Samoa 2010 International Jazz & Blues Festival
November 12th - 14th, 2010
Samoa
Review contributed by Mark Ockleston
Mark and his friend Sandra were lucky enough to be winners of a trip to the Festival by entering a draw at the International Blues Festival at the Windsor Castle in Parnell at Labour weekend.
Mark’s review of the festival is published below.
The festival was organised by Billy TK Jnr with the assistance of Anne Gill.
My compliments to them for the huge amount of work that was put into it to make it such as high standard event.
I certainly hope that this will be an annual occurrence.
Maybe this could be your end of winter overseas sun–seeking trip next year.
I would certainly recommend it.
My friend Sandra had the fortune of winning a fully paid trip by entering a draw at the International Blues Festival at the Windsor Castle in Parnell at Labour weekend.
I had the fortune of being her friend and hence a free trip.
The Festival was held at 4 venues, 3 of which were in Apia; Millenia, Scalinis and the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel.
The 4th venue was Sinalei Resort, 35 minutes from Apia on the far side of the island.
We got to stay here and as it was pure paradise we didn’t venture out to the other venues.
I did check out the Tanoa before the event and it looked impressive with the stage set not too far from the outside pool.
I heard that these 3 Apia locations absolutely rocked, especially the Millenia.
The Sinalei Resort was amazing with a beautiful white sandy beach, restaurant on the pier, views of the sea and beach, and a pool surrounded by palm trees and tropical vegetation.
The venue for the Festival was very special with loads of palm trees, bamboo backdrop and it was surrounded on 3 sides with palm leaves.
There was plenty of shade and seating provided where you could eat your huge serving of barbeque food, and if you tired of watching your favourite band in the sun, while sipping a wine, you could rest in the pool or ocean where the temperature was so temperate that you never wanted to get out.
It was a great festival for bands and fans to interact.
I chatted with Hammond Gamble in the pool bar, talked to Billy TK Jnr over breakfast, swum with Gael Ludlow and guitarist Steve Wigz of Riverhead Slide, had a beer with Sean of the Flaming Mudcats and Nigel (Tony Painting’s manager) beside the pool.
I have written a lot about the venues without mentioning the music.
That is because it was a very special location.
There were about 30 different bands so lots of variety.
Blues is my thing rather than jazz but I enjoyed the jazz groups I saw very much.
Karen Edwards is a beautiful singer of the Sade mould and similarly spectacular was Petra of Chicane, who also has a great stage presence and personality.
My Jazz friends enjoyed BlackSandDiva and Phil Broadhurst with Julie Mason.
Now to the blues...
Hammond Gamble was great.
He has been around for a while and he still really belts it out.
You know the feeling when the band is so good that you have to go and tell the singer and buy him a beer...?
Well, I did.
Riverhead Slide were superb, as always, and seemed to get even better each time they played.
Gael Ludlow’s voice was amazing and I especially loved Fever.
Steve Wigz plays a mean slide guitar and I loved his rendition of Robert Johnson’s Sweet Home Chicago/Samoa.
Nigel Major, the other lead guitarist, also seems to get better every time I see him.
The new drummer, Paul Dunningham, has great timing and was a lucky find.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better their mates from Brilleaux joined them on stage with Graham playing some awesome harmonica.
They loved it and the crowd loved it.
The Flaming Mudcats played a blistering set.
Sean McCarthy (ex. The Jukes) on bass, has fitted really well into this band and you can see that he really enjoys what he is doing.
Craig Bracken on vocals and harmonica gave a riveting performance.
Ian Moss (ex Cold Chisel) appeared the last night and gave a top performance, playing unaccompanied on guitar and vocals.
He gave you all that you would want to hear including Tucker’s Daughter.
I got to see Billy TK and his band twice and they were great.
They got the dance lawn full.
I love the Texas Blues and what better band to wrap up the final night at the Sinalei?
Answer: The All Star Blues Band including Billy TK.
Special mention must be made of Erica Lee, Robbie McGregor and Diana Harris, all from the USA (via New Zealand) where they have done quite a few gigs.
Good music and wicked personalities.
I missed out on Tony Painting Band, one of my real favourites as they didn’t get to play in Sinalei.
If they had it would have made it just too good.
Lastly, even though it isn’t really my place to say, I think the sponsors deserve huge credit.
There are too many to mention but Pacific Blue must be thanked, as should Tanoa Tusitala and the Sinalei Resort.
Thanks to Greystone Vineyards in Waipara Valley, who not only sponsored this event, but also the series of International Jazz and Blues events in New Zealand, organised by Billy TK Jnr.
It was nice to meet Bruce, a director of the company, who had flown all the way from Waipara to oversee the event. A really nice man and I love their award -winning Riesling.
The Blues need sponsors like this.
Thank you once again Billy TK Jnr and to Anne for all the hard work involved in putting this together.
Thank you also for the free trip and accommodation that myself and Sandra received.
The bands and fans that I talked to all had an awesome time.
Mark is a current Auckland Blues Club member, a great fan and supporter of the club and is one of the major driving forces behind Wheeler Financial Services Ltd.
