The first in our April 2014 Jazz Piano Master Series - featuring entrants, finalists, and the winner of the Wangaratta jazz award.

This week, Harry Sutherland and Barney Wakeford.  Two excellent piano players, and very fine human beings.

Barney Wakeford is an endlessly inventive improvisor, a free, intuitive player whose open approach was born from decades of intense study.  In full flight, his playing is mesmerising.  He had some beautiful new compositions at his last trio gig, I'm looking forward to the solo versions.

Harry is a very versatile player.  You can see him playing trad jazz at the RSL, new music at the Foundry, hip hop grooves at festivals.  You can hear him around town almost every week in a trio, a large ensemble, or a big band - and this week, solo.  He won the James Morrison scholarship in 2010 - come and decide whether he should have won the Wangaratta prize.

Steve Barry and Aaron Blakey, two New Zealand-ish pianists we have taken for our own.  Both are composers of beautiful tunes from personal experience.  Both are versatile technical players with a great feel for the keyboard.  And both know how to tell a story through a tune, to leave an image of the composition which lasts after the specifics have been forgotten.

Steve has played for us a dozen times, but never solo.  Aaron and Steve jam together all the time.  Come and hear the new generation of great jazz players.

Two great improvising pianists, both with international careers in improvised / experimental / new music. 

The first time I saw Alister play it changed the way i heard music forever - he (and Sandy Evans) opened a window into jazz improvisation which i have been trying to climb all the way through for ten years.
www.alisterspence.com

Austin is cut from the same stuff.  endlessly exploring new musical ideas, both intellectual and aesthetic, at 25 years old he has studied on three continents and composed and recorded in half a dozen forms.
www.austinbuckett.com

i expect this night to be mesmerising and demanding and beautiful.

Aaron Blakey is a jazz pianist originally from New Zealand.
Before moving to Sydney, Aaron spent three years living in Japan as an active pianist on the Tokyo Jazz Scene. The Aaron Blakey Quartet will be presenting a variety of original tunes that Aaron has composed, based on various experiences from his times in Auckland, Tokyo, New York and Sydney, as well as some cool standards.
Aaron will be joined by Mike Rivett, James Heazlewood Dale and James Waples. Each of these wonderful musicians brings their own voice to the tunes.
Look forward to a fantastic night of music!

Aaron Blakey (piano)
Mike Rivett (tenor sax)
James Heazlewood Dale (bass)
James Waples (drums)

www.aaronblakey.com

Originally from Indonesia (in 2005, she led her quartet in the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival) and currently based in Sydney, Pianist Francesca Prihasti is studying under Mike Nock at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and comes to Colbourne Ave having recently played with Dale Barlow in his Sidewoman project. Her six piece band featuring drumming dynamo Nic Cecire, Bassist David Groves and guitarist Nic Vardanega, will be playing original compositions and arrangements of standards, imbued with Prihasti's poise and crystaline focus.

Peter grew up listening to early swing recordings, and by the time he was ten he fell in love with Bunny Berigan's trumpet.  He grew up to become a piano player, and there are few musicians today who can move so seamlessly from interpretations of the works of Bix Beiderbecke and Duke Ellington to Be-Bop and beyond.

One of those perfect, rare duets that work so well in the Cafe Church space and are almost impossible anywhere else.  Following on from Spike and Matt's sax/piano duet, this piano /trumpet duet will provide the perfect environment for these two best mates to bring everything they have to the music.  Original, improvised, new Sydney jazz.

Steven Barry

Eamon Dilworth

“Steven Barry, a young New Zealander, has brought his dazzling skills as a pianist and composer to Sydney. He shrugged aside cliche, deployed scintillating articulation, and gave his colleagues such ingenious raw material as the Bartok-inspired Clusters. Boneham's solos were a lesson in how vigour may be harnessed to sensitivity, while Firth layered rhythmic puzzles into the grooves without rendering them academic, and soloed with panache...” John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald

Steve Barry crossed the ditch in early 2009 and has quickly become one of Sydney’s most sought-after pianists, having worked with many prominent Australasian and international artists including John Hollenbeck (USA), Theo Bleckmann (USA), George Coleman Jr. (USA), Arun Luthra (USA), Tricia Evy (FRA) and the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra.

Joined by the heavyweight rhythm section of Alex Boneham on bass and the incredibly sympathetic Cam Reid on drums, the Steve Barry Trio focuses on lyrical melodies, deep grooves and group interaction, and demonstrates a unique collective rapport.

Steve Barry (piano) Alex Boneham (bass) Cameron Reid (drums)

Possibly Australia's most influential living jazz musican, Judy has taught and performed with generations of performers, helping to create the sound and culture of Sydney's jazz scene.  It's more than two years since they last played for us, and the ABC has just released a 4CD box set of Judy's recording projects.  She will play for us with her long-time trio : Craig Scott on bass and Tim Firth on drums.

STOP PRESS! Tim Firth has injured his arm, so it's another duet!