FAR BEYOND, makes its debut performance at Colbourne Ave with the talents of Paul Cutlan on saxophones, flute and clarinets; Gary Daley on piano and accordion; James Greening on trombone; Ben Hauptmann on guitars; and Sandy Klose on bass. These great musicians will be bringing life to the much anticipated compositions and creative drumming of Fabian Hevia.

Sam Gill is a young local saxophone player.  The type we like.  He's played freaky post-jazz with The Splinter Orchestra, sparse improv with Simon Barker, and new sydney jazz with his own ensembles. To Colbourne Ave he brings Scattered, a sax-led quintet mostly made up of reeds (with accordion as the keyboard reed, and Julia as the string Reid (that was funny before Julia couldn't make the gig)).

Read some of this thoughts on some of his influences here : http://www.jazzgroove.com/selecta-sam-gill/ 

James McLean will be opening with a solo percussion set.  James has just been awarded the 2016 Friedman Jazz Fellowship Prize, making him the first drummer ever to take the prize.

Gary Daley and Paul Cutlan, with consumate cellist Ollie Miller in the second set.  They are half of Bingarribee, who we still hope to bring to Colbourne Ave sometime (watch Notturno by Bela Bartok here http://vimeo.com/89289097).  Dave Ellis called their last show at Colbourne "one of the best gigs of 2014"

Gary and Paul have become firm musical soul buddies over the last few years, discovering their shared passion for twentieth century classical music, world music and free improvisation.  Between them lies a kaleidoscopic world of tone colours, with piano, accordion, and various saxophones and clarinets in the mix.  From Messian to Bartok, Fats Waller to Steve Swallow, traditional African to atmospheric improv, Gary and Paul create music of colour, beauty and emotion.

Two of Sydney's great jazz players, improvisors, and all-round excellent people.  Paul Cutlan plays all the reeds, Gary Daley plays accordion and piano.

Here's an interview from earlier this year about Gary's compositional history
And here's an ABC Radio National program featuring one of Paul's compositions

The Monday Club, the best improvising ensemble since Free For All, returns.  Tony Gorman and his band of monday revellers; playing their instruments they way they find them; listening to each other and to the wind.  I'd call this a special event, but all Monday Club performances are special events.  It'll go like this:

The Monday Club

The Monday Club grew from a chance meeting between Tony and Steve. A shared desire to explore sound was enough to start things moving - starting with long notes (to quote Tony - “is there anything they CAN'T do?”), it has quickly become something more. It's never been a conscious directing of events, but more an unfolding as the process deepens...

The sources of this music are varied, elusive and not easily named - the spaces between words, and thoughts; the subtle stirrings of shifting time; flashing inspiration, raging and at once subsiding; a sense of space becoming sound becoming space...

There are deep sonorities and ranging explorations, our vehicle the unique instrumentation and broad range of experience and inspiration within the group. Each time we play something is found, a collective space is arrived upon, and so the journey begins anew even as it continues.

Tony Gorman, Boyd, Stephen Morley, Mary Rapp.

Alto and contrabass clarinets, horn and cello.

Colin Bright SYZYGY Band  sp-A-C--E part 1

Music for Telescope, Binoculars & Improvising Ensemble

A multimedia concept - streaming: -

- LIVE star visual images projected onto a screen
- LIVE 'star' data converted to MIDI signals for the musicians to interact with

The Colin Bright SYZYGY Band, a collective of composer/improvisers, is collaborating with Dr Angelo Fraietta, a software engineer, composer, electronic musical instrument designer, and amateur astronomer.   Dr Fraietta’s current research is in the correlation of astronomical data with artistic performance, and has developed innovative software and hardware specifically for the spA-C--E concept.

The multimedia concept is to stream 'star' data—such as position, elevation, brightness and colour—from astronomical catalogues through the positioning of a telescope & high-powered binoculars.  This data is converted algorithmically into a SOUND CANVAS. Additionally, a live image will be projected onto a screen and the audience will be invited to observe through the binoculars during the performance. Also, a laser marker will be projected into the sky to give the audience a naked eye perspective, which will facilitate their memory of the performance when they look into the night sky on another night, thus providing a true, memorable experience.

Thus, LIVE interaction with star systems that SYZYGY improvise to - inspired by those sounds & images.  It is cutting edge technology requiring imaginative musicality.  Instruments are  mic-ed up  to 2-3 MacBooks + FX etc through Mainstage.  Thus the natural timbres of acoustic instruments AND electronic transformations.

The BIG idea is the interaction between REALTIME now - and  DEEP TIME from space!!! (i.e. millions of years in the past!)

Together, we have developed a broad but flexible structure to work within.  The structure is to give the work shape and form, as well as the flexibility to allow individuality - and a personal ‘voice’.

Some of ideas we can interact with on our tour through the star systems...
Zenith  - Nadir - Contact - Particles - Earth Dance - Moon Dance - Space Dance - Opposition - Conjunction - Universal Chord

SYZYGY are:
Paul Cutlan - clarinets, saxes + FX
Nick Polovineo - trombone + FX
Noam Jaffe - violin + FX
Colin Bright - piano + FX
Aiden Molins - film

Dr Angelo Fraietta, a software engineer, composer, electronic musical instrument designer, and amateur astronomer.

The musical lives of pianist Alister Spence and reedsman Paul Cutlan regularly cross in groups like the Australian Art Orchestra and Steve Morley's Squall. They have recorded together as a duo for the ABC and performed in Canberra and Sydney. Tonight they will combine their love of tradition with natural curiosity and playfulness as they explore a widely varying repertoire of originals and standards.

In the second set they welcome the wonderful vocalist Susan Gai Dowling for renditions of rare and beautiful songs.

The second in our series of bands led by bass players:

a double bass player with a beautiful and generous style, Steve will play solos duos and trios, with a balance of composition and improvisation, the music he's been borrowing and stealing and making up for all of this life

with two other recognised composing and improvising masters,
Paul Cutlan on saxophone and clarinet
and Phil Slater on trumpet
who knows what might happen!