AFTER a year off live shows, the Ballarat Jazz Club is set to host its first gig for the year at the Ballarat Golf Club with the much-loved Maryborough Traditional Jazz Ensemble.<\/p>\n
To take place Sunday, 21 February from 1p to 4pm, the jazz group are set to play a range of 1920s and 1930s music, Australian composed songs, as well as Latin American, and Glenn Miller tunes.<\/p>\n
Ballarat musician, reed player and vocalist for the band Barry Currie said after a lean year for musicians, it\u2019s great to be booking and playing shows again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the first gigs, we\u2019re looking forward to the event run by the Ballarat Jazz club which I\u2019m also a member of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe band has been going for around 34 years, we play around all of the other clubs around Victoria and I\u2019ve been in it for around 10, I play in other bands too but this one is a really happy band.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have fun on stage, we play swing music, jazz, Latin and jazz classics, it\u2019s going to be a great day especially because we haven\u2019t been able to go out and listen to music in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the organiser of the event, president of Ballarat Jazz Club Gerard Ballinger said it was disappointing to not be able to book any of the bands over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic is a very powerful therapeutic way of making you feel good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great thing, it gives people the opportunity to socialise and it\u2019s good for your mental health, so it\u2019s going to be a great day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to this first gig, we\u2019ve got quite a few bands booked for the year so people can look forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n