Women playing jazz

For the eleventh year, SIMA will gather the finest female musicians and singers from around the globe to celebrate the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival.

The stellar line-up this year includes Chilean saxophonist, Melissa Aldana, Finnish pianist/harpist Iro Haarla, Guguyelandji and Woppaburra woman Marlene Cummins, and world-renowned pianist Andrea Keller from Melbourne/Naarm as highlights.

Venues around Sydney will host various artists, with the headliners all performing at the festival hub in the Seymour Centre. The foyer of the Seymour will be transformed into a late-night jazz club with live music and plenty of atmosphere. Meanwhile, headline acts will perform in the spacious York Theatre. 

Chilean virtuoso, Melissa Aldana, started playing the saxophone at age 6 under the tutelage of her father, a professional saxophonist. She showed promise early and by her teens was performing in jazz clubs in Santiago. After being invited to appear at the Panama Jazz Festival, she gained entree the the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the US, graduated, then moved to jazz central, New York. 

From there her career sky-rocketed with appearances at the world’s leading jazz festivals, popular recordings, and prestigious awards. In 2012, she formed Melissa Aldana and Crash Trio, winning awards and acclaim. 

The Melissa Aldana Quartet formed in 2017. They signed a deal with Blue Note Records in 2019, releasing the album, 12 Stars. Described as pensive and emotional, the music from 12 Stars will be performed by the quartet in their York Theatre show. 

Marlene Cummins is a jazz blues musician, songwriter, singer, artist, activist, broadcaster, dancer, and very proud Guguyelandji, and Woppaburra woman. She hosts Marloo’s Blues on Koori Radio, where she shares her incredible knowledge of jazz and blues music and Indigenous culture.

Born in Queensland into a politically active family, Cummins joined the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in her mid-teens and has been a pivotal figure in Indigenous activism for several decades. Her music and creative practice reflect this. 

The show she’ll debut at this festival, Marloo’s Blues, will tell the musical story of Australia’s first nations jazz and blues artists of the ‘50s and ‘60s. 

Classically trained Finnish pianist and harpist, Iro Haarla, converted to jazz music after meeting jazz drummer, Edward Vesala, who became her husband. Her instinctive talent for arranging and composing was funnelled entirely into her husband’s career until his death in 1999. She then emerged as if from a cocoon, winning wide acclaim for her own music and performances. 

For her show, Haarla will play Suite Suomi, a specially commissioned work by Australian composer, Johnathan Zwartz. 

Internationally acclaimed percussionist  Claire Edwardes will open the night with her solo performance, Rhythms of Change.

Australian pianist and composer, Andrea Keller, will unite her Trio (including saxophonist John Mackey and trumpeter Miroslav Bukovsky) with a string sextet to present a selection of new compositions.  

Keller is an imaginative composer and highly regarded musician whose music is evocative, stirring, and exciting. 

This is merely a sample of the offering at the 2022 Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival. Visit the website for the full program. 

October 27 – November 5

Festival Hub: Seymour Centre, Cnr City Rd and Cleveland St, Chippendale

plus various other venues. 

sima.org.au