IJD Jam Sessions @ Porridge Watson

The International Jazz Day Experiment in Full Flight

The fourteenth edition of this global celebration hit great heights with this year’s host city Abu Dhabi presenting a spectacular concert that was streamed worldwide. Here in Whanganui our seventh annual event included the participation of UNESCO Youth Leaders from across the country and a record number of local music students as well as students from Palmerston North and the Wairarapa. The music students, musician/tutors and school support staff who participated numbered more than sixty. The evening concert was held at the Musicians Club and was supported brilliantly by our local community.

The IJD initiative carries on with monthly jam sessions thanks to the continued support of Tony Sundman and Porridge Watson. The next one is this Sunday at 6pm and we welcome back piano wizard Chris Dann to lead the house band with Dave Griffiths on bass fiddle and Michael Franklin-Browne on drums. Musicians are invited to come down and sit in with the band. The stars of the show are always the listeners who come to enjoy improvised music and the free and easy amosphere it creates.
What is improvised music? The great saxophonist Marshall Allen who is fast approaching his 101st birthday while continuing to lead and perform with the Sun Ra Arkestra recently talked about musicians ‘who are trying to build a better world through music, through sound’. The music is not about playing what you know, but playing what you never played before. Something like that! Come and join us. We look forward to your company.