It’s the end of 2022, and the Logan Park Little Steps Giant Band, have successfully completed another year full of Jazz. Over the course of the year, we have travelled and competed in multiple Jazz Band events including big band, combo and improvisation competitions.

Our first gig of the year was at the Midwinter Carnival, where we performed in First Church. It was a good opportunity, especially for our new players, to perform in front of a crowd for the first time.

Halfway through the year, we decided to enter the Young Jazz Band-it jazz band competition in Wellington, held by the New Zealand School of Music. We had to send in a video of our big band playing a Dave Dobbyn chart which, in our case, was Loyal. Our band was one of 10 chosen finalists out of the forty-seven bands that entered across New Zealand, and so we were invited to fly up to Wellington to compete in person late September. Isaac Randel and Jack Ta also entered the improvisation competition, and were both finalists, with Jack receiving third place overall.

One final competition we enter every year is the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival. This year was no exception, as our Big Band received first place overall, and some of our members received awards in their instrument. A combo consisting of two Logan Park Students (Jack Ta and Darcy Monteath) and two previous Logan Park students (Mathew Schack and Jayden Jesudhass) also received the best combo award. They were asked to play at Hanover Hall the following evening, opening for judge Gwyn Reynolds’ Christchurch combo called Tiger Moth.

Overall, our Jazz Band has enjoyed another successful year of playing music!