What's the best thing to come out of Melbourne?  The Hume Highway  boomtish

Travelling up the Hume this week are :

Joe O'Connor - winner of the National Jazz Award at Wangaratta in 2014, and the Bell Award for young jazz artist of the year in 2014

Tim Stevens - Ph. D. in jazz and leader of many jazz ensembles in Sydney and Melbourne over the last two decades.

josephoconnormusic.com

timstevens.com.au

Tim Stevens and Mark Lau, two old friends now living in new york and melbourne, only get to play together every couple of years when they meet up in Sydney.  This is it...

'Stevens is an improviser of endless melodic inventiveness and seemingly inexhaustible harmonic knowledge. He is clearly a diligent student of jazz tradition, yet he eschews imitation and cliché.' (Aaron Searle, Music Forum)

Tim and Mark both used to live in Sydney.  then they both left.  they've since performed together at Pori Jazz and Umbria Jazz and in Melbourne, but this will be the first time they've hunted on their old turf for the beautiful equality only an improvising duet can bring.

"even in a country so richly endowed with superior jazz pianists, Tim Stephens is one of those at the very top of the pile" john shand