Four Grammy award winners, a legendary German Jazz artist, a retrospective exhibition and a special birthday bash celebration concert are the highlights of the 50th National Jazz Festival in Tauranga in April 2012.

The five-day event held over Easter from April 5-9 features jazz bands and musicians of the present and the future, plus the free Downtown Carnival, the hugely popular Jazz Village, the Sebel Trinity Wharf Tauranga Jazz Riverboat and the 2012 New Zealand Music Award Tui in the Jazz category.

This year is extra special for the Festival as it marks its 50th birthday and director Arne Herrmann says the programme includes many special treats to celebrate the milestone.

Already announced is the 50th Birthday Bash Concert featuring multiple Grammy Award winners Earth, Wind & Fire on their first ever concert in New Zealand, along with blues singer and guitarist Keb Mo, and jazz legend Patti Austin. Also marking the half century is an exhibition and concert – The History of Jazz ... According to Tauranga.

The 2012 National Jazz Festival concert series welcomes two jazz legends – American Kurt Elling with special guest superstar saxophonist Eric Marienthal and the Wellington Jazz Orchestra; and German jazz legend Klaus Doldinger’s Passport. Kurt Elling is among the leading jazz vocalists in the world today and all his records have garnered him Grammy Award nominations. Saxophonist Klaus Doldinger is best known as the composer of the film scores for the acclaimed German U-boat film Das Boot and The Neverending Story. And more...see below.