Brisbane Hot Jazz Festival

Brisbane's about to get even hotter with the Brisbane Hot Jazz Festival at The Brisbane Jazz Club, Saturday and Sunday, 19 and 20 March, 2016. Hot jazz spread from New Orleans in the early 1900s through to Chicago and New York, and now a sizzling line-up of jazz musos is bringing it to subtropical Brisbane.

Jazz aficionados won't want to miss headliners, Melbourne outfit, The Syncopators, acknowledged by appreciative audiences and critics for being one of the leading classic/mainstream jazz groups in the country.

Not forgetting our local musos, there's also the Caxton Street Jazz Band, who'll give us music from the classic jazz years of the 1920s through to the 1950s, with mainstream, swing, trad/New Orleans revival and blues. Their monthly gigs at the Brisbane Jazz Club are always packed so they're definitely worth a look. 

Then there's the Braben/Jenner Hot Five, with Andy Jenner on reeds and John Braben on trumpet, playing early 20th century American music such as Scott Joplin's ragtime and New Orleans classics by people like Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton and others.

There's plenty more on offer - from Peter Uppman and the Upbeats featuring John Cox, to Mal Wood and the Trad Tigers, to The Gingerbread Boys, and the 10-piece Rhythm Society Dance Orchestra pumping out riffs to get those hooves working overtime. 

The Brisbane Hot Jazz Festival is produced and hosted by Artistic Director, Mal Wood, who says we should 'expect the unexpected' with impromptu jam sessions and plenty of fun. Saturday, 19 March will focus on the New Orleans feel of Hot Jazz, with a deep Chicago style taking over on Sunday, 20 March, 2016. Check the website for the performance rundown.

Brisbane Hot Jazz Festival

By Vicki Englund