Jazz at Kamberra Winery

Kamberra Winery is a nice place to be on a warm day. Free entry for jazz on the last Sunday each month. Brendan sings standards. Last Sunday (perhaps every month?) he was supported by Charlie Meadows on guitar, plus acoustic bass and drums. Bottled wine and snacks available.

Canberra Jazz Festival

Here's a new one on me. Hippo is advertising it's a sponsor - "hippo...major sponsor of the Canberra Jazz Festival...Nov2-Nov5 05 canberrajazzfestival.com". That's a Wed-Sat event (strange not to include Sunday). There's a website, but it just says "Canberra Jazz Festival 05 / Coming soon". Keep an eye on http://canberrajazzfestival.com/

Winter Concert Series at Lanyon

I saw Eric Ajaye's new trio at Tharwa the other day. Lanyon is conducting a Winter Concert Series, with a range of different musical styles. Last Sunday was "Straight up", with Eric Ajaye, lecturer in jazz studies at the ANU Canberra School of Music, drummer Chris Thwaite and pianist Michael Azzopardi. A great and intimate concert held for a very few people (despite this, it was standing room only!) in a converted stable. It was billed as "exciting modern jazz originals". Tunes were mainly written by Eric Ajaye, and the playing was stimulating. Look out for this band. They are collecting a mailing list to advertise their performances: contact Eric at the Jazz School.

For info on the Lanyon Concert Series, see http://www.museumsandgalleries.act.gov.au/lanyon/

You can also see Chris Thwaites at Trinity Bar (Dickson) on Tuesday nights from 9pm, and I've caught Michael Azzopardi at Das Kapital (Narrabundah) and Hippo's, and of course, Eric Ajaye at the Kurrajong Hotel on Fridays after work, from 5.30pm.

More venues lost

Tilleys announced it's pulling otu of regular live music. Tilley's is famed, and offered a pleasant, dark, sophisticated environment which attracted some very big international names. The mix of music was eclectic - blues, jazz, folk, etc. But some of the names were fabulous. Thanks to Tilleys, but such a loss.

As I understand it, Canberra Southern Cross Club recently cancelled an upcoming Jazz Club event (a mini festival) and it seems they may be pulling out of their 25-year support for jazz. CSCC was a good (if fairly sterile) environment for lots of good jazz when I first came to Canberra. They've been relegated to tame series of festivals with obvious names and traditional interests recently. Not all bad, but not at the challenging end of the jazz spectrum. I don't feel this as a particular loss, but apparently it's indicative of the closing live music venues around Australia.

Canberra Jazz Club

I've never had much to do with the Canberra Jazz Club. I met the stalwart (Margaret Moriarty as I remember) when I first came to Canberra in 1985. They ran a series of Valentines Day Jazz Festivals in the 90s. They seem to have organised a few small, one-day jazz festivals at the Southern Cross Club in recent years. But they are represented in the phone book, so they are public and contactable. See in the Canberra White pages under "Canberra Jazz Club".

ANU concert series

Keep an eye on the ANU School of Music website for concerts. They are mostly from the classical school, but often enough from the Jazz School. There's a lot happening at the School, mostly for $15 adult entry. Nice to see these people in small, intimate surroundings, although I can miss the noise and commotion of a club venue when I attend concerts like these.

Tonight I challenged myself with Fritz Hauser, a German drummer, playing with Gary France and ANU's DRUMatix. Drums as soundscape, without the rhythm. I thought of Ellington's "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing", but the performance really demanded more seriousness that that.

See the ANU School of Music website http://www.anu.edu.au/music or contact the Concert Manager to get on the mailing list for program of performances.

ValleyFM radio jazz

I just met Ron Robinson of ValleyFM last night at Hippo's. Ron presents a session at 10pm-12midnight (or later) Thurs nights on ValleyFM (FM89.5 the the Tuggeranong Valley here in Canberra. More info from http://www.valleyfm.com The session is called Blue Trane (how could you fault a name like that?)