Music fills the streets as jazz festival swings into our city

For a first-time event, Wollongong’s one-day Jazz in the City festival was a rip roaring success.

All six venues were filled to overflowing yesterday and the vibe was something special as downtown Wollongong danced and shimmied to a fabulous feast of jazz, Latin American, and soul beats.

If the aim of the exercise was to bring some life and energy into the heart of our often sleepy CBD, the organisers delivered, and in spades. There’s nothing better when you're on foot in a city than hearing the sounds of music escaping from a venue a couple of hundred metres away. It gets me in every time.

It was standing room only at the three venues visited by The Illawarra Flame. Queuing patiently to get a drink isn’t something we’re used to on a Saturday afternoon/evening (unless we’re at the footy and the Dragons are on a winning streak) but that’s a small price to pay for a six-hour fiesta of funky beats.

Kicking off at The Icon, MIRA took us on a journey to the roots of South American music with fabulous rhythm, harmony and sweat, as the capacity crowd swayed shoulder to shoulder, soaking up a lively, fun set.

Next stop, just a short stroll up the Mall, and Ema Corde had another full house entranced with her vocal acrobatics, as she mixed jazz classics with originals, which demonstrated not only can this 20-year-old diva sing, but her writing is mature beyond her years.

And how good is it to see young musicians connecting with jazz?

“I have been a lover of jazz for so long,” Ema said in her short break between sets. “I discovered it in high school but at first I didn’t take it too seriously until I started studying it.

“I did study contemporary vocals but jazz was always a passion of mine, and here I am.”

That passion was certainly on show as Ema transformed the normally laid-back Lux Bistro Bar into a buzzing nightclub. Her soaring vocal range and infectious personality made for a thoroughly enchanting and dynamic performance.

Ema said she was thrilled to be invited to perform at Wollongong’s inaugural Jazz in the City event.

“There’s a lot of great jazz musos out there and I feel like it’s great to see a new generation of jazz musos coming through and learning from all of the amazing musicians that came before them.”

As for performing in Wollongong for the first time? “I love it. I’m definitely coming back.”

One of the joys of Jazz in the City was the ease with which you could stroll from venue to venue. Every music venue was just couple of minutes away and you knew you were getting close as the vibe sucked you in.

Our next stop was Mr Crown and the tempo was next level as Cha Cha del Mar took another standing-room-only crowd on a folk-roots-based Latin American journey, featuring the brilliant Anamaria Gomez on vocals.

As a first for Wollongong, Jazz in the City ticked just about every box. A few more staff behind the bars would have helped quench the thirst of those bumper crowds but no one seemed to be complaining. Our city centre brought many hundreds out on a brisk winter’s day to experience (for free) 13 quality performances across six venues.

Here’s hoping Jazz in the City is here to stay, and becomes a permanent fixture on the Gong’s growing event calendar.