Grampians Jazz Festival

A good mix of the old and young! Some of the younger bands showed great promise. The highlight is being able to sit and enjoy a coffee and cake or a meal, with live music as a backing.

Quick Tips:

Book early to get accommodation. Most places are booked out 12 months in advance, as this jazz festival attracts thousands from around Australia. Early-bird registration is cheaper.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walk. All the music venues are within walking distance, and parking is pretty difficult anyway. Find a parking space and leave your car there for the day! Halls Gap is a long way from Melbourne and is best done with a car, although there may be some public transport to Halls Gap (there were bus-parking bays!).

This was our lunch stop for Sunday. There was not as much variety in the foccacias, but the price was much cheaper, at $6 per foccaccia. They also had excellent coffee and a wider variety of lunch items, such as crumbed fish and chips and potato wedges. Service was prompt, and there were, of course, fine jazz musicians to accompany the meal. This festival venue also has "The Balconies" restaurant for fine dining. We were following the music and trying to eat lightly, so the downstairs bar and bistro suited us.

The decor was more impressive than the Flying Emu, with solid redgum tables creating a rustic Australian atmosphere. The view beyond the windows was good and must have been spectacular from "The Balconies" above. Grampians views, cheap food, fine furniture, and great jazz music made this a top lunch spot!

This was our lunch stop on Saturday. Choices were limited, but the foccacias were quite tasty, if a little on the expensive side at $9.50. Coffee was very good, but again, a little more than I am used to paying, at $3.30 per cup with a surcharge of 10% for weekends. The coffee was a variety I hadn't had before and was certainly fresh and tasty. I will be looking for this brand of coffee elsewhere.

The food was tasty, and the location was convenient in terms of the jazz entertainment. It was okay for a light lunch. For something more substantial, there are other restaurants in the shopping area. This was not one of the venues for the live jazz, so we did not linger too long over the meal. The service was prompt, and the staff was courteous. Nice, given that they were clearly being run off their feet by the thousands of music lovers in Halls Gap for the weekend.

Saturday evening, we wanted two things in a dinner venue: fast service and a jazz band for entertainment. At Ralphy's, we had both. The food was average, the coffee good, and the service quick and efficient. They offered the usual family restaurant meals of steak or chicken (kiev, parmigiana, roast) with chips and salad. Chips were crisp. Salad was a simple garden salad.

The band provided live music to make this an ideal meal location during the festival. It was listed as a casual venue, rather than an official venue, and was not a formally programmed session. These "casual blows" venues provided locations for bands between their formal gigs.

If you are looking for reasonable food at a budget price, this is a good family restaurant. It is not a fine-dining venue, but service was prompt and efficient. If visiting Halls Gap for the jazz festival, there seemed to be always some band having a casual performance here.

This is a smallish market, but with plenty of good local crafts. My wife found something to buy. I just looked around. Most of the items were geared more towards women: kitchen and household knick-knacks.

Produce available included locally grown and processed olive oil (from nearby Dimboola) and local jams and preserves. Prices seemed a little high, perhaps to cash in on the music-goers taking a break from the jazz festival. I understand that this market is a regular occurrence. Some of the wood crafts were quite good, but then there is the problem of getting it home. That one was in the too-hard basket, so the wooden vegetable storers and coolgardie safes stayed put!

Like all country markets, you have to stop and check them out. One day, you just might find the perfect gift or kitchen item! I know my wife has not given up the search!

This was the 19th Grampians Jazz Festival. Held from Friday, February 11, to Sunday, February 13, 2005, it brings together jazz musicians and those who appreciate jazz from around Australia. Many wore souvenirs from various other festivals, indicating that this was one of many that they visited.

The music was all good (for those who appreciate jazz) and included musicians of all ages. The youngest I saw was a female vocalist, age 13. She was great!

One hundred nineteen jazz groups were listed in the program, and there were other musicians floating around looking for a gig to join. There were eight official venues for programmed acts and five casual venues for floating musicians or for those wanting to play between official programmed acts. The oldest that musicians would admit to was 70-something, but they were testaments to the belief that playing music and having fun keeps you young! Highlights of the festival where the school group "Out of Time", with the 13-year-old singer, "Two Balloons in a Teacup", and G Swing, a young jazz group from the Geelong area. It was also great to be able to sit down and enjoy a meal with a live band in the background. Unlike rock music, with jazz, you can sit in the same room and enjoy the music!

The cost for early-bird bookings was $35, which provided admittance to all the venues. For those on a budget, it was possible to enjoy the jazz bands playing in the tents while relaxing on the grass around the marquees. Many did so and enjoyed a quiet ale while listening to the music. Accommodation was at a premium, and those considering attending in 2006 would need to make bookings now! The dates for 2006 are the 10th, 11th, and 12th of February. Be there! I will be!

As late bookers, we found accomodations at a farmstay near Pomonal, about a 15- to 20-minute drive from Halls Gap. It was nice to wake up and look out at Mount William from our self-contained guest wing!