Australian Jazz Convention
{{Short description|Annual jazz festival and convention in Australia}}
The Australian Jazz Convention is the longest running annual jazz event in the world.{{Cite book |title=The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia: Opera, dance, music, Volume 2 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=1996 |isbn=9781863738989 |pages=20}}
File:Frank Johnson's Dixielanders - 1st Australian Jazz Convention - Melbourne 1946.jpg
The idea for the event originated when Abe Monsbourgh was serving in the RAAF in 1944 and wrote to friend Cedric Ian Turner with an idea to run a “jazz convention” once the war had ended. The first Australian Jazz Convention was then held in Melbourne in December 1946, and was attended by musicians from across Australia.{{Cite web |last=Rinaldo |first=Talia |date=2015-12-22 |title=Australian Jazz Convention |url=https://fortemag.com.au/australian-jazz-convention-2/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=Forte Magazine |language=en-AU}}{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Bruce |title=Jazz Planet |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2012 |isbn=9781628469257 |editor-last=Atkins |editor-first=E. Taylor |pages=151 |chapter=Naturalising the exotic - The Australian Jazz Convention}} It was preceded by a one-off Sydney Jazz Week in 1919 as one of the earliest jazz events in the world.{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Bruce |title=The Routledge Companion to Jazz Studies |year=2019 |isbn=9781315315782 |chapter=Diasporic Jazz}}
The programme for the first convention in 1946 was printed as an Angry Penguins Broadsheet.{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Bruce |title=The Oxford companion to Australian jazz |date=1987 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-554791-7 |location=Melbourne New York |pages=36}} The program contained an introduction from Graeme Bell, an article on Duke Ellington, and articles from international critics.{{Cite web |date=Dec 1946 |title=Angry Penguins Broadsheet No. 10 (Dec., 1946) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-320791222/view |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Trove |language=en}}
The jazz convention has since been held in different cities and states across Australia each year, with the 76th edition held in Newcastle in 2022.{{Cite web |last=Duncan |first=Carol |date=2022-12-17 |title=Australian Jazz Convention 1964 |url=https://lostnewcastle.com.au/australian-jazz-convention-1964/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=Lost Newcastle |language=en-AU}}
The archives of the Australian Jazz Convention are held by the Australian Jazz Museum in Victoria.{{Cite web |date=2014-10-24 |title=The Collection |url=https://www.ajm.org.au/?page_id=1643 |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=Australian Jazz Museum |language=en-AU}} Volunteers at the museum have been digitising audio and video recordings of past events.{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Margaret |date=Feb 2020 |title=AUSTRALIAN JAZZ CONVENTION ARCHIVE REPORT 2019 |url=https://www.ajm.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AJAZZ-85Feb-2020-1.pdf |journal=AJazz |issue=85 |pages=15 |issn=2203-4811}} The National Film and Sound Archive have also released recordings, including of 1949's convention,{{Cite web |title=Jazz Notes (1949) Fourth Australian Jazz Convention - NFSA |url=https://shop.nfsa.gov.au/jazz-notes-1949-fourth-australian-jazz-convention |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=NFSA Online Shop |language=en}} and have a video recording of the 1970 convention featuring Graeme Bell.{{Cite web |last=Osicka |first=Tamara |title=The Father of Australian Jazz - Vale, Graeme Bell |url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/father-australian-jazz |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia}}
List of conventions
| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap" | Australian Jazz Convention |
| scope="row" | Year
! scope="col" | City ! scope="col" | Notes / References |
|---|
| scope="row" | 1946
| Melbourne || Recorded and later broadcast by radio{{Cite web |title=Vol. 9 No. 4 (25 January 1947) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1323798086/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1373505152&searchTerm=%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22&partId=nla.obj-1323888370#page/n1/mode/1up/search/%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Trove |language=en}} |
| scope="row" | 1947
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1948
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1949
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1950 |
| scope="row" | 1951
| Adelaide ||Part-broadcast by radio{{Cite web |title=Vol. 13 No. 51 (22 December 1951) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1488739772/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1552379219&searchTerm=%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22&partId=nla.obj-1489022762#page/n29/mode/1up/search/%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Trove |language=en}} |
| scope="row" | 1952 |
| scope="row" | 1953
| Hobart || |
| scope="row" | 1954
| Sydney ||Recorded for radio{{Cite web |title=Vol. 17 No. 1 (1 January 1955) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1623284915/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1698259292&searchTerm=%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22&partId=nla.obj-1623358469#page/n24/mode/1up/search/%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Trove |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Vol. 16 No. 52 (25 December 1954) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1590250912/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1697939213&searchTerm=%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22&partId=nla.obj-1590360770#page/n24/mode/1up/search/%22Australian+Jazz+Convention%22 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Trove |language=en}} Excerpts released on record.{{Citation |title=Various - Jazz In Australia Vol.1 - Convention '54 |date=1955 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/10458321-Various-Jazz-In-Australia-Vol1-Convention-54 |access-date=2025-05-04 |language=en}} |
| scope="row" | 1955
| Cootamundra (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1956
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1957 |
| scope="row" | 1958 |
| scope="row" | 1959
| Cootamundra || |
| scope="row" | 1960
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1961
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 1962
| Sydney || |
| scope="row" | 1963
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1964
| Newcastle (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1965
| Sydney || |
| scope="row" | 1966
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1967
| Hobart || |
| scope="row" | 1968
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 1969
| Ballarat (VIC) || |
| scope="row" | 1970
| Dubbo (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1971
| Hobart || |
| scope="row" | 1972
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 1973
| Queanbeyan (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1974
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 1975
| Balmain / Sydney (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1976
| Brisbane || |
| scope="row" | 1977
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 1979
| Freemantle || |
| scope="row" | 1980
| Forbes (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1981
| Geelong (VIC) || |
| scope="row" | 1982
| Toowoomba (QLD) || |
| scope="row" | 1983
| Forbes || |
| scope="row" | 1984
| Woollongong (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1985
| Ballarat || |
| scope="row" | 1986
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 1987
| Armidale (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1988
| Sydney || |
| scope="row" | 1989
| Perth || |
| scope="row" | 1990
| Launceston (TAS) || |
| scope="row" | 1991
| Newcastle || |
| scope="row" | 1992
| Geelong || |
| scope="row" | 1993
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 1994
| Gold Coast || |
| scope="row" | 1995 |
| scope="row" | 1996
| Bathurst (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 1997
| Launceston || |
| scope="row" | 1998
| Geelong || |
| scope="row" | 1999
| Perth || |
| scope="row" | 2000
| Forbes || |
| scope="row" | 2001
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 2002
| Launceston || |
| scope="row" | 2003
| Forbes || |
| scope="row" | 2004
| Stawell (VIC) || |
| scope="row" | 2005
| No Convention || |
| scope="row" | 2006
| Lismore (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 2007
| Adelaide || |
| scope="row" | 2008
| Goulburn (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 2009
| Melbourne || |
| scope="row" | 2010
| Orange (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 2011
| Bundaberg (QLD) || |
| scope="row" | 2012
| Forbes || |
| scope="row" | 2013
| Goulburn || |
| scope="row" | 2014
| Swan Hill (VIC) || |
| scope="row" | 2015
| Ballarat || |
| scope="row" | 2016
| Ballarat || |
| scope="row" | 2017
| Ballarat || |
| scope="row" | 2018
| Ballarat || |
| scope="row" | 2019
| Albury (NSW) || |
| scope="row" | 2020
| No Convention || |
| scope="row" | 2021
| Albury || |
| scope="row" | 2022
| Newcastle || |
| scope="row" | 2023
| Longford (VIC) || |
| scope="row" | 2024
| Mildura (VIC) || |
| scope="row" | 2025
| Mildura || |
References
{{Reflist}}{{Commons category}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20240920154904/https://australianjazzconvention.org.au/originaltunes/ List of conventions] (Archived)
- [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-320791222/view Program for 1st Australian Jazz Convention]
Category:Jazz festivals in Australia