Bay of Islands Jazz n Blues

We've just had a gorgeous weekend up in the Bay of Islands. The weather was superb in the middle of winter. 

Blue Monkey Racket - playing on the street, Paihia.

There were bands out playing in the streets on Saturday and Sunday, so we walked along Russell beach in the sun, listening to the music and finding plenty of sea glass, bits of sea-worn copper (for driftwood artworks) and lots of worn pieces of old china. Russell is a ferry ride across the bay from Paihia.

Joe Carberry's band playing in Russell

Russell was one of the first sites in New Zealand established by Europeans, so I feel like the pieces of china are like finding little bits of it's history. Russell used to be called the Hell Hole of the Pacific as it was full of whalers, pubs and wanton women....definitely more civilized now. 

 Our band was playing in the Jazz and Blues Festival, which is held in August every year, with about 50 bands playing in seven venues. There is such a variety, with Big Bands, a couple of school jazz bands, Dixie bands, a ukulele orchestra..and then your Blues bands, that vary widely from rockin' to smooth cabaret sounds.

Our band doing a Blues Brothers number at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel, Derek on harmonica, me on tenor sax.

Lots of fun, but I need a couple of days of doing nothing much to recover.