Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues - 30 Years 1990-2020

By Adrian and Andra Jackson

The sceptics said it couldn’t be pulled off. How on earth could a tumbleweed town like Wangaratta in rural Victoria host a jazz festival? Even if the town managed to get a jazz festival off the ground for a year or two, it couldn’t possibly last, the doubters said.

Now thirty years later, the festival having also added on a blues event, is firmly established as Australia’s leading jazz festival, bringing musicians and punters from all over Australia together. It has won tourism awards and is now ranked as a Hallmark event by the Victorian Government.

In February 2016, Wangaratta drew international attention because an outbreak of tumbleweed had left it piled up meters deep outside the doors and homes of some residents. But to the international jazz fraternity, especially in America, Wangaratta was already well known as the place that hosted one of the most
discerning and cutting edge jazz festivals on the international jazz festival circuit. Word of mouth glowing endorsements from returning overseas musicians who had performed at the festival secured its reputation.

But the festival’s success didn’t just happened overnight. It evolved through careful planning, astute decisions, the search for an artistic director able to create a jazz festival that could differentiate itself from the host of jazz festivals around Australia, and most importantly with the support of the townspeople.

There were many challenges and obstacles along the way. The book Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues 30 Years is the behind the scenes story of how they were overcome, told by its artistic director of seventeen years standing. It is also the story of how musicians and punters alike embraced the festival told through
their recollections. Leading local and overseas musician have written about their experience of the festival, one where the usual performer/audience barriers are broken down and musicians walk around freely through the crowds and run shoulders with punters

Jazz performances are often ephemeral. Once they happen they’re gone. The ABC though has recorded countless live performances over the decades
and many of them have occurred at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues. I’ve been involved along with others recording many of them and reading
this book by Adrian and Andra Jackson documenting 30 years of the festival brought back so many memories.

Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues 30 Years is above all a tribute to a rural success story, of a town that pulled of what it was told couldn’t be done. And the tumbleweeds? Long since cleared.

In a geographically diverse country such as Australia this festival acted as a true meeting point of Australian and international musicians and helped foster a real sense of collaboration and comradeship that I observed over many years. This book includes recollections from many of the musicians who performed there as well as some insightful and often humorous observations from the event’s artistic director Adrian Jackson. The photographs also serve to bring to life concerts that I was a part of in documenting for the ABC as well as ones I missed. From a broadcaster’s perspective it also offers a mine of riches when searching for details about a particular concert and who was involved. Whilst the festival ends its run in 2023, ‘Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues:30 Years 1990-2020’ will ensure that we don’t forget the importance of this event to our cultural and musical history.

Mal Stanley ABC Jazz