Low turnouts strike blue note for Waiheke Island jazz festival

By ALAN PERROTT

Fittingly, the blues had a large presence at this year's Waiheke Island International Jazz Fest.

Maybe it was 13th time unlucky for the annual event, but critics on the island have begun wondering if the festival has run its course.

Turnouts were low at several major events. Taxi drivers said Sunday's turnout was bad and Friday was worse - the lowest they could remember.

Many island businesses looked to the Easter event for the last flood of paying customers before winter and so were loath to publicly disparage it.

But one florist put the low attendance down to the growth of the island's wedding industry.

She claimed there were up to 150 weddings on Waiheke last summer and 660 over the past year, enough to discourage some venues from committing to hosting festival acts.

"Weddings are what they cater for now.

"The season stretches from November to March and it's great for everyone: venues, accommodation, and restaurants. So the festival is not seen as so important by some people, but still, it would be sad to see it go."

There was disquiet over festival organiser David Paquette's decision to hold some big gigs in Auckland city, which was seen as breaking the island's monopoly on hosting the international guests.

Paquette, a jazz pianist, said his aim was to reach those Aucklanders who would not travel to Waiheke. He pointed out every act that played on the mainland also played on the island.

However, he accepted the festival was in trouble. An Auckland show scheduled for the Town Hall on Friday night was cancelled after only a handful of tickets was sold.

The festival also ran up significant losses last year.

If Aucklanders wanted the event to continue they would have to get out and support it, he said.

Paquette was disappointed that Montana, the festival's chief sponsor, also put its name to the competing Tauranga Jazz Festival, another Easter event, and wondered if the growth of similar events around Auckland meant the Waiheke festival had lost its uniqueness.

Paquette also ran this year's Ponsonby Jazz Festival.

Former Peking Man star Pat Urlich, now a jazz vocalist and named by several fans as their favourite act, said local musicians felt sidelined by the international guests.

But despite the behind-the-scenes gloom, happy music fans were not hard to find.

Melbourne couple Bill and Marlene Rawson dropped a planned weekend in Sydney to fly to Auckland and only discovered the festival on the internet last Thursday.

"We'd have never come over to this island otherwise," said Mrs Rawson. "We do a lot of jazz festivals, including New Orleans, and this has been wonderful, a really fabulous weekend. Maybe you people don't appreciate what you've got."