Tania Bowra, Susan Gai Dowling and Leonie Cohen are gonna ring in the festive season with a night of beautiful music.  Great jazz tunes, ‘Joni gems’ and special originals..  songs to remind you how good life is!

“Sidestepping the mannerisms, childish desire to impress and look-at-me obsessions that beset most singers, Susan Gai Dowling dances into the arms of truth.”  In Summer (Susan Gai Dowling) review, John Shane

“a blessedly distinctive and gorgeous voice… she never loses sight of the song or its melody. For at heart, [she] is searching for the perfect song. ”  Place in the Sun (Tania Bowra) review, The Brag

"Cohen’s piano is glorious. Not only is her playing extremely tasteful & sure, her sound is beautiful"  Jerusalem (Leonie Cohen) review, Jazz Australia

Or from a thousand gigs all around town with Evan, Carl Dewhurst, Greg Lloyd, Bermie McGann, or dozens of others.

Or you might just recognise what she does - jazz standards sung the proper way, with attention to the song, the story, and the feeling.  She'll be doing that with the great Evan Lohning (pianist, arranger, and composer) on piano.

The night will be opened by Tania Bowra who owes much to music, it has been a constant and carrying force in her life since she was a young kid.  She’s enjoyed not just the love and labour of creating and performing music for 40 years, but the pleasure and privilege of facilitating many others along the way.  In the years since her still remembered 1989 ARIA nominated Heaven And Earth, Tania has grown into a multi-faceted musician, music producer, director and teacher.  Her songs have drawn parrallels to those of David Gray, Neil Young and Fiona Apple - and certainly, the classic singer-songwriters of the early seventies have been the most recognisable influence in her recordings.  Tania has always revelled in singing the beautiful songs of others – perhaps to no greater disinction than in Joni – a Tribute to the Legendary Joni Mitchell where she appeared alongside a handful of artists including Wendy Matthews and Katie Noonan to a full Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.  Now writing and playing in new band Girls On The Avenue - with Melanie Forbes’ (sistermadly, Jenny Morris) and Julia Day (Geoff Achison, Jeff Duff Orchestra) - Tania can still rarely say no to a chance to play the songs of Joni Mitchell.. especially not when invited by (local jazz legend and dear friend) Susan Gai-Dowling.

this is what i wrote last year, and i can't think of anything better...

Susan Gai changed the way i understand jazz singing.  She's a pillar of the Sydney jazz scene, and her generosity of spirit glows through every song she selects.

Susan will sing with Carl Dewhurst on guitar - an incredibly versatile player of jazz, funk, glitch, grindcore, theatre and anything improvised.  Another great supporter of the jazz community, Carl has played everywhere and with everybody.

And Bernie McGann on saxophone.  A legend of Australian jazz, one of our most awarded, most recognised, most original musicians.  He'll be bringing home fifty years pushing the boundaries of the alto sax.

Three icons of Sydney jazz, distilling decades of experience into their totally distinctive jazz standards and original songs.

Have a look at a video and some photos from their last show here.

And if you still aren't sure... here's an invitation from Susan Gai herself!

Susan Gai changed the way i understand jazz singing.  She's a pillar of the Sydney jazz scene, and her generosity of spirit glows through every song she selects.

Susan will sing with Carl Dewhurst on guitar - an incredibly versatile player of jazz, funk, glitch, grindcore, theatre and anything improvised.  Another great supporter of the jazz community, Carl has played everywhere and with everybody.

And Bernie McGann on saxophone.  A legend of Australian jazz, one of our most awarded, most recognised, most original musicians.  He'll be bringing home fifty years pushing the boundaries of the alto sax.

Three icons of Sydney jazz, distilling decades of experience into their totally distinctive jazz standards and original songs.

Born in Melbourne sometime last century, Evan started his musical journey on drums, then played both trumpet and piano before finally specialising on piano. Best known for his arranging skills, he has written charts for some of the biggest names in Australian jazz - Don Burrows, James Morrison, John Morrison, Dale Barlow, Ian Cooper, Emma Pask, Marlene Richards, Monica Trapaga, Susan Gai Dowling. He is composer and arranger for the modern jazz big band “Evan Lohning Jazz Orchestra”, an ongoing project, influenced by the writing of Duke Ellington, Thad Jones and Gil Evans, and featuring some of Sydney’s best jazz performers.

For this evening’s concert, Evan is accompanied by Australian jazz legend John Pochee on drums, and young lion Noel Mason on the bass. The great Susan Gai Dowling will join Evan in a duo bracket of rare gems and seldom-heard classics.

here's an ABC recording of the big band sound, with a photo of a surfer: youtube.com/watch?v=O_OXLAFnyPk

and his mySpace page, with some great recordings: myspace.com/evanlohningjazzorchestra/music

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.