The Naked City: Celebrating Women In Jazz
In just a short three-year period the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival, presented by SIMA and the Sydney International Jazz Festival, has established itself as one of the major events on the Sydney music calendar. As Sydney saxophonist, composer and band leader Gai Bryant explains:
“The importance of this festival is to celebrate the talents of women musicians, composers and bandleaders. The best barometer of its success is the diversity of the current program and the length of the festival. Beyond the publicity for individual musicians it allows us to be visible as musicians who happen to be women instead of being pigeonholed as ‘just’ female players.”
Running from November 5 through to November 12, at both Foundry 616 and the Sound Lounge, as well as a free outdoor event at the Seymour Centre, this year’s Fest has drawn together an extraordinary lineup of talent, both homegrown and from abroad. As joint artistic director Joanne Kee enthused:
“This year our headliner artist Dee Alexander joins us from Chicago with her musical director Miguel De La Cerna for her Australian debut. We’re also thrilled to showcase the talents of local artists such as Sandy Evans, Judy Bailey and the Sirens, to name just a few. This year we also feature Sydneysiders Hannah James, Jann Rutherford Gai Bryant and Lisa Parrott (who now resides in NYC).”
SIMA has been running a Young Women in Jazz workshop program for over ten years. “Founded by Sandy Evans, it’s been incredibly rewarding to see the increase in women in the jazz scene over the years and the Festival is a natural progression to celebrate this growing depth,” Kee continues.
Headliner Dee Alexander is strongly tipped to be the next Ella Fitzgerald and this is a unique opportunity to catch her in an intimate club setting. Next time around it will probably be the Opera House. Dee arrives with impeccable credentials and is among the premier vocalists and songwriters in American music today.
Saxophonist Lisa Parrott, who calls herself an ‘Aussie New Yorker’ is back in town to catch up with her with long time musical buddies Cameron Undy, Carl Dewhurst and Simon Barker. Hannah James will launch her new album Triliphony this Thursday night and pianist, vocalist and composer Sarah McKenzie, currently residing in the US, will give her only Sydney performance to mark the launch of her latest ABC recording.
Three-time ARIA award-winning pianist and composer, Andrea Keller, will team up with Miroslav Bukovsky on The Komeda Project. The work was commissioned especially for the festival with an eight-piece ensemble celebrating the life and work of pioneering European jazz composer Krzysztof Komeda, most famous as the composer for a number of Roman Polanski and Ingmar Berman films.
Gai Bryant’s dynamic 18 piece Palacio de la Rumba Big Band are bound to ignite the Foundry on Sunday, 9 November, as they explore the infectious Cuban sounds of rumba, danzon, bolero and tonada. In recent years Gai has formed a strong association with the acclaimed Cuban percussion master Justo Pelladito and the great news is that he has flown all the way from Cuba to be part of this concert. Palacio de la Rumba merges the cream of Sydney’s Latin and jazz music communities and that combination of musicians has allowed Gai to combine complex rhythmic layering with the excitement of strong jazz solos. Not all jazz is just for sitting down and listening and this is a wonderful opportunity to hit the Foundry’s dancefloor and celebrate one of Sydney’s most engaging and inspiring music festivals.
Check out all the details at www.sima.org.au
