By Margaret Maccoll
How do you find good jazz where there is none?
Noosa Heads Jazz Club president Richard Stevens knew a guy from Colarado who couldn’t find any good jazz, so he invited up 10 mates.
Ten jazz players make up two bands, but not necessarily the same bands as a good jazz player can shift between instruments and bands, he said.
A quarter of a century ago, Richard Stevens and Frank Johnson initiated the Noosa Jazz Party following the Colarado method, and the numbers have increased, but the format is still working today.
Richard was introduced to jazz by his wife Patsy, a musician “who knew all the people in the jazz circle” in Melbourne.
The couple moved from Melbourne to Noosa about 30 years ago, but missed the jazz culture they left behind in Melbourne.
Despite his interest in jazz, it was only in his forties that Richard progressed from a jazz lover to a jazz musician.
“One day we were visiting Frank, having a drink in the afternoon. There was a silver tuba gone black sitting in the corner. He said I could play that,” Richard said.
He did start playing the silver tuba then discovered a sousaphone in America, which he made his own, spending more than it cost to send it back to Australia.
Before long, he and fellow musicians started playing gigs around Noosa, at one time doing six gigs a week, before the idea to invite jazz musicians to Noosa became a reality.
“In 1992, I hoofed it up and down Hastings Street and went into all the shops and resorts to find out when the quietest and cheapest time was,” Richard said.
“They gave me two options. The quietest time was two weeks before Christmas and a week before the September school holidays.
“We opted for the latter. It fell on a long weekend for the Noosa Show Day. There was then the Enterprise Group funded by the council. They said can you have it the week before.
“The demographic in Noosa at that time of the year is our demographic.
“We still have that demographic. There’s a lot of people who own property here. “Maybe 20 per cent stay with friends, 10 per cent are grey nomads. That’s our market. Our prices are mostly in the budget mode.
“It would be lovely if more kids came, but it’s not our focus. Once they do come though, they’re locked in, they love it.”
Richard said the “happy jazz” that is played, the moderate costs, a free concert and the fun of it draws both musicians and guests.
“Noosa Jazz Party is unique. The musicians are all the very best. They are people who can play lots of instruments and we put the groups together.
“We can give people six hours of jazz or 24 hours of jazz in four days. There are restaurants where you can have a three-course meal and a show. There’s the riverband shuffle with two restaurants, two ferries, two classic bands. We have a legend every year – this year it is Peter Gaudion.
Gaudion began playing in his band The Kansas City Six at 19 years of age, and has played all styles of jazz most of his life. He has toured extensively across the US, the Pacific and Europe and has appeared on television specials, feature films and performed a lead role in the Australian production of High Society.
Over the 25 years of its existence, the Noosa Jazz Festival has been organised by three different groups and undergone a few name changes.
It is again named Noosa Jazz Party which is a trademark registered in Richard’s name.
Richard and Patsy are now the organisers as Frank died tragically when he was struck by a car while crossing the road during one of the jazz parties.
The loss of Frank leaves a big gap in the Noosa jazz scene.
Frank gained fame in Melbourne where he played trumpet with the Dixielanders, one of Australia’s leading jazz bands. From the 1940s, the band had its own radio show on 3UZ in Melbourne and fans queued around the block to see them live.
When Frank moved to Noosa in the 1980s, the jazz scene had changed enormously in Melbourne, and his following faded but it didn’t matter to him. It was always the music and the democracy of it he loved. For Frank, the Noosa Jazz Party epitomised the simple things that had made jazz such a success when he began.
As the show goes on this year, the democracy of jazz continues. Each of the invited jazz players is a band leader, and players will be assigned into bands for the party.
“We’ve always just kept going with what we know from a lifetime associated with jazz,” Richard said.
“Most of the time, it’s a delightful artistic result,” Richard said.
He said while there were some stars among jazz players, the genre didn’t attract divas or princesses.
“The sentiment about jazz is no one regards themselves as any more important than anyone else. There’s no A-grade and B-grade players,” he said.
It’s this egalitarian attitude that allows players to fit into various bands and promotes an ever-diversifying style of music, particularly live.
“Live jazz is something you can’t get from a CD,” Richard said.
Richard said the event would be spread across the region and not just focused on Hastings Street.
Last year’s festival was sold out, and its financial success has been a boost for this year’s festival, and drawn support from local businesses.
Richard said the jazz club underwrote costs, and already the festival had covered expenses for the musicians, and many accommodation houses were sponsoring the event.
“We can just focus on getting the festival done.”
There will be 36 or 37 jazz players at this year’s 10-day festival being held from 25 August to 3 September. The Sunshine Coast Youth Orchestra and St John’s College Orchestra will also be involved.
Jazz will be performed at a range of venues including the River Deck Restaurant, Pier 11 Restaurant, Fratellini’s in Sunshine Beach, Miss Moneypenny’s and Cafe Le Monde in Hastings Street, the RACV resort and the Sunshine Beach Surf Club.
A free Sunday concert will be held at Lions Park on Gympie Terrace, Noosaville, and the centre point for the event will be The J theatre in Noosa Junction.
For tickets and more information, phone 5447 2229 or visit www.noosajazzclub.com/noosa-jazz-party/
