By Phil Jarratt
In the year they celebrate their 30th anniversary, the Noosa Jazz Party is doing it tough.
If you were here for the first Noosa Jazz Parties back in the early ‘90s, you’re almost a local! And that means if you love jazz, now is the time to support this classic event.
There aren’t many events, music or otherwise, that endure for 30 years and more, but our town has three of them – Triathlon, Surf Festival and Jazz Party. The main reason for their success has been the fact that they have drawn participants and audiences from around the world, but this year, with borders still closed and every other event in town cancelled, the Noosa Jazz Party and its organising entity the Noosa Heads Jazz Club are relying on the support of locals for an excellent four-day program of home-grown jazz, featuring the very best of Queensland’s jazz musicians.
“It’s a bit like the very first Jazz Party,” says co-founder Richard Stevens, “when we had a dozen local musos and marched down Hastings Street playing music without a permit like we were in New Orleans. Everybody loved the fun, the relaxed atmosphere and the great music, and it just grew from there.”
It certainly did. By the mid-‘90s, Richard and co-founder the late and esteemed Melbourne and Noosa jazz legend Frank Johnson were signing world class players like Australians Graeme Bell, Bob Barnard and John Sangster and internationals like New York trumpet wiz Jon-Erik Kellso, while leading Australian artist Robert Dickerson was creating charcoal art for the program cover.
Like most events, the Jazz Party had its ups and downs, name changes and shifts away from its trad roots, but one thing that never faltered was the hard work and commitment of Frank Johnson (until he passed away) and mainstays Richard Stevens and wife Patsy. Now 76, the sousaphone-playing retiree and wife Betsy (who got him into jazz in the first place) are still running the show with the same energy and enthusiasm they had at the beginning.
And until the pandemic hit, Jazz Party 2020 was set to be the biggest in years, with Jon-Erik Kellso making a welcome return from New York as headliner, and a huge cast of musos from all over Australia and New Zealand in support. Airline tickets had been booked and paid for when Richard and Patsy got the news that events were off and financial support no longer forthcoming.
Says Richard: “We accepted that and cancelled, hoping we could get airline credits to bring musicians for next year, but then a couple of months down the track we started doing gigs at the Tewantin Noosa Bowls Club, and they’ve been so successful that people were begging us to put a one-venue Jazz Party on, like it was the very first year. The Jazz Club saw it as a way to claw back some of the losses on travel costs, so now we’ve got a great program at the Bowlo, plus a Fathers’ Day lunch at Pier 11. Sadly restrictions mean no free concert in the park, but plenty of great music at good prices. All we need is for locals to come out and support us.”
The Tewantin Noosa Bowls Club will host four-hour programs afternoons and evenings from Thursday, September 3 to Sunday, September 6, for just $25 a head, with food and drink at club prices. Covid restrictions mean that ticket sales are limited, so phone Patsy now to ensure your tickets – 07 5447 2229.
