Melbourne Jazz Festival - History

History

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival was first held in 1998. Adrian Jackson was artistic director from 1998 until 2004 ; this run was interrupted in 2002, when the withdrawal of funding by Arts Victoria and the City of Melbourne (advised in November 2001) meant that the program planned for January 2002 had to be cancelled.

Albert Dadon assumed the position of Chairman in 2004. He arranged for the long-running director of the Umbria Jazz festival in Italy, Carlo Pagnotta, to be brought in as guest Artistic Director in 2005. The Festival went into recess in 2006, due to venue and scheduling issues arising from the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne that year.

Dadon then took over as Artistic Director in 2007, and again for the 2008 festival. Dadon is founding chairman of the Australian Jazz Bell Awards.

Under the artistic direction of Michael Tortoni since 2009 (with program direction by Sophie Brous in 2009-11), the Melbourne International Jazz Festival continues to present a program defined by unique collaborations, music partnerships and world-class artistry.

In 2010-11, the festival included a one day mini festival called OVERGROUND. OVERGROUND aims at putting together rare collaborations and exploring the more extreme areas of improvisation/Jazz.

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