Adrian Mears, was one of Australia's best trombone players in the 90s.  he's from Newcastle, of course, but he has been composing, teaching, and improvising in Germany and Switzerland for the last 25 years.  His visits to Australia have been rare.  For us, he will play a duet with old friend Andrew Dickeson on drums.   

adrianmears.com

Evan, an Australian drummer, and Niko, a French/Italian pianist, formed this ephemeral global project a few years ago.  They have one album, but their focus is theatrical and performance based, and we love to adapt to the natural acoustics of the room and set up the space to compliment our performance.  They play "acoustic, quirky and outlandish (while still being accessible), sometimes progressive, Jazz(ish) / Groove compositions, utilising a multitude of additional conventional and unconventional instruments between the two of us in the show."

bambinodelloro.com

listen to the new album here : https://artascatharsis.bandcamp.com/album/los-belvos

Chuck is a legend of the Sydney jazz scene.

It's his 80th birthday.  His last concert was at Colbourne Ave one year ago, the week of his 79th.  Unfortunately since then his shoulder has become so painful that he can't play any more.  So, to celebrate Chuck's birthday, and his contribution to the Sydney scene, we've invited some of Sydney's great pianists to perform in his honour, along with his long-time collaborator James Ryan:

Jex Saarelaht (flying up from Melbourne for the occasion)
Kevin Hunt
Adrian Keevil
Matt McMahon

Hopefully the man himself will show up.  

This is Francesca's 8th Colbourne Ave gig, and since the last one, Francesca has recorded her first album, Night Trip (to be launched at Foundry 616 in April)... and she's got engaged to Sydney guitarist Nic Vardanega.

We have a couple of bottles of champagne in the fridge 

 STOP PRESS : This is actually the album launch of the new "Jeremy Sawkins Organ Quartet" JazzTrack recording.  The band has changed their name to "The Jeremy Sawkins Organ Quartet", but I had already created this event and i couldn't bring myself to change the great name to a boring name just because they switched drummers.  I don't even think they did switch drummers.

The last time the Jazz Organism played, someone asked me "who plays jazz on an organ or for that matter listens to organ music other than in church?....this Thursday not for me?"  and i said "you're thinking of the wrong kind of organ.think of Deep Purple... Pink Floyd... Procol Harum... Booker T...  Darren's groove comes from the middle 60's jazz players who influenced the psychedelic movement of the 70's.  i can listen to him all day long, and i'm not one for church organs."

That's what the organism is.

Everybody who knows Leonie knows how great she is.  Everybody who has a copy of the Pony album loves it.  She hasn't been playing so much the last couple of years, but she's doing a duet set for us.  Leonie says she's "thrilled to be performing as a duo with bassist Hugh Fraser......... On an evening following superb pianist/composer Tomomi Takahashi who’ll be playing the first set with her ensemble."

Tomomi will be opening the night with her quintet - piano, double bass, sax, violin and euphonium.  She's an improvising musician who works with improvised theatre, and will be mostly playing premieres of original music.  I have a photo, but it's hard to get two photos on this website thingy, so you'll have to show up and meet her in person.

Andy Butler is a pianist and composer living in Melbourne, playing improvised and experimental music. He plays in Australia and Europe with ellipsis, the Phonetic Orchestra, and DRUM. He was a finalist in the 2013 National Jazz Awards and has performed with many of Australia's leading improvisers. Andy is interested in ideas characterised by use of limited material developed through exploration of repetition, resonance, and register.

Jim Denley - wind instruments born Bulli, Australia 22/1/57
Spontaneity, site-specificity and collaboration have been central to his work. He sees no clear distinctions between his roles as instrumentalist, improviser and composer.
He has played throughout Australia, Europe, The Americas, Lebanon and Japan with artists such as Maggie Nichols, Carolyn Connors, Kari Rønnekleiv, Sidsel Endresen, Satsuki Odamura, Thembi Soddell, Natasha Anderson, Monika Brooks, Clare Cooper, Ami Yoshida, Amanda Stewart, Ikue Mori, Satchiko M, Rosalind Hall, Laura Altman, Julia Ready, Bonnie Stewart, Romy Caen, Prue Fuller, Sonya Hollywell and Annette Krebs.

His passion is playing music outdoors in Australia.
Maddogg - myserious, anonymous figure. Performing tonight on electronics

The trio will be touring the UK from April 28th until August this year and they will be playing on the 14th April at Colbourne Avenue. Joshua Morgan will be joining the trio on drums and expect to see some guest musicians sitting in.

The admission is the regular $20 at the door (children with adult admitted free) and we are asking for an extra $10 donation to the Fiji Oxfam appeal. The last concert we did resulted in the band equalling the amount raised and the total went to Nepal appeal.

https://www.oxfam.org.au/donate/different-ways-to-give/current-appeals/

Born and bred in New Orleans, Herb Armstrong lived the dream of performing the infamous Bourbon St and French Quarter clubs as a daily reality. Sharing stages with Bobby Womack, Missy Elliot and the Neville Brothers, Herb performed around the USA before following his heart to Australia.  Performing the music and memories of his grandfather, the late great Louis Armstrong and the infectious Zydeco and Second Line grooves.
Herb takes you on an emotional journey: feel the sorrow of a second line dirge; warm to the stories and jokes of his grandfather Louis; groove like you're at Mardi Gras.  Here's Herb at the Paris Cat in Melbourne.  I don't think he'll have a horn section, but he will have the suit and the voice and the songs. 

We like him.

George is a legend, a brilliant fiddle player and astounding entertainer.  His main-line is gypsy jazz, which he plays with his various duets, trios, and quartets. 

But for his last gig at Colbourne Ave, he got together old friends Peter Locks and Jonathan Zwartz, leaning into some standards and styles you'll rarely hear played or sung like this.

It was fantastic.  We booked another date so we could hear it again.

As a leading contemporary musician in Turkey, Selen Gülün combines her Western music education and her Turkish soul. It is possible to hear traces of Turkish music in her work as composer, pianist, and singer. She has attained critical acclaim internationally.

“Gülün’s music is by turns distant and immediate -- often in the span of a single track.”
Downbeat by Eric Fine, Jan. 2012

“In a raspberry mini dress and black high heels, Ms. Gulun led her trio, defying stereotypes in the male-dominated musical world that she inhabits, infusing her works with the serenity of her classical training and the energy of an Istanbul upbringing.”
The New York Times & Herald Tribune by Susanne Fowler, Feb. 16, 2011

“In her style, influences from classical and contemporary music rife: pointillism, impressionism, low pitches, clusters, modal, atonal. Gulun has just released a trio record, rich and vibrant, full of different colors and dynamics.”
all.about.jazz by Gian Paolo Galasi, Sep. 1, 2011

“...I waded into my vast Myspace page and found several as yet undiscovered gifted women from the Eurasian continent who are doing the good work. Ms. Gulun employs a stunning integration of Turkish music elements into her vocalizations in addition to her adept applications of keyboardry. I wonder if she ran into Butch Morris when he was teaching in Istanbul?”
Brilliant Corners by Christopher Ruston Rich, July 26, 2009

Selen Gülün, composer, pianist, vocalist, arranger and educator started her early music education at the Istanbul University State Conservatory. After graduating from Istanbul University Business Administration Department, she continued her music education at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory in Istanbul. In 1996, she received a talent scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music and received her B.A. in Jazz Composition summa cum laude in 1998. After graduation, she returned to Istanbul and completed her Master’s in Music at Istanbul Technical University’s Center of Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM) in 2003.
She taught Piano Performance, Music Theory, and Composition at Istanbul Bilgi University’s Music Department from 1998 to 2015. She has given lectures on new music and contemporary music at the Berklee College of Music, the New School, the Malmö Academy of Music, the Utrecht School of the Arts, TEDx Bogazici University among others. She currently teaches at Özyegin University and Bilgi University.

Selen Gülün works actively as a composer/performer in various styles of contemporary music. She has received many awards for her performances and compositions including the Charles Mingus Composition Award 1998 and the British Council Visiting Arts, Creative Collaboration in Music 2003.  Her music has been performed in countries around the world including Austria, Germany, Holland, the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, France, the USA, Brazil, Japan, Cambodia, Pakistan, Lithuania, Russia, Mozambique, and Turkey. She has released five albums: Just About Jazz Live (recjazz, 2005), Selen Gülün Trio Sürprizler (recjazz, 2006), Selen Gülün by Selen Gülün (re:konstruKt, 2009), Answers (pozitif, 2010), and Başka (linrecords, 2013). Answers reached #6 and Başka reached #4 in the Jazz Tokyo Weekly Chart.

"The music and more is, truly, out of this world.. this is an intergalactic love song dedication that knows no peer" Lloyd Bradford Syke, Australian Stage

Ephemera Ensemble: a musical exploration of celestial landscapes such as pulsars, craters, planetary atmospheres, stars, sun and void. Merging the sound worlds of jazz, classical, experimental and flamenco, and set to real space recordings, the performances create an original sonic experience. Playing music composed by Keyna Wilkins, the ensemble comprises Keyna Wilkins (piano/flute) Elsen Price (double bass/loop pedal), and Will Gilbert (trumpet) and includes freely improvised sections.

NASA recordings of electromagnetic waves from planets and stars is the backdrop soundtrack and has been constructed by astrophysicist Professor Paul Francis. Each member brings their own unique voice to the ensemble drawing from a multitude of musical backgrounds. Elsen is a new music specialist, Damian is a versatile world musician, Will is a jazz trumpeter and Keyna is a jazz/classical/flamenco musician and composer, who combine to create a distinctive sound world that organically react to stellar concepts. Universe and Universality.

http://www.ephemeraensemble.com/

An album launch for a four-piece band living on three different continents plus Tasmania.

You can support the production of the album here : https://pozible.com/project/a-moment-in-time-jazz-album 

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.

The band features the intuitive and soul stirring vocals of Samoan musicians Steve Ale, Asinate Fonua, Mariah Filoa, Kate Lauina and Loma Schaff. These 5 vocalists have roots in gospel and church music and have an intuitive way of blending and harmonizing with each other that is incredible and beautiful at the same time. The rhythm section contains bassist James Haselwood, drummer Hamish Stuart and pianist Gavin Ahearn. The music is a Unified blend of the influences/vision of all the musicians on stage; gospel, jazz, soul, r&b, pop, world and beyond.  

Martha says :

I am so very excited to announce this gig! It has been a some time between shows and in the interim I have written a whole set of new original material which I can't wait to share with you! I'll be perfoming this accompanied by the incredible Jonathan Zwartz on bowed double bass and we are very lucky to have the amazing Mike Nock perform an opening solo set on piano.

Our friend Simon Rippingale is filming the concert, so wear your best, and come along to what promises to be a very intimate and special night.

Special thanks to Andrew Lorien and the Glebe Justice Centre.

Date- Friday September 9th. Doors- 7:00pm.
Tickets (purchased on the door) $20/ $15

Bonnie plays drums and percussion and writes and sings. Peter plays strange ethereal noises through the saxophone. Luke plays beautiful wandering passages on the piano.

They have great song ideas like "When you think somethings in D and its not in D but it has a D and you did pilates in the morning" and "Dark Slow Scary One".

Together they are Crossover.  Soft, lyrical, complex songs that take you across landscapes and into strange lands.

She has some beautiful new songs on her soundcloud site., some recorded at Colbourne Ave  Listen to them one rainy afternoon : https://soundcloud.com/bonniedrums

John is a great player of the American songbook part of jazz piano.  He's one of our favourite players, solo or in an ensemble.

This week he will be supporting Grace Chung, who sings the great songs of Alan and Marilyn Bergman

Steve and Hannah live in the same community in Tasmania as Spike Mason.  They travel the country working with all sorts of communities, inspiring people to engage with their creativity.

For us, they will perform some of their song and dance numbers :

Kelly is a pianist from Tasmania : a great improvisor with a great groove.  His last concert for us was beautiful, we booked him immediately for his next Sydney trip.

this one will feature Dan Barnett on trombone, as well as Amelia Johnson on vocals.

http://abcjazz.net.au/artist/kelly-ottaway

Barney Wakeford played for our third concert ever, in May 2000.   Since then he's played more than 50 times in ensembles including Barney Wakeford's New Roses, the Nagarm Trio, The League of Rosebud, and Adjective Noun - as well as many solo performances, and hundreds of appearances at Free For All.  For many years he was the driving force behind these concerts, and his commitment to quality music that makes the best use of the acoustics of the room set a standard which we've tried to keep.

His compositions are few, but fantastic.  His collaborations are short-lived, but beautiful.  His improvisations are unpredictable and unforgettable.  He's sensitive about being called sensitive, waxes lyrical about lyricism, and has spent tens of thousands of hours considering the ways chords can progress through the jazz piano.  He's a dark horse, a quiet genius, and on Thursday, one more time, he's going to play the piano at Colbourne Ave

Renata played for us earlier this year, after asking for a long time.

It was a beautiful gig.  Piano trio, plus sax.  Like a warm autumn day with a hint of cool breeze.  Actually maybe it was a warn autumn day with a hint of cool breeze.

Anyway, she's back with her excellent very-sydney rhythm section of Nic Cicere and Max Alduca.

You can read about her on her own website, which i can't believe I didn't tell you about last time.  It's quite good.  renataarrivolo.com.au

Chris Cody, piano
Michael Avgenicos, sax
David Groves, bass
James Waples, drums.

Pianist and composer Chris Cody has performed and recorded internationally for the last 25 years while based in Paris. He has headlined at many international festivals including Paris Quartiers d’Eté, London, Rome, Brussels Jazz Marathon, Marciac, Nantes, and Algiers and at a vast array of concert venues throughout the USA, Europe and Africa. He has worked with many outstanding international musicians including Rick Margitza, Roy Hargrove, Glenn Ferris, Carla Bruni, Annie Whitehead, Tina Arena, Michel Jonaz, Rhoda Scott and Herb Geller.

With nine CDs of his music released on international labels he has received glowing reviews and featured on radio and television around the world, and has collaborated on over thirty other albums.

His compositions have been commissioned for the inauguration of the Australian Music Centre Paris, as well as for the Sydney Theatre Company, American Academy of Dance, Pillow Book Dance Company Pittsburg, and other French and American theatre companies, and he has composed the music for eight films, and several TV and Radio documentaries.

He was a member of the judging panel for the 2014 and 2015 Freedman Fellowship Jazz Prize, Australia.

 "Magical!" Piano Magazine, France

"Exhilarating ... a feast of melody… an inspiration never at fault" JazzHot, France

"Full of music and future!" Le Monde, France

"A marvellous climate, between subtle arrangements and vast spaces of improvisation..." Jazz Magazine, France

"Very luminous jazz!" Télérama, France

"This is jazz that takes off for the heights" Figaroscope, France

"A European sensibility with a nod to Debussy" Rolling Stone

"Splendidly rich and varied" Jazzwise, U.K

"A performance full of colour, humour and rhythmic movement." Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

"A fine mix of superior technical talent and youthful inventiveness" Variety USA

Launched one year ago, Chris Cody's album Not My Lover continues to do well - here are some recent  media highlights:

“A piano style that enthuses, is luminous and breathes, with slicing attacks, a left hand in support with unique chords, a right hand that sings…For Satie, revisited by the blues and the Balkans, is a minor masterpiece…very inspired…a fine and solid quartet and especially a remarkable pianist, like a fish in water in piano trio.” Jazz Hot, France

“The City of Light has the strongest of Jazz associations and Cody captures that intimate relationship perfectly .You can feel the ebb and flow of the city’s life running through his fingertips as he plays. The beauty of the architecture, the elegant Seine, the mad driving through the twisted maze of streets. Cody is a man of great charm and warmth and the compositions echo his urbane humanity.” JazzLocal - John Fenton, NZ

“You feel a particular cosmopolitanism seeping through the music: jazz colliding with European sensibilities and France colliding with African ones. Cody is an equally sophisticated composer and pianist who likes to create mood-based pieces and solos in which a touch of ambiguity or mystery compounds the interest. … Cody generates a striking luminosity from the piano's upper register. “ Sydney Morning Herald

“Cody works with flair and sensitivity... This is an album of talented performers playing varied compositions, adding an unusual jazz piano style that’s incorporates interesting classical ideas and flourishes”. The Australian

“Solid pleasure…a very solid and satisfying disc…a fast, happily frantic dance…top flight musicians…the piano suggests both abandon and contemplation…his playing is often funky with a modern boogie or shuffle feeling to it… a very beautiful re-working of Satie’s Gnossienne No. 3” Loudmouth, John Clare

“Polished composition and pianism … Modern contemporary improvised music doesn’t get much better or more enjoyable than this and Cody proves he is the master of form.” Fine Music Magazine