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.

It's Liz Frencham, totally solo.

Since Jigzag's huge final show at Notes last year Liz hasn't played her own songs in Sydney.  Bring your wine and chocolate for a night of heart-warming songs and that most rare and beautiful thing, a girl standing alone with a double bass, singing.  This will be a preview of Liz's new solo album (recorded but not mastered), and a small peak into next years "you & me vol 2".

LizFrencham.com

Sydney's piano master plays from his acclaimed 1994 album, Touch.

PJ Wolf finds bios either make him sound cooler than he is, or alternatively; in trying to achieve exactly that end, far less cool than he'd like people to imagine him. That being said…

Drawing on an eclectic range of musical influences from Erik Satie to Bob Dylan, PJ Wolf explores the beautiful, the terrible and the profound through his unique alt-pop sound.

In 2008 PJ was a winner of the triple J unearthed Top Song competition. His winning track was described on the Unearthed website as:

“… indie pop… while still being serious. And Seriously Good. The quirky instrumentation and lush harmonies make PJ's winning track "Skin And Bone" a standout winner”

This win came after a number of his demo’s were picked up and played on the station. Just prior to receiving the Triple J honour PJ was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Young Australians to help produce his current EP Arcadia Street, an collection of pop songs about death.

For years we've loved his last album, Storms Dreams and Flying Machines, and the new Arcadia Street is beautiful.

16 solo pianists over four weeks.  This series was largely responsible for our decision to host concerts more often.