Jazz rules in the capital

Wellington Jazz Festival June 7-11

Jazz at The Opera House
Bill Frisell featuring Petra Haydn, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Wednesday, June 7, 8pm; Dave Weckl & Tony Lindsay with Adam Schroeder and Alex Sipiagin, Thursday June 8, 8pm; Dianne Reeves, Friday June 9, 8pm; Seoul Jazz: The Jac & Black String, Saturday, June 10, 4pm; The Comet is Coming, Saturday, June 10, 8pm; Harold López-Nussa Trio, Sunday, June 11, 7pm

Wellington’s Jazz Festival is becoming one of the city’s major cultural events and is now seen as such by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency.

Since it turned annual in 2013 in a new mid-winter slot, the Wellington Jazz Festival has become one of the capital’s most successful events.  Growing year on year, in 2016 it attracted 25,000 people to 100 gigs across the city; and with 30% of its audience from outside the region, it brought increased business to Wellington’s bars, cafes and venues.

This year the festival includes the guitar great Bill Frisell along with space-jazz pioneers The Comet is Coming.

Festival Artistic Director Shelagh Magadza says she’s pleased to bring such an exciting eclectic line up to Wellington’s Opera House for the popular mid-winter festival.

“It’s been said that Bill Frisell plays the guitar ‘like Miles Davis played the trumpet,’ and I’m delighted to have this music legend open the Wellington Jazz Festival. Playing his first New Zealand show on June 7, Bill will be joined by three of his When You Wish Upon A Star album collaborators, including The Decemberists vocalist Petra Haden.

“Also performing, one of the world’s most acclaimed jazz vocalists, Dianne Reeves, will be a real treat for festival-goers this year. With five Grammys to her name, Dianne moves smoothly between R&B, pop, folk and rock, and has collaborated with music legends such as Harry Belafonte and Wynton Marsalis,” Shelagh says.

The Festival’s global line-up includes the Harold López-Nussa Trio, which promises an upbeat evening of hot Cuban rhythms and one of the world’s greatest living drummers, Dave Weckl, with an ensemble cast featuring Santana vocalist Tony Lindsay.

Featuring sax prodigy ‘King Shabaka’, impressive Mercury Prize nominees The Comet is Coming will bring their inimitable psychedelic fusion of electronica and Afro-beats as they play homage to science fiction and outer space.

Another international highlight during the five-day festival is the exciting world premiere of Seoul Jazz, a unique music collaboration between home-town jazz act The Jac and South Korea’s Black String.

The full Wellington Jazz Festival line-up will be announced in April.

www.jazzfestival.co.nz