By Sarah Halfpenny
THE Westernport Regional Band’s U19 Jazz Ensemble will make history when it becomes the first non-school band to compete at the Generations in Jazz festival, held in South Australia from 1–3 May.
Established in 1987, the festival holds a special place in Australia’s jazz culture, attracting both jazz legends and young musicians to Mount Gambier to learn from each other, study, and perform.
The U19 Jazz Ensemble was established in May 2025 to address a shortage of music opportunities for young people on the Mornington Peninsula. Headed by school music teachers, Kate Makrikostas and David Hedges, it now has around 15 members aged up to 19, playing traditional big band instruments – guitar, drums, bass guitar, saxophones, trumpets, and trombones, plus the addition of a clarinet.
The group creates a progression pathway for young musicians. “They start in the Jazz Ensemble, and when they hit 19, they can join the main band where they have the adults around them playing music,” said Emma Walker, president of the Westernport Regional Band.
What makes the jazz ensemble particularly significant is that it opens the door to students from peninsula schools that lack the resources to send bands to major competitions. “A lot of the schools that go to the Generations in Jazz festival are the private schools, or schools that have a lot of funding in the music department,” Walker told The News.
For Walker, the festival represents something transformative. “There are thousands of kids from across the country just screaming with excitement about jazz music,” she said.
Financing the trip has required significant effort. The group has held car washes, a Bunnings barbecue, an Easter raffle, and recently put together over 2,000 oil-testing kits for farmers on behalf of Rotary, with all funds going toward travel and accommodation costs.
The ensemble will perform three pieces at the festival: the set piece, Second Take, by late Australian composer Nick Mulder, the ballad Lil Darlin’, and Car Wash, which the kids chose after performing it during a fundraising car wash.
“They’ve really come together,” Walker said. “They’ve all made friends with each other. It’s built this really nice community.”
The ensemble rehearses every Thursday from 6pm to 7:15 pm at Mt Erin College and welcomes new members who can read music.
First published in the Mornington News – 21 April 2026
