WellingtonEvents
A trumpet player performs in a jazz ensemble.

Soul, funk, jazz, fusion, rhythm and blues — it’s a celebration of sound across the city this spring. The annual Wellington Jazz Festival is back. The event packs over 200 gigs into five days in venues around the city. 

The festival features two major international acts making exclusive New Zealand debuts. Wellington will see two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist and bandleader, Gregory Porter and five-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, Samara Joy. Gregory Porter’s unique and timeless sound blends jazz, soul, and gospel. His influences include Bakersfield Southern Gospel and jazz legend Nat King Cole. At just 25 years old, Samara Joy has become a breakout jazz sensation. She’s redefining 21st-century jazz with a rich, mature tone and refined phrasing. 

The treats in the programme continue with Australian First Nations soul singer Bumpy, and a commissioned work by New Zealand/Congolese drummer, composer, and rhythm master  Myele Manzanza. He’ll be performing with international supergroup, lvdf. The Rodger Fox Big Band returns with a tribute to Ray Charles, and the Aotearoa Jazz Orchestra has its inaugural performance with a Duke Ellington arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. Many of the hospitality venues in Courtenay Place and its surrounding streets are planning intimate jazz gigs across the festival. Follow the sound of saxophones to find a spot to park up for the night.