Legendary international jazz musicians and an outstanding homegrown selection have been added to the final programme of the new biennial Wellington Jazz Festival 2009.

Musicians from Cuba, Germany and Brazil to Tunisia, France and New Zealand feature alongside six headliners from North America and Poland, such as Mingus Big Band and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, first announced last month.Legendary international jazz musicians and an outstanding homegrown selection have been added to the final programme of the new biennial Wellington Jazz Festival 2009.

Musicians from Cuba, Germany and Brazil to Tunisia, France and New Zealand feature alongside six headliners from North America and Poland, such as Mingus Big Band and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, first announced last month.The Wellington Jazz Festival runs from 5-8 March. More than 75 international artists from 11 countries along with over a hundred New Zealand musicians will present a total of 24 shows and workshops in a jazz hub centered on Civic Square. A specially built jazz club Pacific Blue Note in the Wellington Town Hall will showcase jazz around the clock, and a free series of jazz shows is planned for an outdoor stage in Civic Square.

Speaking on 21 January at the launch of the final programme, Wellington Jazz Festival Artistic Director, Lissa Twomey said, "The diversity and breadth of talent is unprecedented for a jazz festival in New Zealand."

"Some of the world's finest players, the majority playing in New Zealand for the first time, will hang out in Wellington in venues with audiences, thinking, feeling and talking jazz. With this wide programme blending soul, blues, R & B, funk, Latin, gospel, traditional and contemporary jazz, we are sure to attract a new generation of jazz fans."

27/01/09