Audrey Powne during the launch of Aura’s second album during the MWIJF.  (Image: Roger Mitchell) REVIEW Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival 3 – 10 December 2023 The Jazzlab Synchronicity – it turns out on checking the definition – was the wrong word to sum up outings in this year’s MWIJF, though that initially came into my addled brain. A better word may be reciprocity, but more of that later. Sonja Horbelt introduces Aura.Audrey Powne and Flora CarboHelen SvobodaAudrey Powne, Flora Carbo and Helen Svoboda at the end of Aura’s performance. ( Images Roger Mitchell) Synchronicity – “a ..read more

PREVIEW Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival 2023 The Jazzlab Marnie Kerridge wears a haptic vest during a performance of Across Silence. (Image: Roger Mitchell) It is appropriate that this year’s Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival will feature a live-streamed symposium bound to provide insights into a key feature of this year’s comprehensive program at The Jazzlab in Brunswick– vocalists. On Saturday 9 December, in a live-streamed session moderated by Australian pianist Andrea Keller – Head of Jazz and Improvisation at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music – vocalists Mich ..read more

Vanessa Perica conducts her 18-piece orchestra at Melbourne Recital Centre. Image: Roger Mitchell REVIEW Melbourne International Jazz Festival, 20 – 29 October 2023 Nduduzo Makhathini at The Jazzlab on 29 October 2023. Image: Roger Mitchell To pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, the telling of a story can liberate and heal. The Blue Note artist from South Africa told his audience at The Jazzlab on the final night of the festival that performances are moments of emptying, an opportunity for us to dissolve for a second and to think about ourselves in the collective. During the 10 days of festival music ..read more

Ebo Taylor Image supplied PREVIEW Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2023 20-29 October 2023 Jazz pops its head up again next month, this year in the wake of a referendum on whether to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the Australian constitution. Whether jazz finding its voice can dispel the pervasive gloom that surely will follow a divisive No campaign full of negativity and fearmongering remains to be seen, but the Melbourne International Jazz Festival will do its level best to lift spirits. In this 10-day event described by festival artistic director Michael Tortoni as “one ..read more

Bumpy, selected as MIJF First Nations artist for 2023. BREAKING NEWS Melbourne International Jazz Festival, 20-29 October 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival and the Australian Art Orchestra today announced that multi-award-winning Noongar woman and neo-soul singer-songwriter Bumpy has been selected as the recipient of their First Nations Artist Residency Program recipient for 2023. The residency program was launched in 2021 to support the career development of a First Nations musician, with a particular focus on jazz and improvised music. Bumpy has performed at such festivals and event ..read more

Julien Wilson plays a solo in Riverside, an encore.This World take a final bow before inviting MC David Moyle to join in. Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues 2022 Friday 28 October to Sunday 30 October REVIEW Full marks to this festival – not because everything was perfect (it wasn’t), but because it returned, against the odds. Also because of Mark, Mark and Marc, who, in the front row of the Wangaratta Performing Arts & Convention Centre on Friday evening, helped remind me of what this festival with such an august history is all about: experiences. Rich, memorable ones. One Marc lives ..read more

A fractal tree from Dan Tepfer’s “Natural Machines” at Melbourne’s planetarium. Image: Roger Mitchell REVIEW Melbourne International Jazz Festival 14-23 October 2022 Optimism flowed freely in the first Melbourne International Jazz Festival freed from covid-19 lockdowns, pouring into venues filled with animated crowds so gleeful to be waiting with others in anticipation of the live music in store. Surely the musicians, festival organisers, sponsors, volunteers and even hard-working staff at venues must have felt this surge in excitement, the buzz of many collective success stories. Yet as we re ..read more

Well done to winners of the APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards for 2022, which were presented tonight. Taking home the award for Work of the Year: Jazz was Gian Slater’s Grey is Ground album which marks the artist’s sixth solo release and explores the unknowns and mysteries of day-to-day life. Gian is a prolific vocalist and composer, whose approach incorporates wordless singing and improvisation, song writing; electronics and extended vocal techniques; new music and contemporary composition. She has been a multiple finalist in the prestigious Freedman Fellowship, Melbourne M ..read more

Dan Tepfer at the controls for Natural Machines. Image: Nicholas Joubard PREVIEW Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2022 14-23 October As we ponder life’s imponderables – such as, was Scott Morrison ever sworn in as arts minister? – the launch of this year’s Melbourne International Jazz Festival draws our eyes to the heavens. The festival is back in town for 10 days from Friday 14 October, freed from the onerous constraints of Covid-19 (still here, but largely being ignored) and sporting its first global line-up in three years. That’s great, but what’s immediately intriguing is the prospe ..read more

Jazz in the Square The Main Stage, Fed Square, Melbourne Saturday 30 April 2022 Australian jazz journal Dingo is keen to support and promote the activities of the jazz community nationally, whether that means involving renowned artists in international concert halls or those starting out in their first jam-sessions. So there will be free music from noon until 8pm today at Fed Square in Melbourne to celebrate International Jazz Day 2022. The event will also be live streamed via www.dingojazz.com. The day’s line-up is as follows: Noon Aviana – with Gian Slater  12:20pm Hoodoo May ..read more