Jazz musician Pete Jeavons will be bringing the double bass to this year's Jazz By the Bay playing six gigs with a number of bands on the June long weekend.
Hailing from Perth, Jeavons has been part of Jazz by the Bay since the event started in 2013 and likened the festival to hanging out with his musician friends despite the hectic schedule.
Jeavons has played double bass for 24 years, and said he loved the sound of the instrument and its role in the band.
"I love the tone of it and resonance in the wood," he said.
"I love jazz music because of the variety of music it encompasses, jazz means different things to different people, it is such a broad term.
"Look at the gigs I will be doing over the weekend, gypsy jazz, New Orleans music, modern jazz and all shades in between.
"The variety is something I really like along with the improvisation component of jazz music."
Jeavons schedule includes three free gigs which will be played on the stage at Lions Park in Dunsborough.
"On the Saturday I will be playing with a New Orleans trumpet player Ashlin Parker on the green at Dunsborough's Lions Park, which will be really fun," he said.
"One of the great things about jazz is meeting all these new people and playing with all these great musicians, I have never met Ashlin before but he sounds like a great player.
"It will be an interesting and fun experience getting it all together, we rehearsed for the first time on Monday night."
Jeavons will hit the same stage with his gypsy jazz group the Sassafras from 12pm until 1.30pm on Saturday, June 1 featuring singer Jessie Gordon.
"This band has been going for more than four years now, we are working on an album and really enjoying the gypsy jazz aesthetic, there are no drums, it is guitar based music," he said.
"In the evening I will be playing with Tom O'Hallaran Trio [at Clancy's Fish Pub], this is another band I played with for quite a few years and we have done quite a few albums as well.
"This is an interesting concept which event organiser Cindy Wiese has put together called Melting Pot, we will be doing a collaboration with South West musicians, it will be an interesting experiment."
On Sunday, Jeavons will be playing with vocalists Nerissa Campbell and later in the day Chris McNulty at the Old Dunsborough Hall.
Jeavons said for people who were unsure where to start with jazz music to just jump into something at the festival.
"You might not like everything you see but you are guaranteed to find something that you will, and being open to things is a key aspect of jazz," he said.
"People should go into it not expecting it to be one thing or another, if you go in with an open mind you will often be surprised.
"Jazz has such a broad variety of music, there is bound to be something for people to enjoy."
To find out more about Jazz by the Bay visit jazzbythebay.com.au/view/program. The festival runs from Friday, May 31 until Monday, June 3 with events in Busselton, Dunsborough, Yallingup and Margaret River.
