Festival takes over Christchurch New Orleans “All That Jazz” food and wine event
California-born, nine-time Grammy-Award Winning American blues artist Bonnie Raitt is headlining this year’s Cavell Leitch New Zealand Jazz and Blues Festival in Christchurch. The largest of its kind in New Zealand, the festival will be held April 3 – 7, featuring Raitt’s special, headlining concert at the CBS Canterbury Arena on April 5. Other artists scheduled to perform include Irish jazz and blues singer Mary Coughlan, three-piece British band Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, and Christchurch’s own favorite chanteuse Jennine Bailey.
New Jazz and Blues festival program
This year’s program will feature a new, special event. On Wednesday, April 3, the George Hotel will host an evening of New Orleans food, wine and an ‘All That Jazz’ dinner, sponsored by Black Estate Wines and The George Hotel. Guests of this sold-out event will indulge in a four-course menu designed by Andrew Brown, Executive Chef at The George, along with wine pairings by Nicolas Brown, winemaker at Black Estate. The evening will feature the funky blues and soulful jazz melodies of Harry Harrison & Yellow Moon.
“There is a real appetite for music again in the city and the response to the jazz artists is always so heartfelt,” says festival director Jodi Wright.
Highlights of this year’s Jazz and Blues festival include:
- ‘All That Jazz,’ dinner at The George Hotel, a match of fine New Orleans food and Black Estate Wines, served to the accompaniment of jazz presented by Harry Harrison & Yellow Moon on April 3, starting at 6:30PM;
- American blues legend Bonnie Raitt, performing a solo concert in the CBS Canterbury Arena on April 5, at 8PM;
- Naomi Ferguson, Mary Coughlan and New Zealand’s own Jennine Bailey, saluting great Americanjazz icons like Etta James, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald on April 6, starting at 8PM;
- Sunday afternoon of big band in the Geo Dome, performed by the sharpest jazz players in Christchurch on April 7, starting at 2PM.
