Berry Jazz Festival
Image: Mr Ott
As Mother’s Day fast approaches this weekend a wonderful event is happening just a couple of hours away that would make for the ultimate gift for mum. The second annual Berry Jazz Festival is an opportunity to take your mum (or yourself) away for a delightfully relaxing weekend in the picturesque surrounds of the south coast while also enjoying some of Australia’s premier jazz musicians.
Creative Director & performer Zoe Hauptmann described how she fell in love with the township of Berry when she went down earlier this year to scope out venues: “It’s such a beautiful little regional town with all the heritage buildings and it’s perfectly set up for the festival, you can walk from venue to venue.”
It’s not only the visual aesthetic of the town that influenced the decision to hold a festival in Berry, the Jazz Festival has received strong support from Berry’s artistic community. The venues chosen for the shows throughout the weekend were also a big selling point, as Hauptmann explained they are “intimate settings and venues that you wouldn’t typically get to see these acts perform in up in Sydney”.
In the second year of the festival the organising committing wanted to thank and give something back to the community for their support so they have introduced a kids jazz workshop. “The workshop is going to be centred around teaching the kids one song then marching across to the courthouse to perform with The Glorious Sousaphonics,” said Zoe.
For Zoe it was important to ensure that the level of musical experience of each of the kids involved was not a limiting factor, so they designed it very carefully. “It’s going to be a lot of rhythm games and getting back to looking at music education in a more traditional learning by ear and playing with other people manner,” she explained.
Other major highlights of the weekend include Mister Ott leading an Ethiopian influenced six-piece ensemble during dinner on Saturday night. Then on Sunday the award-winning Coolangatta Winery will play host to a Mother’s Day luncheon with musical accompaniment from Emma Pask and Darren Percival performing Finnland, which is a reimagining of Neil and Tim Finn’s amazing repertoire of memorable music. (JA)
May 7–8, Various Venues In Berry (2 hours south of Sydney). Single events $15-60 or two day pass $160. Tickets & Info: berryjazz.com.au
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