all its form, from contemporary to its traditional strains, to blues to swings. The repertoire that this jazz festival presents to you will make you go crazy. And all this is served by the best in the business, both local and international. The festival is superbly organized throughout the year, so you cannot miss its many manifestations. This is strongly promoted and proliferated by Newcastle Jazz Club. It has strong moorings with the Hunter family and hence has done so well for itself. Its reputation has travelled far and wide with more than 40 bands performing in 2019. This Jazz Festival is simply the stuff that any Jazz lover looks for. So come to Newcastle and savour the strong essence of Jazz in all its trappings in Newcastle Jazz Festival.
7. Perth International Jazz Festival
Perth International Jazz Festival ranks amongst the best Jazz festivals in Australia. In fact, it is in the seventh spot amongst Jazz festivals in Australia. Starting out in 2012 it has been continuously rising up the ladder of popularity, and for good reasons. The organizers are assiduously labouring to get fresh talent from around the world to perform at the festival. The aim is to motivate folks to sample this genre of music and provide a platform to showcase new talent. The action plan of the organizers has worked well so far, and the festival has been rising in popularity charts with the infusion of new blood. This plan is balanced well by attracting big names in Jazz to perform at the festival. The shows are balanced ranging from intimate community events spread over different venue platforms for free, to blood pumping mega stage shows properly gated and ticketed. You can be part of this spectacle in the month of November and live your Jazz dreams as per your liking.
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8. Brisbane International Jazz Festival
Brisbane International Jazz festival is held every year in the months of May-June. Here are multiple venues and multiple ways that the festival is conducted. The Festival is organized as workshops of vocal and instrumental Jazz which gives a platform to Jazz aficionados to freely interact with the experts in the field of jazz on various aspects. His prepares the ground for further jazz exploration by keen jazz musicians. The other platform that the Festival provides is to attract national and international Jazz exponents to perform for the pleasure of the public in numerous venues. These shows are so designed that new talent gets full exposure and chance to display their talent, and interest of the public is also maintained through big guns of the industry. People from far and wide flock to Brisbane to watch the celebrities of Jazz perform while enjoying the warmth and hospitality of Brisbane in some of the best world-class facilities and locales.
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9. Murray Bridge Jazz Festival
Located only 75 km from Adelaide, Murray Bridge has shot to fame with its Jazz Festival, which is unique in its very basis of foundation. It has been founded as the not-for-profit extravagance for celebrating music in general and jazz in particular. It is here in this festival that you can enjoy the most traditional form of Jazz coupled with Dixieland rhythms served by ensembles from across the length of the country. Murray bridge Jazz Festival has offered quality Jazz to the listeners and has been the force behind keeping Jazz alive and kicking around this part of the world. What this festival offers to you is the lifetime experience of enjoying the festival performers on a river cruise. Every October fresh local Jazz musicians present their talent along with the biggies of the business in some exquisite surroundings and locations you would not like to miss.
10. Manly Jazz Festival
How can you be far away from the internationally famed Manly Beach, when the added attraction is the Jazz Festival being hosted there in October? Manly Beach is the perfect backdrop for the celebration of Jazz. This genre of music is for those who are free at heart and mind and Manly beach lends itself to enhance that feeling. Jazz lovers rush to this Festival in September-October by the thousands and make merry in the beach while listening to some of the finest Jazz artists known to the world. There are 100 odd free performances by internationally famed Jazz musicians where you are treated to the entire range of Jazz music from swings to blues, fusion to roots and many more that Jazz in its complete form has to offer. No wonder there is such a mad rush of Jazz enthusiasts to reach Manly Beach in September-October. This festival is just for you if you want to enjoy Jazz in the perfect settings of a famous beach. Miss Manly Jazz Festival at your own peril!
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Conclusion
For a true Jazz aficionado, there is no place like Australia. Jazz is deep-rooted in the culture of the locals here. From North to South Australia, it is Jazz that rules the roost. Jazz Festivals organized in the coastal cities of Australia gets a thumping response because of the quality and immersive programs that the organizers offer to the public. All that is apart from the magic of the ambience and landscape provided by these coastal cities in Australia for Jazz to become even more enticing to listen to. Reasons to attend Blues and Jazz festivals in Australia in 2020 have been enumerated above for all music lovers.
Fun Fact
Where is the best jazz festival?
The world’s largest jazz festival is The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in Québec, Canada, which attracted 1,913,868 people for its 25th anniversary year in July 2004.
