The Harbour St Jazz and Blues Festival junior talent quest winner Jayden Jesudhass, who performs as Jayden TJ, has the composure of a seasoned performer.
The 11-year-old boy from Dunedin wowed the crowd in Oamaru on Sunday with his multi-instrument prowess, collecting his first place prize on stage in the closed-to-traffic Harbour St.
He pulled out a looping pedal and accompanied himself on George Gershwin's Summertime, soloing on flute, melodica, saxophone and guitar. The crowd loved it.
Leaving the stage, Jayden said he enjoyed his first time at the four-year-old festival.
‘‘I loved it; I love Oamaru,'' he said.
‘‘Dunedin is quite busy; it's just nice to relax here.''
When Jayden was 5, a guitar teacher told him he was too young to learn and his hands were ‘‘too small'' to play the guitar, but his principal at the time, at George Street Normal School in Dunedin, heard about his interest in music and gave him lessons at lunchtime.
Jayden has never looked back. He also plays the piano, oboe, bass and drums - a dozen instruments in total.
And while he said a future in music would be ‘‘lovely'', the boy is a keen radio presenter at Otago Access Radio, and said he was considering becoming a dentist.
The master of ceremonies, Waitaki district councillor Jim Hopkins, said the jazz over the weekend was ‘‘stunning''.
He said the talent displayed by Oamaru performers was worthy of an international audience.
And he took in his stride the fact both talent quest winners - Jayden and senior section winner Auckland trumpeter Edwina Thorne - were out-of-towners.
‘‘That just proves how popular our talent quests are,'' he said.
Thefestival's organiser, Julie Barclay, also said the three-day celebration of jazz - and the hot and sunny weather - was a great showcase for Oamaru.
Tourists mixed with Otago jazz fans in the festival's eight venues and the cabaret night on Sunday at the Loan and Merc and Saturday's open-air performance at Friendly Bay were lively, well-attended events, she said.
‘‘It couldn't have been better. The weather ... it was such a good weekend.''
