Students from All Blues, the Otago Girls' and Boys' Combined High Schools' Jazz Band travelled to Blenheim on Wednesday 5 August to compete in the 2026 Southern Jam and perform at a variety of venues across the course of the four day festival. The bands received bronze awards for their overall standard at the festival and received three highly prestigious individual awards (Psalm Gomez, Callan Power and Oban Voice). The overall standard of musicianship was extremely high and the players were all inspired by listening to the music being made by the other schools (largely from Christchurch).

The students enjoyed an overnight stay in Kaikoura before travelling to Renwick School to perform their repertoire to a packed community hall. Audrey Tran had her first chance to sing with the band on tour and the combo had an opportunity to perform high tempo numbers such as "I'm Not So Sure" and "Totem Pole". One of the great features of the festival is the opportunity to bring jazz to the younger generation and the players really enjoyed interacting with the children at this gig and a later event at Witherlea School.

The band quickly travelled to the ASB Theatre on their first to compete in front of judges from the University of Wellington. The Big Band performed a five song set, including compositions by Neil Hefti, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Steely Dan and Carol King. The judges were impressed by the extent to which the students were immersed in the history of jazz and asked the band to perform "Nostalgia in Times Square" for the showcase concert. Psalm Gomez was a standout in the band on flute, earning her the award for "Best Performance on a Non-Traditional Jazz Instrument" at the Festival.

The Minor Blues combo, consisting of Oban Voice, Callan Power, Emily Lokman, Fleur de Clifford and James Phipps-Green, performed a very sophisticated repertoire in the competition and showed the ability to solo fluently over complicated chord structures. Emily Lokman showed great improvement from previous competitions and was able to solo fluently with a genuine swing style over the changes of "Boplicity" by Miles Davis. Oban Voice presented the piece "Walking Down George" for which he received the individual award for "Best Composition". The combo performed particularly well at the Woodbourne Tavern the following night, where they pushed themselves to take longer solos and explore the musical material in more depth.

The highlight for the band were two performances at the Woodbourne Tavern and Biddy Kate's in central Blenheim. The players really enjoyed playing to packed houses of enthusiastic listeners and fed off the energy being provided by the audience. Across the festival, alto saxophonist Callan Power presented a wide range of solos and impressed many listeners, including the sound engineers who put him forward for the award of "Best Improvisation" across the festival. Callan was also selected as Alto 1 in the All Star Band, a very prestigious position as leader of the saxophone section.

The greatest outcome of the trip was the engagement with music generated by full immersion in jazz over the course of the week. The players enjoyed scatting their parts to "Nostalgia in Times Square" and "Vierd Blues" by the river in Blenheim and experienced the emotional highs that make musicians come back to perform again and again. A pleasing by-product of the trip was Mr Hanson's comment that he was "converted to jazz", a response no doubt inspired by the student's engagement with the music and clear learning benefits associated with that.

From a band director's point of view, I would like to congratulate all the players for their enthusiasm, effort and behaviour across the course of the week. They presented themselves as model students and enjoyed relating to each other in a variety of formal and social settings. A big thankyou to Konrad Hanson for coming on the trip with us, as well as funders Grassroots and the Perpetual Guardian Trust and the Arts Council. The students experienced an unforgettable week due to the support of these funding bodies. Sports Coordinator Colleen Hokianga is thanked for completing grant applications for us and Arts Coordinator Karina Benavides is also thanked for organising the itinerary - the students really enjoyed staying in Christchurch, Blenheim and Kaikoura.