Cap off the weekend at Fat Eddie’s with Ōtautahi’s fabulous new Roster funk band, led by Monet Schutte.

Enjoy a beer and a pizza with friends, players, volunteers and visitors to the music of Roster.

Hope to see you there to help us celebrate an amazing weekend of Big Band Jazz!

The ROSTER is made up some of Christchurch’s top young players:

Monet Schutte - vocals/sax
Alex Gibson - sax
Alex Boot - sax
Peter Croker - trumpet
Ciaran Kingi-Booth - bass
Nicolae Didenco - drums
Jacob Mullen - guitar
Michael Khor - keys

Join us for the final day of the Christchurch Big Band Festival which is no longer on the Archery Lawn due to the weather forecast. Instead, plan your day around The Church Pub and A Rolling Stone!

Please note that the order of bands is different than the gig guide and is split between between two venues.

CHURCH PUB 124 Worcester Street (corner of Manchester St)

11.30pm Christchurch School of Music Big Band

12.30pm Papanui High School Jazz Band

1.00pm Cashmere High Stage Band

2.00pm All Girl Big Band

3.00pm Middleton Grange Big Band

4.00pm Christchurch Youth Jazz Orchestra

A ROLLING STONE 579 Colombo Street (near St Asaph St)

10.30am Nelson Jazz Club Big Band

11.30am Ellensburg Big Band

12.30pm Sideline Swing and Chisnallwood

1.30pm Ellesmere Big Band

2.30pm Mainland Big Band

3.30pm Garden City Big Band

After a day listening to all this jazz, join the people who have made it all happen for the final gig at Fat Eddie's featuring ROSTER funk band with a horn line not to missed.

Two great big bands play on the Fat Eddie’s stage for your Sunday afternoon entertainment and dancing warmup for the boogie ball at night.

The Swingtown Rebels will give a short free class in between the two bands sets, so you can be get a few basic swing dance moves learnt and rehearsed before the Big band Boogie Ball that night in the Great Hall which you may want to try out!!

Come indoors and grab some dinner and have a boogie.

• 5pm Garden City Big Band

• 5:45pm Swingtown Rebels taster class

• 6.10pm Nelson Jazz Club Big Band

Come to The Church Pub to hear a fantastic line up of big bands.

Serving great pizzas and drinks, the Church Pub will be a great place to hang back and enjoy the music of five fabulous bands!

• 11:30am TPWOW Big Band - Te Puna Wai o Waipapa | Hagley College Big Band

• 12pm  Garden City Big Band 

• 1pm Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra

• 2pm Nelson Jazz Club Big Band

• 3pm Ellesmere Big Band

Big Bands at Riverside Market

The bands play on all through Sunday lunch from 11am - 2:30pm. Grab yourself some delicious kai from Riverside Market and listen to these awesome Big Bands swing their way through the day.

This family friendly free event is bought to you by the Christchurch Big Band Festival.

Thanks to Riverside for their sponsorship of this awesome festival.

• 11am Papanui High School Big Band

• 11:45am Rangi Ruru Big Band

• 12.30pm Chisnallwood Jazz Band

• 1pm Christchurch Boys’ High Jazz Bands

• 2pm Christ’s College Jazz Band

Jazz Drumming 101 with Aaron Tuchardt (USA)

This drumming workshop will cover jazz drum set fundamentals including syncopated hits, setups, Latin grooves, brush technique, sight reading and more. It’s a quick glance at all the skills you need to poses to be a competent jazz drummer.

Bio:

Aaron Tuchardt is a professional musician and educator based out of the Pacific Northwest. After over 10 years of playing, his areas of performance center around drums, percussion, and voice. While his primary performance focus is in the Jazz scene, his classical degree has awarded many opportunities to perform in a diverse selection of genres. Aaron is fortunate enough to have shared the stage with musicians such as Chris Martin (Trumpet), John Clayton (Bass), Diane Shuur (Voice), New York Voices, Esperanza Spalding (Bass), members from Tower of Power, and more. In addition, Aaron has also toured with some of the Pacific Northwest’s premier wind and jazz ensembles. In the coming years Aaron is looking forward to continuing performing and educating around the world.

Aaron also teaches middle school and high school band, and works as a Sound Technician at Central Washington University and is the drummer for the Ellensburg Big Band.

Come to The Church Pub to hear a spectacular line up of bands.

They serve great pizzas and drinks. It’ll be a great place to hang back and enjoy the music. Note that this gig is the only chance to hear the award-winning Burnside High Jazz Bands led by Chris Petch between 11am-1pm. They are always a real treat to hear! Then more award-winning bands from St Andrew’s, Middleton Grange and Rangi Ruru led by Duncan Ferguson and Lana Law.

And note it’s only a 2minute walk to head from workshops, or to the Gala Concert at the Piano at 4pm!

• 11am Burnside Big Bands and Funk band

• 1pm-2:30pm St Andrew’s Big Bands and funk band

• 2:30pm Middleton Grange Big Band

• 3pm Rangi Ruru Big Band

Bring your instrument (preferably horn) and take part as you are guided on improvisation development through melodic variation techniques with jazz education legend Chris Bruya. You may also be an observer if you prefer, but you’ll get more out of it by taking part!

Chris Bruya has been involved in music education since 1983, teaching high school, community college and university, the last 20 years at Central Washington University, retiring in 2021 as Emeritus Professor of Music. While at CWU he pioneered an improvisation sequence, built a small-group program, and the jazz big band was recognized as one of the finest in the country, performing at the Montreux, North Sea and the Next Generation jazz festivals and three JEN conferences. In 2015 the band placed first at the Next Generation Festival, which included a performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival the following September. In 2015 the band was featured on Barney McClure’s CD Show Me!, and earlier on their Seabreeze Records 2008 release In A Mellow Tone. Most recently the jazz band won the undergraduate Asynchronous Recording category of the 2022 Downbeat Magazine Student Awards based upon work completed during Covid protocols, his final year at CWU. There are over 150 live-recorded YouTube videos of the band, recognized worldwide as some of the strongest examples of the big band literature. Bruya has served on WMEA, OMEA and IAJE boards in both Oregon and Washington, has presented at numerous regional conferences, directed honor bands in Tennessee, New York state, Nevada, and Texas, while in retirement remaining in demand as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the Northwest and beyond. In 2016 the Washington Music Educators Association honored him with the Collegiate Educator of the Year award, and in 2022 inducted him into the WMEA Hall of Fame.

Come and buy a drink and some food, catch up with big-banders, grab your gig guide and get ready for the weekend - all at A Rolling Stone on Friday night!

Bring your instrument and stay on for the inaugural Big Band Jazz Jam - a chance to take over a chair for a chart or two for instrumentalists (sax, trumpet trombone or rhythm section) and play alongside new and old big band friends!

7pm Mainland Big Band

8pm Sideline Swing

8:30pm -10pm The Big Band Jam! (BYO horn!)

Head to Fat Eddie’s on Friday for pizza and a drink and to hear the incredible Ellensburg Big Band direct from the USA!

A wonderful chance to meet the players from this band ahead of their not-to-be-missed stunning and fun showcase gala concert the next evening led by Chris Bruya.

If you’re on the balcony, you might even catch the Ambush Big Band Festival Parade passing by outside on the Terrace …

About the band: Traveling from Washington State, USA the Ellensburg Big Band is super excited to return to the Christchurch Big Band Festival! Founded in 2011 the group is an overlapping Venn diagram of half music educators, half passionate amateurs, half Central Washington University Jazz alumni, and fractions of various professions all within a big happy circle of "those who just love to make music together". The group performs regularly at jazz festivals, swing dances, public concerts and private events all over our region as well as Japan in 2014 and ChChBBF in 2019. We consider ourselves so fortunate to have the opportunity to visit your beautiful country and reconnect with friends in NZ!

The Christchurch Big Band Festival with Fat Eddie’s bring you this very special event to really get the party started!

CYJO (Christchurch Youth Jazz Orchestra) is the exciting, annually formed secondary school jazz band made up from JazzQuest winners and auditioned players from around Christchurch directed by Lana Law.

The All Girl Big Band is a full big band made up of eighteen Christchurch women who have changed the face of the jazz scene in New Zealand. AGBB creates a powerhouse of sound that will blow you away! The band consists of an array of talented musicians whose infectious joy of music making is evident at all their live shows.

limited Reserved Seating will get you a seat at a table on the main floor, or you can grab a spot anywhere else on the night at no cover charge.

Fat Eddie's have a delicious menu and of course their ultra special drinks menu, so take Thursday night off and come into town to enjoy some of the best jazz Christchurch has to offer as part of the Christchurch Big Band Festival.

Grab your tickets below for reserved seating, otherwise turn up on the night for general admission on the upper level or outside balcony.

76 Hereford Street #Level 1 Christchurch, Canterbury 8011 on the Terrace

Events, workshops, performances, bands, dance…

Riverside, Fat Eddies, The Church Pub, The Citadel, The Arts Centre, The Gardens….

Keep an eye on this website and Facebook as new events appear!