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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-12 Daily Xml
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GENERATIONS IN JAZZ

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:43): Over the past weekend a group of the best of Australia's young jazz musicians gathered in Mount Gambier for the 20th annual Generations in Jazz. This event is a highlight of the musical year of many of South Australia's schools and most talented music students, many coming through the education department's special music schools and others from my personal favourite, Modbury High School.

I commend John Duncan and Ms Joan Baker, who is also a deadly bus driver, for their dedicated work with the 18 who represented the school, along with the other music students at Modbury High. It would be remiss of me not to mention students, parents and families who support them and the wonderful staff of the Instrumental Music Branch of the education department.

This special anniversary year of Generations in Jazz saw a wonderful array of past winners return to where, in most cases, it all began. Generations began humbly in 1987, the dream of three friends living in the Limestone Coast region. Leigh O'Connor, Dale Cleves and Malcolm Bromly wanted to pay homage to their musical upbringing by gathering young jazz artists together to share their talents and learn from each other.

They held a cabaret with a guest big band and asked James Morrison, who admitted that at that time he did not even know where Mount Gambier was, to be the special guest musician. The rest is a wonderful history of fantastic weekends with many highlights and innovations. James has introduced a jazz scholarship which sees young artists submit audition tapes, and the field narrowed to six finalists who are showcased during the weekend. This weekend's instrumental finalists were fantastic, as usual. James is also the division 1 judge, and he had 11 bands to adjudicate this year.

In 1989, Graeme Lyall became musical director of the event, and his involvement continues and has grown to see him now living in the area and working at local school Tenison College, which will now offer 18 places in an intensive music course that will provide successful students an entree to many music opportunities. Places will be highly sought after, and they will be gained through an audition process. Graeme judged division 2, and he presented Modbury High School's all-female saxophone line the shield for best saxophone line in division 2.

In 1991, Yamaha became a national sponsor for James's scholarship, the winner that year receiving a return trip to Paris, and 1993 saw the inaugural City of Mount Gambier National Stage Band awards, with the council this year providing $23,500 in cash prize money; no doubt, it also provided a good deal of in-kind help. The year of 1994 saw the involvement of now patron Daryl Somers, through the Hey Hey Scholarship, and the legendary Tommy Tycho as a guest adjudicator.

The year of 1998 saw the first all-female band from Wilderness School and this year's vocal scholarship adjudicator, Emma Pask, appear with a 13 piece big band as special guest vocalist. She wowed us again this year with her performances. In 1999, Generations in Jazz deservedly won the Tourism South-East Award for Event or Festival. I think 2001 was my first year of experiencing this fabulous event, and it also saw Frank Cleves' 89th birthday. He was there in the audience to hear the RAAF Big Band.

The year of 2002 saw the introduction of the Joe Hannigan Memorial Prize, and 2004 saw the inaugural Jazz Vocal Scholarship and an invitation from the International Association of Jazz Educators for the winners to visit the USA. BMW provided sponsorship to showcase winners and musicians in New South Wales and Victoria.

In 2005, a Mount Gambier local won the James Morrison Scholarship, and Hugh Stuckey again featured over this just finished great weekend. In 2006, division 4 was introduced, and the event moved to Schleter's Paddock for the enormous marquee that now holds the hundreds of students, their support staff and family and the general public lucky enough to have tickets. In 2008, the family of the late Ron Evans took over the sponsorship of the James Morrison Scholarship, and I had the pleasure to meet his wife that year. The Future Finalist award is possible because of and through the generous support of Pat Corrigan.

Generations in Jazz is run by a fantastic board and owes much to it, as well as to Karyn Roberts, the 'go to' person for the event, and the many volunteers and businesses who support the event. It is a fantastic logistical undertaking. John Morrison is now a musical director, and other musical directors, Ross Wilson and Bill Broughton, provide wonderful support and experience to the kids in the competition. Every sponsor is important, and I thank them all.

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend is for participants to gain selection to the Super Bands. Stand-out instrumentalists in divisions 1 and 2 work with musical directors on charts for a performance at Sunday's concert. Tilley Duncan from Modbury High School won a cap in the division 2 Super Band this year.

There were 81 bands competing this year, and there are too many other great things to say about Generations in Jazz. Mother's Day is a great weekend, and it will always be special to me. I commend to members the trip to Mount Gambier to support the schools, which are often from their electorate. It is a great place to visit any time, and never more so than when Generations in Jazz is in town.

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