ANDREW BROOKS QUARTET - MELBOURNE

Mon May 19th 2008 @ 8:00pm

Admission PJS Members $15 Concessions $18 Guests $22 Tertiary PJS Student Members $8

Saxophonist Andrew Brooks has spent the last four years in Perth, studying under Australian jazz giant Graeme Lyall to complete his Bachelor of Jazz Performance with Honors. Recently he relocated to Melbourne where he enjoys being unable to predict whether it will rain or shine.

Andrew returns to a city of more predictable weather for a performance at the PJS with his quartet, comprising Berish Bilander on piano, Nick Abbey on bass and Chris Grant on drums.

Drawing on a variety of influences including jazz, contemporary classical, post-rock and minimalism, the group attempts to blur the lines between composition and improvisation, with a focus on spontaneous interaction. This evening’s performance will feature new works by Andrew and Berish together with re-imaginings of some older pieces.

“Beautiful sound on the instrument, which always makes for a satisfying experience… Lovely playing and to my ears, marvellous potential!”
Dr Tony Gould (AM)

5TH ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL BIG BANDS CONCERT

Mon May 26th 2008 @ 8:00pm

Admission PJS Members $10 Concessions $12 Guests $16 Tertiary PJS Student Members $5

The Perth Jazz Society is pleased to present three of Perth’s leading school big bands in our fifth annual high school big band presentation. All of tonight’s bands have extensive performance experience and are the perfect breeding ground for up-and-coming young jazz musicians who are aspiring to study at WAAPA or UWA.

It will be well worth attending tonight’s concert, because you could witness a star in the making!

Combined Government Schools’ Jazz Orchestra
The Combined Schools' Jazz Orchestra is formed every two years from senior students in the State School System, primarily to perform at the Opus Concert at the Perth Concert Hall. This is a showcase concert which displays the standard of musical excellence that our students can achieve in all idioms, including jazz.

The Orchestra will also be a featured ensemble at this year’s WA Schools Jazz Festival in September. This year the Orchestra has three Musical Directors: Lindsay Timms, Grant Rickman and Brian Copping (Coordinator).

Shenton College Swing Band
The Shenton College Swing Band was formed when this new school was opened some seven years ago. The band gives its members, ranging from Year 8 to Year 12 students, the chance to play in non-classical styles such as swing, Latin, rock and funk. Over the years it has also featured a number of vocalists and this year is no exception.

Apart from performing at concerts within the school, the band has also played at the Royal Show, Jazz in the Park in Claremont and at the annual IAJE schools’ bands festival where, in 2007, this band received the highest marks of any band participating. They have said they would like to thank the PJS for creating this performance opportunity.

St Stephen’s School Swing Band
The St Stephen’s School Swing Band is the school’s most advanced jazz band for which the students must audition annually. Most members have had previous experience in the school’s younger ensembles and most are all-round musicians who also perform in a number of other ensembles including choral groups.

The Swing Band has toured overseas on three occasions in the past five years and performed in many school-based and community events. Most recently they toured to New Zealand where they competed at the 2007 Tauranga Jazz Festival, winning a trophy for their performance.

BEBOP SPOKEN HERE - LIBBY HAMMER & BRONWYNN SPROGOWSKI QUINTET - early 5pm start

Mon Jun 02nd 2008 @ 5:00pm

Admission PJS Members $12 Concessions $15 Guests $22 Tertiary PJS Student Members $6

“While conversing with a sharpie” says Emily Post, “keep your best beret perched on top.” and that’s exactly what vocalists Libby Hammer and Bronwynn Sprogowski will be doing at this evening’s concert. Somewhat tired of singing standard after standard (as is the wedding singers’ lot), Libby and Bronwynn will step into instrumentalist territory, tackling some of the world’s best-loved bebop repertoire.

That means plenty of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to mention only the obvious. Tonight’s performance will feature the girls in ‘instrumental mode’ as well as performing bebop tunes with the addition of rarely heard lyrics and finely crafted vocalese.

Bronwynn and Libby studied jazz together at the WA Academy of Performing Arts in the nineties and since then have become regulars on the local jazz scene, as both performers and teachers. Bronwynn is Perth’s premier swing singer, with a feel to match those of her idols, some of whom she has performed with - jazz greats such as Lionel Hampton, Frank Foster and vocal legend Mark Murphy.

Bronwynn has been performing in her own quintet for more than ten years and during that time has toured WA twice, as well as singing support for George Benson, Shirley Bassey, Roberta Flack and Rolf Harris, to name but a few. Bronwynn performs regularly at the PJS and at Jazz Fremantle and has also performed as part of the Fremantle Jazz Festival, the Festival of Mandurah and the Perth International Arts Festival.

Libby Hammer is also well-known to PJS audiences as leader of the WAMi award-winning jazz group Hip Mo’ Toast. Her career highlights include a performance at the Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival in Italy in 2006 and a royal wedding in Singapore in 2007. In 2005 Libby won the PJS Award for Most Outstanding Individual Contribution to Jazz and in 2007 won PJS Life Membership for Outstanding Long-Term Contribution to Jazz. She is also proud to be a Patron of Jazz Fremantle.

Although Libby and Bronwynn shared the stage in the PJS’s touring ‘Billie Holiday Music Story’ project in 2001, the girls look forward to this evening’s performance as their first official collaboration. And this time there’s not a standard in sight!

Joining Libby and Bronwynn onstage will be a trio of Perth’s finest jazzmen – Konrad Paszkudzki on piano, Pete Jeavons on bass and Ben VanderWal on drums. So make your way down to the Charles and enjoy some modern vocal jazz as Libby and Bronwynn scat away the early evening in jazz’s coolest language - bebop!

GARRY LEE QUARTET

Mon Jun 23rd 2008 @ 8:00pm

Admission

This year Garry Lee and Lukasz Slawomirski celebrate a quarter of a century of music-making together.

Lee recalls: “I had just arrived from Sydney and I put an ad in the PJS News – Wanted: a piano player – Lukasz rang me; we got together and have been working together consistently since”.

In 1984 the duo worked at Ricardo’s in tandem with the famous David Helfgott, but the majority of its work together has included other musicians. “Lukasz and I are on the same wavelength musically – we both enjoy the same styles of jazz and he has always brought something special to my own compositions”, Lee notes. Their 1994 release, West Coast Blues, included June Newman, Murray Wilkins and Frank Gibson. In 1999 the duo performed to over 5 000 jazz lovers at Singapore’s National Botanic Gardens with legendary bassist Victor Gaskin (Thelonius Monk, Cannonball Adderley). The audience was somewhat surprised that Lee was not Chinese.

In recent years Lukasz has mastered left hand bass and with the addition of drummer Tim Woolley the trio has worked under the name Café Society for a number of corporate functions. “Tim has a light and tasteful approach to his drumming which propels the music forward and is ideal for my vibraphone”, says Lee.

Whenever the budget allows for it, the trio is joined by saxophonist Michael Collinson and it is as a quartet that they plan to record later this year. Lee says “Michael is probably the most underrated saxophonist in the Perth jazz scene. He has a deep understanding of the traditions of jazz and a real ability to dig in and burn on a solo”.

If you come along to this evening’s performance, expect a tasteful mixture of Lee originals, Latin jazz and contemporary standards.

Michael Collinson – saxophones
Lukasz Slawomirski – keyboards including Hammond organ and left hand bass
Tim Woolley - drums
Garry Lee – vibraphone/guitar