Internationally renowned jazz musicians will next month team up with staff and students from The University of Auckland's School of Music for the Auckland JazzFest 07. The three-day festival will feature performances, workshops and seminars intended to appeal to jazz veterans and newcomers alike, and aims to encourage both young and established musicians to embrace the eclectic and exciting world of jazz.

Image: German pianist Florian Ross.Internationally renowned jazz musicians will next month team up with staff and students from The University of Auckland's School of Music for the Auckland JazzFest 07. The three-day festival will feature performances, workshops and seminars intended to appeal to jazz veterans and newcomers alike, and aims to encourage both young and established musicians to embrace the eclectic and exciting world of jazz.

Image: German pianist Florian Ross.Hailed as the hottest young band on the German jazz scene, Root 70 will be one of two international headline acts at the festival. The band has been praised for its "original, accessible, and extremely recognisable sound" and comprises two New Zealand expatriates, Matt Penman (bass) and Hayden Chisholm (saxophone, clarinet and melodica), along with German nationals Nils Wogram (trombone) and Jochen Ruckert (drums).

Composer, arranger and improviser, German pianist Florian Ross is also taking the contemporary jazz scene by storm. Acclaimed for his skill in reconciling the two seemingly separate worlds of composition and improvisation, Ross' music is praised for blending the head and the heart; the intellect and the emotion. He performs alongside The University of Auckland Big Band, conducted by Auckland trumpeter Neville Grenfell. School of Music staff members Roger Manins, Olivier Holland and Ron Samson will also perform together with Florian Ross before the Big Band takes to the stage.

The University's Double Jazz Quintet will get its own chance to shine, when leading jazz artists and teachers from the School of Music perform a variety of styles from interpretations of known standards to original groove based modern jazz.

"I anticipate Auckland music fans will relish the chance to experience this new festival, which offers innovation and tradition by leading young international and local artists in the jazz scene," says Ron Samson, Jazz Studies lecturer and festival organiser.

"This three-day jazz extravaganza will dazzle the purists as much as it will inspire the uninitiated," he says.

When: 5-7 November 2007
Where: The University of Auckland city campus
Tickets: Tickets for individual concerts $35 with a special student rate of $15.
Bookings: Phone (09) 308 2383 or book online.

For more information about the festival, including workshops, visit www.creative.auckland.ac.nz .

9/10/07