Jazz festival back with a HUGE bang

Generations in Jazz returns to its former glory as South Australia dominates the awards

Generations in Jazz returned to its former glory earlier this month. After three years of cancellations and revamped formats, the popular school based national jazz festival was back with 4500 musicians from across Australia returning to compete in the band and vocal competitions, as well as the finalists for the James Morrison and Vocal Scholarships.

It saw accommodation facilities and other community and individual premises packed to the rafters with aspiring jazz musicians and their support crew and The Barn was again the centre of the jazz music universe as competitions, concerts and workshops saw wall-to-wall scatting, improvising and jamming.

And then there were the headline acts for the 2023 event.

Swedish jazz-pop supergroup Dirty Loops was easily the most anticipated performance of the weekend and did not disappoint. In fact, so impressive and engaging was the trio, whose arrangements borrow from jazz, jazz fusion, gospel, funk, electronica, pop and disco, that security eventually lost the battle of keeping the audience in their seats – it became a dance-a-thon.

Emerging R&B talent Thndo, who came to national attention on the recent seasons of The Voice Australia, and Adam Lopez, an Australian pop musician, vocal coach and session vocalist, also added to the star power on stage.

Margot Inès Petrie took out the Vocal Scholarship, while tenor saxophonist Oscar Bruten was awarded the James Morrison Jazz Scholarship.

South Australian school dominated the other major awards with long time pacesetters St Peters Girls School, in Adelaide, taking out the Division 1 Vocal Competition in the large group category and fellow Adelaide school Loreto College taking out Division 1 in the small group category.

Marryatville High School, another Adelaide school that is often at the pointy end of the four decade old jazz festival competition, took out the prestigious Division 1 Stage Band award.

And the accolades for South Australian musicians continued with the majority of the individual awards taken out by musicians from Marryatville High School, Prince Alfred College and Concordia College.

Generations in Jazz music director Jordan Murray said this year’s young musicians were among the finest the event has seen across the festival’s 40 year history.

“The standard of musicianship this year was some of the best we’ve ever heard,” Jordan said. “While the winners were undoubtedly deserving of the accolades and awards, the experience and learning opportunities enjoyed by all the students who participated are really the main focus for the festival.”

Generations in Jazz chair Tony Wright, overseeing his first full-blown festival, praised the students and music teachers for their participation along with the volunteers who helped make the event a resounding success.

“An event of this magnitude simply can’t happen without the help of our volunteers,” Mr Wright said. “After the pandemic forced us to skip the event for a number of years, it was never guaranteed we’d be able to bring Generations in Jazz back to Mount Gambier.

“On behalf of the board, I want to express our gratitude not only to the volunteers, but the people of Mount Gambier who embrace this event and the people who participate in it while they’re here.

It’s a testament to our Limestone Coast hospitality that we’re able to host such a significant event here, and the rewards to our region go way beyond the economic benefits.

“It was nice to see so many people enjoying a big weekend of music here in Mount Gambier.

“There’s a lot of competition to rebuild tourism across all regions not just in South Australia, but Australia, so to bring a series of shows like this to our region, and have so many people come for a big, musical night out, is really pleasing.”