Without a doubt.... Alice Russell is may favourite singer. Hailing from Brighton, UK Ms Russell first shot to fame working with the likes of Quantic (watch for upcoming blog on him) and signed with my favourite label Tru Thoughts. She's released four albums, a mix of studio and collaborations - the latest being Pot Of Gold at the end of 2008.

If you don't know who Alice Russell is, I assure you, you're missing out. She's one of the loveliest musicians I've met!

www.alicerussell.co.uk

 Let’s jump straight in this week with a band that’s got a lot of people confused simply by their name. They’re called Aunty Richard and they recently launched their debut contemporary jazz album Leaf Blower at the Basement, much to my tongue-wagging delight.

To start off the night was the electric bass and drums duo Jacuzzi 88, which featured Cameron Undy (from 505, remember?) and Evan Mannell. They explored what seemed like all styles within the jazz spectrum, conversing in a profound drum and bass language, which reminds us why they are the key units of pretty much any ensemble.
On to the main attraction: Aunty Richard, not a drag queen or anything remotely close! The name came to sax player Joel Woolf in a dream one night and just kind of stuck. One thing that did strike me as quirky though was the fact that the band all had matching hairdos.

As they were launching their album, they played many familiar songs but the live show had more edge. This comes down to the fact they added an electric guitar to the band since recording the album.

Keeping on good jazz form, I caught The Matt Baker Trio at The El Rocco Jazz cellar (part of BarMe) in Kings Cross. This place has some heavy jazz history and used to be one of the places to go for Sydney and Australian jazz, while nowadays it plays host to an array of hidden jazz and blues talent. Clambering down into a dungeon of a room, dimly lit, you can instantly feel the Aussie greats who’ve played here before.

The trio is made up of Matt Baker on piano, with Alex Boneham on bass and Cameron Reid on drums. They play Cuban-infused jazz/blues originals that could very well be the jazz standards of the future, and they treated us to a profound arrangement of Imagine and the classic, The Way You Like Tonight.

Due to, well let’s just say “line-up issues”, the second set was a duo of piano and the wonderfully talented Adrian Cunningham on saxophone. At the request of an audience member we were blessed with a beautiful rendition of There Will Never Be Another You, which just reminded me of why I love jazz as much as I do!

To round off, my gig picks for the fortnight are the SIMA Young Women in Jazz concert at the Basement on September 16 and The Vampires at Jazzgroove (Excelsior Hotel) on September 23.

SIMA has been doing these young women in jazz workshops for years (I used to go to them!) and this year is their largest yet. As for The Vampires, I’ve pretty much got their album South Coasting on repeat at the moment as their weaving of sax and trumpet is practically infectious.
Til next week - Zaz

http://www.myspace.com/auntyrichard
http://www.myspace.com/mattbakerjazz
http://www.myspace.com/theevampires

 It’s been a busy few weeks for all things jazzy around Sydney, but then again it always is… Every Tuesday night it’s hard not to be drawn down to the Excelsior hotel in Surry Hills for the delightful offerings from Jazzgroove. Most recently I caught the set from the Matt Keegan Trio, who has done a very good job of touring the country over the past few weeks. Led by Matt on sax, the trio play modern contemporary jazz grooves, with a hint of electronic special effects on the sax.

They experimented with many different ideas and time signatures, and Matt made sounds I’ve never heard a sax make before. Truly some of Sydney’s finest on offer, again highlighting what amazing talent we have hiding in all sorts of places!

Adding a different flavour to my usual pallet, I caught the EP launch from the soulfully delicious folk band Saving Grace. These guys are really making their mark on Sydney – last month they supported Peter Combe in spectacular fashion.
They all met at the Sydney Conservatorium or Music and have backgrounds in classical, hip-hop, composition and of course jazz – they mix it all up but lean towards a classical style, which is a reflection of the band’s diverse musical background.. Whatever the formula is that they’ve put together, it’s definitely working!

Playing at the Basement and the Factory theatre over the past week or so was the amazing Barbara Morrison -who I had the pleasure of meeting a few years back. She’s truly one of the great modern jazz divas and has exquisite soulful voice that leaves you wanting much much more. She still sings my favourite version of any jazz standard - a Latin twist on the Rodgers and Hart classic ‘My Funny Valentine’.

Coming up soon will be the Jazz:Now series at the Opera House, a joint initiative of Jazzgroove and SIMA, featuring some of the country’s finest including Andy Fiddes, Jamie Oehlers, Andrew Robson, The Alcohotlicks, and all the way from The States the fantastic Marilyn Crispell. The series lasts for three nights at the Sydney Opera House and runs from September 10 – 13.

To finish up we have the electrifying James Muller who recently played the Sound Lounge. His latest album, Kaboom (2006) was recorded in the US and truly highlights his abilities as a guitarist and entertainer.
So work hard, but be sure to play hard and get out there and keep an eye out for some of the tasty morsels that the Sydney scene have on offer!

http://www.myspace.com/mattkeegan
http://www.myspace.com/savinggracesyd
http://www.barbaramorrison.com
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/jazznow.aspx
http://www.myspace.com/jamesmullermusic

Jazz with Zaz #1

Welcome to Jazz with Zaz. The lovely people over at Music Feeds have asked me to wade out into the murky waters of the Sydney Jazz scene to haul in a catch of wriggling musical treats for all of you. I’m going to do my best to report on what’s been going down and what’s coming up.
Also seeing as though there is a growing trend amongst young jazz-sters out there to mix jazz with various other styles, a lot of what I’ll be talking about I guess will be bands with jazz flavours, as well as those straight up.


Let’s start off by having a look at what’s been going on. In my regular weekly gigging I’ve been catching some pretty sweet shows lately. The Macquarie Hotel always serves up something delightful so I’ve been spending a nice amount of time down there.

I caught Melbourne outfit Pablo Discobar with Ollie McGill from The Cat Empire a few weeks ago - why this band isn’t bigger in Sydney is beyond me. They play a mix of old and nu-skool funk which got the entire bar dancing. Just how we like it of course! Despite the limited floor space they managed to cram in a three piece horn section, 2 foxy back up vocalists as well as having an extra keyboard player! We all got very friendly playing and dancing so close to one another, but they served up the funk and we all walked away exhausted from dancing (and tamborining) all night long.

Serving up more of the jazzy side, Jazzgroove Records launched its latest offering, Free Running by the Richard Maegraith Band a few weeks ago at The Basement. The who’s who of the Sydney jazz scene came down to check it out and were not disappointed! The band features the crisp saxophone of Maegraith and the smooth vocal tones of Kristen Beradi. Free Running marked the third Jazzgroove Records release for the year with three more still to come. Stay tuned for more on them.

The Basement also played host for the CD launch of The Bakery, a band which has been turning heads all over Sydney. With their bright costumes and cheeky lyrics, the audience can’t help but singing ‘my balls swing from side to side’ for the rest of the night! If you can get down to see them I strongly recommend it as these guys never fail to entertain!

To take us out this week I’ll tell you about a CD I can’t get enough of at the moment. Listen! Hear!! The Bamboos Live!!! I picked it up after their set at the Darling Harbour jazz festival and it has pretty much been left on repeat on my stereo. These guys serve up the funk at boiling point, so much so that I can’t help but do the side step when I’m on the train listening to it. Awesome stuff. So ‘til next time - Zaz.

This week I'm breaking the mould yet again! I bring you King of the Rodeo - the first single from the Bamboos new album Side Stepper. The wonderful Megan Washington lends her vocal stylings to this one. Check it out y'all -

I've decided to change the format of my blog a little. Rather then just talk about bands, I wanna talk about the music scene in general and cover whatever I like as after all it's my blog!!!

So this week I feel like talking about a Sydney based label run by a friend of mine that you should all definatley keep an eye out for. Knowfoowl Music, run by DJ Huwston, is an underground label serving up some very tasty morsels indeed! Home to Cookin on 3 Burners, Watussi, 2up and more, Huwston stands by releasing what he loves and does it very well.

His latest release was from Jackson Conti, and I haven't been able to get those Brasilian beats out of my head! Check it out y'all.

This next band I've seen a few times but was fortunate enough to catch over the weekend when I was in Melbourne. The Ross Irwin Soul Special, led by (shock horror) mr Ross Irwin who also happens to play with The Cat Empire and The Bamboos.

They play rock/soul originals with a 10 piece band (yikes!) and play some old school unknown soul covers too. Who can go wrong with a song stating 'I've always had a thing for Lois Lane'.

They play regularly around Melbourne, but sadly not anywhere else and you can usually find them at the night cat during Cat Empire off season!

I've been thinking a lot about what sort of bands I want to write about each week. Do I want to write about bands I like? Bands I work with? Bands I think you should hear? Or a combination of all of the above! I choose the latter. So this week.... I bring you bluejuice (yes that is without a capital b).

They're another party band that are a lot of crazy fun! For the video to 'vitriol' they pretended to be a religious cult in Pitt st mall and for 'The Reductionist' they went skydiving! They're just doing some festival for the rest of the year, but if you have the chance to catch them - do it!

What can be said about these strapping young lads? Another Melbourne band, the Custom Kings released their debut album 'At Sea' at the end of last year.

These guys play a smoothe mix of folk, rock, surf, hiphop, soul, funk, country and pretty much anything to create a unique sound and keep everyone entertained. They recently played at the APRA awards in Sydney and where they were very well recieved by industry folks.

They're a crusiey band that always go down a treat at festivals all over the country. If they're in a town near you, I recomend going to catch them, that is of course, provided they're back on dry land!

Now as stated with the first band blog, this band just has to be spoken about. They're number two on my list, but only by a very small margin. Hailing from Melbourne, those cheaky funk brothers (and one soul sista) - The Bamboos.

They wear suits and do the side step. It's pure class. They're all fantastic musicians and play deep funk raw and heavy! They then bring out the 'jewel of the south pacific' as they like to call her - Ms Kylie Auldist.

So have a listen, catch em live and let the funk take you for a ride!