Entertainment
2 December, 2022
Swing in the jungle
A SPECIAL one-of-a-kind jazz spectacular performance will be hosted at the Kuranda Amphitheatre this Sunday with a returning Kuranda local who made a name for himself as a jazz musician in New York set to perform with help from the Queensland Youth Orchestra.
Swing in the Jungle is a collaboration between the Queensland Youth Orchestra Big Band and local Kuranda jazz artist Jason Campbell who played in New York City and had an album make it into the top five in the American jazz charts.
Jason, otherwise known as JC Stylles, went to Kuranda Primary School in the 70s and was at the very first meeting to discuss the creation of the Kuranda Am-phitheatre.
“I was 14-years-old when the very first call went out to the Kuranda community to bring machetes and brush hooks in an effort to clear bush with the idea and con-cept of building an amphitheatre,” he said.
“I left Kuranda at 16 to follow my jazz journey.”
After moving to the heart of jazz, New York City, JC signed with Grammy Award winning Label Motema Music and contin-ued to pursue his career in jazz.
JC’s name was seen in the USA jazz charts for 13 consecutive weeks after his debut album and his follow-up won the award for highest debut album on the charts and was seen in the top five for many weeks.
Upon returning to his hometown, JC felt the need to reinvigorate local music by hosting a special one-off performance at the Kuranda Amphitheatre with the help of the Queensland Youth Orchestra Big Band.
“In all the time since the amphitheatre has developed and had all sort of great acts around the world perform, I’ve never even had the opportunity to play at the very place that I had a hand in creating,” he said.
“I am trying to give something back to the amphitheatre especially after Covid basically brought everything to a stop.”
The Queensland Youth Orchestra Big Band is a high quality 22-piece big band showcasing some of the state’s finest young emerging jazz and swing instru-mentalists.
It is also part of the world-renowned Queensland Youth Orchestra (QYO) mu-sic program.
JC has some experience in organising performances as he produced the larg-est Memorial Concert of Jazz at the Lin-coln Centre in February 2020 which was opened by Grammy Award winner Wynton Marsalis. He also managed two of New York’s premier jazz clubs, Smalls and Mezzrow.
The doors open at 4.30pm with the per-formance set to start at 5.30pm and run for three hours until 8.30pm.
Tickets range from $35-45 and can be bought at www.trybooking.com/CEBGG
