Cover image: Perth International Jazz Festival launch. Supplied

The Perth International Jazz Festival (PIJF) has crept up on us again. After its opening fanfare in Brookfield Place last Saturday, the thirteenth annual presentation is set to spread through the city this coming weekend. The main program, a finely curated selection of renowned international artists, profile local acts, free public events and masterclass workshops, runs through until Sunday November 2. Covering the range of contemporary jazz, the festival brings both new and legendary artists to Perth while providing a stylish showcase for the local community.

The Perth jazz scene is now very strong, nudging Melbourne’s in terms of the range and quality of artists living and working here. On the flip side, a growing number of Perth musicians are going international and working in places like New York and London. As they infiltrate these scenes, they throw a light back on their home town. More international artists now have the city on their radar and are eager to come here. The 2025 Perth International Jazz festival will go a long way in further enhancing Perth’s reputation as a city of great music and placing it firmly on the map of world jazz.

Founded in 2013 by legendary jazz visionary, Graham Wood, and originally focused in the Ellington Jazz Club, PIJF has now grown to become one of the three largest jazz festivals in Australia. Its rapid growth only began though post Covid when the injection of Federal funding allowed for the employment of some part time staff. Until then, it had been a voluntary endeavour.

The festival now has one full time staff member, the director, Mace Francis, and two seasonal employees—a marketing manager, Angelyne Wolfe, and festival producer, Georgina Holst. Simone Craddock at the Ellington works closely with Francis on programming that venue while PR company DonDuo and designer Monkeyfern work closely with Wolfe on promotion and design. It is a lean team given the scale of operations and they have their work cut out for them but then, with a dynamo like Francis in the driver’s seat, the festival is surging ahead.

As he said: “It’s amazing what you can get done when you just focus on the one thing.”

It is also indicative of the festival’s strong roots in the local community that both he and Holst are highly regarded jazz musicians in their own right.

Over the past three years, PIJF has trialled different program formulas. In 2023, the festival ran over five consecutive weekends. It peaked in a three day extravaganza and ended with a south-west tour. An innovative arrangement, this allowed for an expanded program without testing its audience’s attention span, a clever solution to the age-old problem festivals face in overloading a loyal following with too many fine acts. The logistics of this extended run however proved difficult.

As Francis put it: “Each weekend felt like a new start with a lot of work between to ensure it ran smoothly. By the end of the run, organisers and audiences alike were frazzled. Enough!”

Last year they transitioned away from this long format to have two weekend events leading into a solid ten-day run followed by a regional tour. This year is even more concentrated with last weekend’s launch prefiguring a ten-day run.

Another key factor in the festival’s growth in recent years has been the development of a jazz touring circuit in Australia and New Zealand. As well as Perth, festivals in Wangaratta, Sydney (the Women’s International), Melbourne, Brisbane and Wellington along with some independent promoters in Adelaide have all focused their activities into the October/November timeframe. This  has made our corner of the world a far more appealing destination for touring jazz artists.

The benefits are clear in this year’s PIJF program—all up, it includes fifteen international acts.

The four headliners are all grammy award-winning artists: Japanese pianist Hiromi, and the Americans, legendary guitarist Bill Frisell and singers Gregory Porter and Samara Joy. Hiromi’s concert (featuring the PUBLIQuartet) at the Octagon Theatre and the two Porter shows at The Regal are already sold out.

Bill Frisell is not only playing with his trio at the Regal on Friday October 31 but there will be a screening of the film Bill Frisell: A Portrait followed by an artist Q&A at Camelot Arts Centre on the evening prior. This will be a great double for Frisell’s many devoted followers.

It is a feather in Francis’s cap to have secured these artists. As he said:

“I would have been over the moon five years ago if you’d told me any one of these performers would be appearing in our program, but to have all four in the one year is beyond belief.”

The other internationals include the guitarists Marcin (PL) and Tom Ollendorff (UK), vocalist/flautist Melanie Charles with IGNABU and Paul Wilson Bae (USA), the Alexander Beets Quartet (NL), the percussion-piano duo Joost Lijbaart & Wolfert Brederode (NL), The Banksia Trio (JPN), bossa nova sensation Juliana Areias (BR), Goldsmith Baines (NZ), Hetty Kate (FR), Tess Merlot (NL) and Amsterdam Underground with DJ Maestro (NL).

There is also a solid but small interstate contingent with the James O’Brien Quintet (VIC), The Sandy Evans Trio (NSW) and The Holly Moore Quintet (VIC).

Abundant without being bloated, there are never more than two mainstage shows on any one night while, with the exception of Gregory Porter, every act only appears once.

Apart from two evening performances, Garry Lee Quintet’s Waltz for Roger (Garood) and Showayjo, both at the Ellington, the Perth component of the program is presented, either in late night shows or concentrated into the larger scale free public events. The late nighters include Howie Morgan’s Jook Joint, Brass Party, and sensational soul singer Persia, all at the Ellington, and the Jam Sessions with Triotrio (Subiaco Hotel) and Edward (Liberty Lair). The public program spans the  Brookfield Place opening, the Jazz Picnic in the Park in Hyde Park, RTR FM’s Courtyard Club in the State Theatre Centre, and the Subiaco Night Market program.

Francis always wants to integrate local artists into the program but at the same time he is wary about programming events that clash.

“It’s important to take advantage of the number of great touring acts available and it would be unfair to pitch a local artist up against them.”

It’s a tightrope, but this left-field programming seems to hit the right balance. The late night jam sessions, which include Howie Morgan’s Jook Joint and the Brass Party at the Ellington, promise to be sensational gigs that will draw in the touring artists for some wild improvisation. These could well prove to be the real festival highlights, those unexpected places where something very special happens.

Such incubation of new music is a feature of all music festivals, old friendships can be rekindled, new ones formed. This is a key reason music festivals are such great generators of musical culture.

As well as enhancing the festival vibe, the large scale public events also generate some culture.

This coming Saturday’s Jazz Picnic in the Park promises to be a leisurely afternoon of cool music. With it’s now annual parade around the Hyde Park lakes and program on the amphitheatre stage, it runs from noon until 5pm. The Tom Hopward Group, De Cuba Sun and WAAPA’s Jazz Vocal and Zwartz ensembles will provide stylish grooves in the warm Kambarang sun.

The Brookfield Place launch party last weekend was another stylish event. From 4pm until midnight some four thousand people thronged through the concourse between Newspaper House and the BHP tower and into the many restaurants and bars that border it. An impromptu jazz precinct was formed for the night with one outdoor stage and what effectively became an array of pop-up jazz clubs. Small Print, Bar Lafeyette, W Churchill, The Heritage, Print Hall, Lupes Cerveceria and Bobéche all hosted duos, trios and quartets, while a temporary stage on the bridge spanning these subterranean brasseries saw performances by some of WAAPA’s larger student ensembles. All up a dozen acts delivered twenty sets, everything from a promenading brass band to a plethora of established ensembles.

It’s rare in Perth to have so many live music venues this close together running at once. More like what you’d expect in New Orleans or New York, it set a tantalising image of how the central city could develop in years to come.

But then PIJF is right up to speed on venues. From its spiritual home in the Ellington it has now spread into a range of elegant rooms across the city (Liberty Lair, the State Theatre Centre, the Regal, Octagon and Subiaco Hotel) and down into Mosman Park (Camelot).

Francis and Craddock have developed a strong program for the Ellington with acts from all over the world

“A city the size of Perth is lucky to have a seven night a week jazz club,” Francis noted. ”Sydney doesn’t have that. Melbourne does, but Brisbane and Adelaide don’t. We’re spoilt.”

Another vibrant hub this year is the Liberty Lair in Barrack Street, a second late night jazz club. The theatre upstairs is becoming more prominent with other art festivals and Co3 contemporary dance company regularly presenting there but the Lair in the basement is not as well known and less often used.

As Francis pointed out “there’s something about a red velvet-draped basement that reeks of jazz. You can feel it coming on as you climb down the stairs.”

A speakeasy hideaway , it should greatly enhance the character of this year’s festival.

Looking ahead, Francis is already talking to the WA Academy of Performing Arts about accessing the venues in their new central city building. “They have some beautiful little recital halls and a room that’s already like a jazz club. It’s a great opportunity.”

WAAPA hasn’t committed to 2026, they want to settle in first and make sure that all the venues work, but it is possible for 2027.

The presence of WAAPA in Perth could be transformative.

“There are few cities in the world that have a performing arts school right at its heart. Bringing all that life, energy, and creativity into the city will make a big difference.”

But in the meantime and especially over the next fortnight, the city will come alive with an injection of music, energy and creativity from the Perth International Jazz festival

Full program details and tickets can be obtained through PIJF website: perthjazzfest.com