This Easter weekend (April 18-21) will bring the culmination of the 62nd National Jazz Festival with some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s top jazz musicians performing in the Downtown Carnival across five stages on The Strand, Wharf Street and Red Square in Tauranga. Enjoy the hospitality of Tauranga’s many excellent waterfront bars and restaurants while enjoying the festive family carnival atmosphere.

With events scheduled across Tauranga from April 7-21 (including the National Youth Jazz Competition, Hot Pool Jazz, a celebration of Rodger Fox, Jazz Sunset Cruises and a NZ Army Band showcase), there’s a lot more to the annual National Jazz Festival than just that fun-filled Easter weekend as Festival Manager Marc Anderson explains.

What’s in your own background that led you to this Festival Manager role Marc?

I left New Zealand in 1988 and ended up touring the world in production working with many European and international acts. I spent time in Aussie working on large corporate events and have been back in NZ for eight years working on festivals, one of them being the National Jazz Festival.

This is quite special for me as when I was a kid, I use to compete with my school at the National Youth Jazz Competition, which is part of the festival and is still going. This year that will mean over 700 students arriving in Tauranga from schools all over the country.

What’s the organisation that stages this event annually? How does it fund such a wide programme?

The National Jazz Festival is delivered by Tauranga Jazz Society. The society goes from strength to strength and the festival is in its 62nd year. The festival is funded by the generous support from principal sponsor Port of Tauranga, funding agencies including TECT, Tauranga City Council, MBIE, Lion Foundation, Pub Charity, Western Bay and Tauranga Community Fund, and supporters from around the community.

We have a team of three working on it. I look after the festival and Liam Ryan (from The Narcs) looks after the Youth Competition. Mandy Ryan, the Tauranga Jazz Society’s GM, keeps an eye on everything else and together with a great committee we deliver the annual festival to an audience of over 20,000.

What main challenges do you face in curating a two-week jazz festival in the Bay of Plenty?

We find there’s so much great talent in NZ that we are always having to look at new ideas to provide more platforms for all of them to perform. This is not really a challenge because having an overflow of brilliant talent is an advantage, but to make sure everyone gets a chance to perform is sometimes a juggle. The festival has been going for 62 years, it has a great reputation and both musicians and our audiences love being in Tauranga to be part of it.

The Tauranga Jazz Society is a charity, so keeping any eye on the budget is paramount to its successful delivery. We are lucky we have incredible support from our partners, funders, sponsors and the general public.

Is the festival platform changing or growing in 2025?

The team and partners are always looking at ways of expanding the National Jazz Festival, we introduce at least two new events each year and seek more international acts at every opportunity.

There are lots of great events for visitors this year including Jazz at the Jam Factory the weekend before Easter, the Baycourt Concert series with eight shows, the Jazz Village (an entire day at Tauranga’s Historic Village with live music playing on two outdoor stages), and a harbour cruise with live jazz! We also collaborate with Katch Katikati to bring the Katikati Jazz Street Festival.

The Totara St music venue in Mount Maunganui is hosting The Hurricane Party which is a great opportunity to get down and boogie. Cocktail Swing is another fun night of dancing and having fun and The Downtown Carnival in Tauranga’s city centre over Easter weekend features five outdoor stages and over 40 live performances.

Also in Mount Maunganui we will have Jazz at the Mount on Easter Monday, with a large outdoor stage right in the middle of the retail area and the added bonus of a vintage car parade. And we also have Jazz at the Hot Pools this year, where people can soak in the pools and listen to great live music at the same time.

If all of this is not enough, we will have live jazz-related music in the city centre and Mount Maunganui’s bars and restaurants in the week leading up to Easter with a new event called Uptown-Downtown. And there’s a Jam session and the Late, Late Show, where we invite all the musicians that have come to Tauranga for the festival to descend at The Tauranga Club and jam the night away. If you are lucky enough to get tickets to that you really witness the magic of the music.

Have you got any international acts performing?

Scott Harrison is coming over from Melbourne to play the permanently in-place Wurlitzer organ for one of our Baycourt concerts. Scott’s an amazing instrumentalist and together with the New Orleans Joy-Makers, they have put together and evening called ‘Salute to Swing’ which will be held at the Addison Theatre of Baycourt Theatre.

We have the Irish rock-a-billy trio The Mafia Cats who will be sure to have many tapping their feet and jiving enthusiastically. International acclaimed clarinettist Adrian Cox will be performing with Honey Boulton on guitar and Alex Gibson on double bass, and we have a fantastic Uraguayan trio bringing their unique talent and playing around the city during the festival.

For those who like a live music spectacle, or maybe to dance, what events do you recommend?

If you want to show off your moves The Hurricane Party at Totara Street, is a must with the rockabilly, jazz and blues masters Mafia Cats, and the funky Earth Wind and Fire tribute band Boogie Wonderland. If it’s a swanky cocktail party with timeless jazz, swing and latin tunes you are looking to dance the night away with, you can’t miss Cocktail Swing which features a big band, cocktails and nibbles at Tauranga’s Cargo Shed.

And for those who prefer to savour their live jazz in theatre-like surrounds?

Again, there is so much to choose from. Caitriona Fallon, star of Tauranga’s Tarnished Frocks and Diva, and former lead-singer of the world-wide phenomena Riverdance the Show, brings her band to play at the Jam Factory, a boutique venue with a wonderful and cosy atmosphere. Also at the Jam Factory is Lucky Strike and The Martina Fund.

The Baycourt Community and Art Centre will host the Adrian Cox Trio, guitarist extraordinaire Lockie Bennett and his Boplicity Quartet, ‘Salute to Swing’ and the amazing Jess Deacon Quintet.

Steely DNA – playing the music of the legendary Steely Dan, and the NZ Army Band Jazz Showcase featuring world-class vocalists and performers will be great and we have a special evening of celebrating the one and only Rodger Fox, who gave so much to NZ music. That will be an evening not to be missed.