On Friday July 31st, the Dunstan Jazz Band “Velvet and Verve” travelled down to Dunedin and performed in the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival at Otago Boys High School.

The students involved were Luke Ferland, Todd Abercrombie, Harper Ingram, Aj Hart, Charlize Elliot, and one of our recent German exchanges Henning Gallas.  

They competed in the Small Jazz Combo contest against schools such as Bayfield, Mt Aspiring, and Taieri College. The two pieces performed were Honey Suckle Rose composed by Thomas “Fats” Waller, and Winelight by Grover Washington Jr, which was an instrumental piece.

Their performance landed them as the WINNERS for their category! However, not only did they win, but they also received many more reasons for congratulations:

Their performance of Honey Suckle Rose also landed the Best Swing Tune Performance. Aj Hart received a mention in the Outstanding Performance On An Instrument section for his skills on the keyboard, Todd Abercrombie received a special mention for his bass, and Charlize Elliot received a special mention for her vocals.

All directed by Alistair Monteith, they’ve had many practices over the last six months leading up to this performance. Alistair began working with some of these performers since January last year, but this year he was also working with two other schools and their Jazz Bands at the same time as ours. Regardless, his dedication was unfaltering, and his encouragement certainly allowed them the confidence to perform and win!

Congratulations to them all!

Charlize Elliot

Co Arts Leader