The Australian Jazz Convention is the longest running annual jazz event in the world.
The idea for the event originated when Abe Monsbourgh was serving in the RAAF in 1944 and wrote to friend Cedric Ian Turner with an idea to run a “jazz convention” once the war had ended. The first Australian Jazz Convention was then held in Melbourne in December 1946, and was attended by musicians from across Australia. It was preceded by a one-off Sydney Jazz Week in 1919 as one of the earliest jazz events in the world.
The programme for the first convention in 1946 was printed as an Angry Penguins Broadsheet. The program contained an introduction from Graeme Bell, an article on Duke Ellington, and articles from international critics.
The jazz convention has since been held in different cities and states across Australia each year, with the 76th edition held in Newcastle in 2022.
The archives of the Australian Jazz Convention are held by the Australian Jazz Museum in Victoria. Volunteers at the museum have been digitising audio and video recordings of past events. The National Film and Sound Archive have also released recordings, including of 1949's convention, and have a video recording of the 1970 convention featuring Graeme Bell.
List of conventions Australian Jazz Convention Year City Notes / References 1946 Melbourne Recorded and later broadcast by radio 1947 Melbourne 1948 Melbourne 1949 Melbourne 1950 Sydney Part-broadcast by radio 1951 Adelaide Part-broadcast by radio 1952 Melbourne Recorded for radio 1953 Hobart 1954 Sydney Recorded for radio Excerpts released on record. 1955 Cootamundra (NSW) 1956 Melbourne 1957 Adelaide Recorded for radio 1958 Sydney Recorded for TV 1959 Cootamundra 1960 Melbourne 1961 Adelaide 1962 Sydney 1963 Melbourne 1964 Newcastle (NSW) 1965 Sydney 1966 Melbourne 1967 Hobart 1968 Adelaide 1969 Ballarat (VIC) 1970 Dubbo (NSW) 1971 Hobart 1972 Adelaide 1973 Queanbeyan (NSW) 1974 Melbourne 1975 Balmain / Sydney (NSW) 1976 Brisbane 1977 Adelaide 1979 Freemantle 1980 Forbes (NSW) 1981 Geelong (VIC) 1982 Toowoomba (QLD) 1983 Forbes 1984 Woollongong (NSW) 1985 Ballarat 1986 Adelaide 1987 Armidale (NSW) 1988 Sydney 1989 Perth 1990 Launceston (TAS) 1991 Newcastle 1992 Geelong 1993 Adelaide 1994 Gold Coast 1995 Melbourne 1996 Bathurst (NSW) 1997 Launceston 1998 Geelong 1999 Perth 2000 Forbes 2001 Adelaide 2002 Launceston 2003 Forbes 2004 Stawell (VIC) 2005 No Convention 2006 Lismore (NSW) 2007 Adelaide 2008 Goulburn (NSW) 2009 Melbourne 2010 Orange (NSW) 2011 Bundaberg (QLD) 2012 Forbes 2013 Goulburn 2014 Swan Hill (VIC) 2015 Ballarat 2016 Ballarat 2017 Ballarat 2018 Ballarat 2019 Albury (NSW) 2020 No Convention 2021 Albury 2022 Newcastle 2023 Longford (VIC) 2024 Mildura (VIC) 2025 Mildura References
External links List of conventions (Archived) Program for 1st Australian Jazz Convention