THE HISTORY AND AIMS OF THE AUSTRALIAN JAZZ CONVENTION
What Is The Australian Jazz Convention?
The Australian Jazz Convention is organised on a non-profit basis by volunteer committees, where the musicians actually pay to attend and perform for and with their peers. Professional, semi-professional or amateur musicians, advanced players and beginners, combine their talents to produce the music they love. It would be true to say that many of Australia’s better-known jazz musicians began to make their reputations at conventions. Quite a number now are internationally recognised.
One of the aims of the Jazz Convention is to encourage and promote jazz in Australia; however this does not mean that conventions are serious affairs. On the contrary, they are happy occasions where many hundreds of people from all over Australia meet to exchange ideas and views, to hear and judge other musicians’ performances, to make new friends and renew old acquaintances.
At the convention people can take in at whatever level of appreciation they please, a feast of virile musical performance by musicians who play for the sheer enjoyment of playing music of lasting value. This music ignores passing ‘fads’, makes few (if any) concessions to commercial demands, and yet continues as a vital art form.