Ken Avery

Ken Avery was Transcriptions Officer for the NZBC (later to become Radio NZ), who achieved local fame as a clarinettist, saxophonist, bandleader and composer. Some members of his last band, "The Darktown Strutters" are still active in the Wellington region. Ken's songs usually featured an elegant melody line with quirky titles and lyrics! "Paekakariki", "The Gumboot Tango", "As the Jetty Pulled Away from the Steamer", the neat jazz waltz "By the Dog-Dosing Strip at Dunsandel", the "Bruce Abernethy Driving Academy" jingle, and many more. The vocal group "When the Cat's Been Speyed" have recently recorded a number of these songs, originally sung by 2ZB announcer Bas Tubert or Ash Burton a.k.a. "Dominion" sports writer Alex Veysey. Ken published a Songbook late in his career; this is now becoming a collector's item.

The Ken Avery Memorial Award

The Ken Avery Memorial Scholarship Fund was initially funded through the generosity of Wellington musicians during the 1980's.The then President of the NZ Jazz Foundation John Joyce and the President of the Wellington Jazz Club Bill Hamer conceived the idea of a scholarship that would perpetuate Ken Avery's memory and his contribution to jazz in New Zealand
Funding for the scholarship came from a series of concerts during the 1980's when Wellington musicians of the day freely and willingly gave of their time for rehearsals and concerts. Since the 1980's the NZ Jazz Foundation and the Wellington Jazz Club have jointly funded the scholarship where an annual sum of $1000 was awarded  to the '"best" first year jazz studies student at the New Zealand School of Music. In 2007 all interested parties met to review the scholarship and a decision was made to change the format from an individual award to a combo contest, open to all students studying jazz through the New Zealand School of Music system.Both the NZJF and the Wellington Jazz Club agreed to continue to fund the scholarship and raised their contributions from $500 annually to $1000.  The contest was run for the first time in 2007 and the 2008 contest took place in August. The new format appears to have created considerable interest among the students with the contests being run as one of the Wellington Jazz Club club nights.Prizes awarded to the winning combos are $1200 for first place, $500 for  second place and $300 for third.