Leigh Sawmill Jazz Festival

The famous Leigh Sawmill Jazz Festival is returning for its second year with hot new artists and some classic crowd favourites. The first fest pulsed and heaved with summery jazz energy and we've tweaked the format so it'll be even better this summer. It was a very hot ticket last year with capacity crowds for all sessions so don't sleep on this one! This family friendly event allows kids 12 and under free entry with a ticket hold guardian.

Choose a weekend festival pass to get you into all three sessions or pick and choose as you like with individual session tickets.

On Saturday afternoon the hottest young keys man around - Joe Kaptein - will bring a band up from the city packed with talent. Not only is he playing in everybody's band from Princess Chelsea to Six60, he also anchors the Exploding Rainbow Orchestra and he's been wowing midweek crowds all winter with an amazing residency at Ponsonby nightspot Goblin.

Saturday night sees Hopetoun Brown stomp and parp their way into your heart with an increasingly rare performance! This is like seeing a Takahe with a trumpet in the wild. It's basically the Supergroove horn-section repackaged as blues-wielding acoustic funk machine, which would be fine if they weren't joined by the meanest tooter in the country, iron-lips himself... the mighty Finn Scholes, who'll be slicing through the four-chord with his trusty Vincent Bach trumpet. Don't be surprised if picks up a tuba or rhodes electric piano at some point, potentially at the same time!! There will be dancing!

Sunday afternoon we're bringing it on home with a classic Love Square session. The trio features Nick Atkinson, Alistair Deverick and Finn Scholes as they explore the outer reaches of jazz with rhythms and melodies from Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Perhaps you've heard tales of Deverick's ten-minute-long drum solo during the Come Together Led Zep shows earlier in the year? Maybe word of Atkinson's tenor sax crescendoes at the Civic Theatre for the Pink Floyd tribute reached your ears? If not, no matter, this guys will take car of you. Expect special guests! Relieve the regret of not catching their November show earlier in the year! We can't wait to see you!

Check out the Sunday Jan 18th ticketing page for individual session tickets to Love Square.