A big party is coming to town

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The Nugget
May 30, 2025

★ There’s a big ol’ party coming to town ★

Calum McClure, Program Director of the Castlemaine Jazz Festival

200 musicians are about to converge in Castlemaine and blow the roofs off the Theatre Royal, The Phee, Boomtown and bunch of other venues.

This year's Castlemaine Jazz festival has a cracking, four-day lineup (June 5-8). Instead of booking one headliner, Program Director Calum McClure has secured five:

  • Jazz Party, a dirty beatnik rock n'roll band who play jazz and soul music, led by supreme diva Loretta Miller

  • Dobet Ghanore, a virtuosic singer, dancer and percussionist bringing a modern Afrobeat sound

  • Paul Grabowski, one of the best jazz players in Australia

  • Meg Corson, Castlemaine's siren of song with a band to lift you off your seats

  • The Seduceaphones, a Molotov cocktail of brass party beats

"It's the hardest job. People apply to come and play at the festival, plus we have direct contact with promoters. I think this year I had 160 applications, and then me and the team have to whittle it down to 35."

His magic formula is this: put on a show for the traditionalists, the people who don't like jazz and everything in between. Next, showcase local talent, bring in international acts and give emerging artists a chance.

"We want to really make this festival an assist and springboard for some of the younger musicians who are coming out of the VCA or wherever," Calum says.

"We always start with the (Castlemaine Secondary College) school band. We've got them playing with the Royal Navy Band, so that there can be some mentorship. The idea is to try and put these younger bands around older bands so they can all intermingle.

“The bands all get passes, all the musicians can go to the whole festival. So, a lot of the musicians will stay the whole weekend. It's a big networking activity for them. They can talk and learn and that's a big part of the festival."

The festival is spread across seven local venues: Boomtown, the Castlemaine Bowling Club, the Northern Arts Hotel, the Phee Broadway Theatre, the Theatre Royal, the Anglican Church (Jazz Mass, anyone?) and The Cumberland Hotel.

The program is handily colour coded by genre: Mainstream, Big Band, Contemporary, Traditional and Fusion. There is a mix of genres playing at any given time over the weekend, so if one isn't for you, simply switch venues where you will find a whole different thing going on.

"There are just lots and lots of different styles. What we call trad jazz includes bands like Shirazz, who play the New Orleans, dirty, sort of grungy style, really great storytelling, driven stuff, and it also can be dancey. It's got banjos and washboards and is pre-1920," Calum says.

"There's a lot of this other stuff coming through at the moment, fusions of electronic and jazz and the resurgence of the African influences."

This is where festival opener Dobet Ghanore of the Côte d'Ivoire come in.

"She's got that sort of world, African style and it definitely sits on the edge of what we would understand to be mainstream jazz. To me, sonically, it's just amazing. Her stage show is just full of vibrant dance and it's way more than just the music itself. This is a whole show and she's an amazing person to see live," Calum says.

"A lot of this music comes from people who were forcibly removed from Africa and ended up in America. A lot of jazz is rooted in that African music that that came with the slaves."

Groups like Spirograph Studies and Castlemaine's very own Anticlinal Fold, guitarist Jack Pantazis and violin player Nigel MacLean represent top-shelf contemporary jazz performers in this year's festival.

"Contemporary styles contain a lot more improvisation," Calum says.

"I think jazz is sort of built on that experience. As a jazz performer, you do feed off the room. You're feeding off the way all your friends around you are playing and the way the audience is. It might be time for something slow and moody and then it's up and a party. It's a real roller coaster ride."

In the Mainstream genre (think the swing era of the 1930s and 40s) Maggie Jackson will be performing with her NY Jazz trio.

"Maggie, she's just a living legend in my mind," Callum says. 

The festival offers flexible ticketing options that are great for people who want to dip a toe in. You can buy a session pass to see three bands, a day pass or a weekend pass. The under-18s can get a youth pass that is about half-price.

The Jazz Festival is in its’ 10th year and Calum has been involved for most of it.

Back in 2015 he was part of the team that ran the old Castlemaine Gaol. He offered that space up as a venue for the Jazz Festival and was then asked to join the committee.

"I played saxophone growing up and still, every now and again, try and play. I have a love of jazz and the music and I really love this festival, so I've just continued doing it ever since."

His enthusiasm for jazz has been contagious in his family.

"I asked my mum to come and help me with the festival and now she's the president. It's funny because she wasn't really a big jazz person” Calum says.

“She supported me when I was learning. The passion has, you know, it's transferred now. She's super into jazz and she loves it so much, so that's been really great to have that experience with Mum."

(Shout out to mums! How good is that!)

Don't expect to see much of Calum during the festival. He will be holed up at the Phee Broadway all weekend, managing the sound production.

"I'm a sound technician by trade, so I usually work in one of the venues. I've got a lot of hats in this festival. I mean, at the end of the day, if we want these things to happen, it's all voluntary," Calum says.

"This is my thing that I really love doing every year and it's my passion. Everyone just goes, this is a huge amount of work. And it's like, yeah, but the payoff is that I get to sit and watch all of these amazing musicians every year."

❀ Help get the MZ Crew to Sydney ❀

The MZ Crew has been invited to compete in the Hollywood Bound National Dance Championships in Sydney in August.

This is huge for a regional crew and the first comp for these Movment Zone dancers.

"It's very exciting and different from what we usually do," says crew member Cury Mountain, 17.

It's also the end of an era for fellow dancer, Calum Bridgfoot Neilson, who is in his last year of high school and has spent the last 10 years dancing and growing up at Movement Zone.

"We've all been dancing at Movement Zone for quite a while. It's really nice to kind of be able to expand. I've never been to comps. I don't think anyone in our crew has been. It'll be a really interesting experience.

"Also, it's kind of coming to the end, unfortunately, of our group because me and some of the other members are 18 and so we're in our final year of school. So, it's gonna be kind of a nice send off, and we'd love to win it."

Movement Zone Director Sarah Cook says the MZ crew will be hard to beat, because they dance from the heart.

"This is our opportunity to really come together and show the rest of the state and Australia what we bring, what Castlemaine brings. And I think it's really awesome and special and also a credit to these dancers who commit so much of their time — not only to class, but to the community,” Sarah says.

“They're not just walking up to class. They're volunteering. They're performing for Fringe, the Youth Awards, Live for Life and so many other things, without payment, you know, just getting out there and doing it."

Sarah says she hopes the MZ Crew inspires other kids in small towns.

"The thing is, people don't realize that there's this amazing talent in smaller communities. I think it's going to be great to get out there and showcase that and inspire other dance groups to put themselves out there and also bring something different. You don't have to be like everyone else.”

  • Movement Zone is hosting two Disco Party fundraisers for kids age 7-12 to support the MZ Crew: Fri, 30 May, 4:30 PM and Fri, 6 May, 4:30 PM

  • Stay tuned for opportunities to sponsor a dancer!

  • Follow Movement Zone for updates and good vibes

♡˖ EVENTS ˖♡

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Hi! Kindly drop me a line at [email protected] to let me know:

  • if you were as shocked as I was to learn that C’maine’s Jazz Festival is A: nearly upon us and B: off the hook?

  • all about your upcoming event, and

  • who I should interview next. xx