The Valley Jazz Festival: April 19-24, 2005

From Tuesday 19 April – Sunday 24 April, 2005, Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley will resonate with the live music offerings of the second annual Valley Jazz Festival. More than 130 Artists from 40 bands will take part in the six-day festival. The event is mostly in support of local talent, although special guests are Australian jazz icon Bernie McGann and Melbourne’s Fiona Burnett Trio. The Valley Jazz festival is Brisbane’s only multi-venue jazz festival with free and low cost events in 12 live music venues in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley entertainment precinct. The festival achieves this with Brisbane City Council funding under the 2010 Cultural Grants Scheme.

“We don’t have a fundraising or charity focus like some of the other jazz festivals around town. In fact, rather than drawing big crowds, we aim to present smaller, more intimate gigs during the festival,” says festival organizer and Jazz Queensland president Andrew Shaw

The event is the only festival in Brisbane critically focused on jazz as an art form. Although inclusive of all styles, the festival focuses on artists with original and innovative material, giving it a more experimental edge. Talented local musicians, The Heartbreakers, even weave music around recorded samples of emotional confrontations from talkback programs such as the Jerry Springer Show.

“We aren’t trying to tell people what jazz is. What we are saying is here is a smorgasbord of different types of quality jazz, choose the flavours you like,” says Shaw.

This year’s festival includes a special dinner jazz gala event at barsoma. For $65 per person patrons will be treated to a three course fine dining experience with wines provided by event sponsor Hardy Wines. Artists performing during the evening are Stringmansassy and Tyrone Noonan’s jazz ensemble, Palimpsest. All enquires and bookings for this event should be directed to barsoma on 3252 9550 or www.barsoma.com.

For further information or to arrange photo opportunities please contact Liz Franzmann on 0410391379 or info@jazzqueensland.com. Program information, ticket prices and booking details are available on the festival website more>>