49th National Youth Jazz Competition - 2027

The Tauranga Jazz Society are excited to present the 49th National Youth Jazz Competition 2027.

Dates for the Competition are Monday 22 March – Thursday 25 March, 2027.

The test pieces for the 2026 Competition are:

Combo Test Piece

Beautiful Love (Van Alstyne,Young, King, Gillespie)

Lead sheets: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tvAwp27eGfqllXFMPAhfKt60knccyuXo

Big Band Test Pieces

There are 2 Big Band Test Pieces to choose from based on your students’ ability.

1. Advanced Test Piece: Dante's Hot House (Vince Gassi)
   Listen and score here: https://www.jwpepper.com/dantes-hot-house-11678875/p
2. Intermediate Test Piece: Splanky (arr. Roy Phillipe)
   Listen and score here: https://www.alfred.com/products/splanky-00-jem04013?utm_campaign=Score_Sound&utm_content=Jazz_Ensemble&utm_medium=social&utm_source=YouTube

Judges

We are excited to announce the return of our judging team!

• Big Band Judges are Nick Tipping (Wellington) bass player, ex Head of NZSM, and RNZ broadcaster, Lana Law (Christchurch) sax player, teacher, and big band leader.
• Combo Judges are Ben Wilcock (Rotorua) keyboard player, senior music tutor at Toi Ohomai, Roger Manins (Auckland) sax player and Senior Lecturer Music/Jazz at University of Auckland.

Registrations

Registrations will open Monday 10 August 2026 and close Friday 26 February 2027, or once limited spaces have been filled.

The registration fee is $28.75 per student and music leader. Tickets for the Wednesday evening concert are $17, featuring the Aotearoa Jazz Collective, a combo of award-winning students from the 2026 Competition.

Registration will be online via the National Youth Jazz Competition website.

National youth jazz