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Upcoming events
Updated regularly as artists, performance and location details become
available. For further information email: henk@henk.com.au
May
2008 - Melbourne Jazz International Festival 2008 - 'All legends
series' - Hamer Hall |
| Tord
Gustavsen Trio (Norway) |
Tord Gustavsen Trio
...returning to Australia after their
overwhelming reception at Wangaratta Festival of Jazz '04 and
Sydney Festival '06
Tord Gustavsen is a pianist of poetic cast, an
exceptionally lucid player with a sure sense of melodic structure
and often-astonishing lyrical imagination. With Harald Johnsen
on double bass and Jarle Vespestad on drums, this is one of the
highest calibre chamber jazz ensembles to emerge from Europe for
some years, and beautifully recorded and projected on the prestigeous
German ECM label. Winners of the Australian Bell Award for the
best International Jazz Album of the Year 2006 ('The Ground'/ECM
1892 4761938). Check their new album (2007) 'Being There' (ECM
2017 1723517) -
visit: www.tordgustavsen.com
'...Tord Gustavsen's Norwegian trio is about
less, not more... they have
a miraculous ability to pull you deeper and deeper into their
orbit by leaving more and more space, until what you hear is almost
nothing more than a memory... There is an uplifting, almost hymnal
quality to Gustavsen's writing, and in the hands of these three
exceptional players, each tune resonates with the grace and subtle
optimism of a wordless prayer...'
Jessica Nicholas -The Age
'...Utterly distinctive and arresting. .. Each and every touch
on the keyboard is not just a note being struck, but a carefully
sculpted sound of almost breathtaking passion and beauty. .. Gustavsen
and his fellow Norwegians breathe some soul and fire into everything
they do. The accumulative effect could be described as aural love-making...Unreservedly
recommended as one of the key releases of the year...'
John Shand - Sydney Morning Herald
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Line-up:
Tord Gustavsen - piano
Harald Johnsen - bass
Jarle Vespestad - drums
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TOUR
DATES |
Melbourne Jazz International Festival:
Sat 3 May - Hamer Hall - 8.00 pm - in double bill with Tomasz
Stanko Quartet (Poland) - Book: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 and
online: www.melbournejazz.com |
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| Tomasz
Stanko Quartet (Poland) |
Tomasz Stanko Quartet

“Stanko evokes the spirits
of the finest trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood
and a voice uniquely his own" - Richard Lehnert, Stereophile,
Record to Die For
Line up:
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski - piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - bass
Michal Miskiewicz - drums
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Tomasz Stanko is at the forefront of international
contemporary jazz trumpetism, and holds a status in international
jazz circles similar to where Miles Davis was in the seventies.
He is one of ECM's leading jazz recording artists, drawing large
concert audiences in Europe and the USA. For two years in a row
(2004 and 2005) Tomasz Stanko has won the Australian Bell Jazz
Award for the best international album of the year. Stanko's latest
recording Lontano (ECM 2006) features three of Poland's finest
young jazz musicians, Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and
Michael Miskiewicz, with whom he regularly performs and tours
around the world. Tomasz Stanko has been ranking high in the 2005
and 2007 Downbeat Annual International critics polls’ Rising
Star Acoustic Group..In the four years since the quartet's much-loved
ECM debut album Soul of Things (2003), both the trumpeter and
his young band have continued to make their mark. Many miles of
touring, on both sides of the Atlantic, have honed their already
exceptional group understanding. Their 2nd album (Suspended Night
released May 2004) builds upon the conceptual framework established
by its predecessor. In September’06 Lontano was released
complementing the recording triology of the present Stanko Quartet.
In the wake of Soul of Things, Stanko won the first European Jazz
Prize, a major new award initiated by the Austrian Government
and the City of Vienna.
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‘Stanko’s melodies and
parts of his solos could cruise melodically, and then suddenly,
like the sun breaking through clouds, he would unleash a molten
stream of dazzling silver lines, as penetrating as only a trumpet
can be…- arguably one of the most important jazz musicians
alive..’ - John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
‘Now in his 60s Stanko remans a fascinating, mysterious,
sometimes rather severe pioneer of a kind of east Euopean jazz independence..’
- John Fordham – The Guardian
"Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest
trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely
his own. Yes, you can hear the influences of Miles Davis and Chet
Baker at their most introspective and profound, as well as hotter,
more rasping traces of Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown... 'Soul
of Things' stands shoulder to hiply-slumped shoulder with 'Kind
of Blue', and has an even better sound." - Thomas Conrad,
Stereophile, Record to Die For
"Tomasz Stanko's release, "Suspended
Night," is a masterpiece of minimalist beauty …Stanko
and quartet outcool the coolest of the late '50s jazz groups and
make it easy to see why he was awarded the first European Prize
in jazz last year [2002]." - The Japan Times'04. |
TOUR
DATES |
Melbourne Jazz International Festival:
Sat 3 May - Hamer Hall - 8.00 pm - in double bill with Tord Gustavsen
Trio (Norway). book: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 and online: www.melbournejazz.com
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Back to top ^
| Michelle
Nicolle Octet (Australia) |
Michelle Nicolle Octet
Australia's first lady of jazz - That's Michelle
Nicolle.
Winner: 2001, 2003 and 2004 - Australian Jazz Vocalist of the
Year Aria Award - Melbourne based, arranger, band leader and jazz
vocalist Michelle Nicolle is Australia's first lady of jazz. With
a full ranging marvellous voice, her profile has been rapidly
rising and she has become known as Australia's finest jazz singer.
Michelle has released 5 beautiful albums, all of which were received
with high acclaim. In 1998 at the Wangaratta International Jazz
Festival (Melbourne), Michelle won the prestigious National Jazz
Award and the judges included the legendary bebop singer Sheila
Jordon (USA), and the current Blue Note vocal star Kurt Elling
(USA). - "Australian jazz singing doesn't come any better
than this" - (The Weekend Australian). In 2003 and 2006 Michelle
Nicolle toured around Australia and in 2004 she toured Korea,
Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. In March 2005 Michelle and her
Quartet featured at the Java Jazz Festival and in July 2005 performed
at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland and Singapore's Ozmosis
Festival. In 2007 tourings thus far have included New Zealand,
Turkey, Estonia, Finland and Singapore.
Line-up:
Michelle Nicolle - vocals
Geoff Hughes - guitar
Tom Lee - bass
Ronny Ferella - drums
Gianni Marinucci - trumpet/flugelhorn
Greg Spence - trumpet
Jordan Murray - trombone
Dan Gordan - tuba |
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"..an exceptional singer...
who deserves attention as an original and inspiring Jazz artist."
- Cadence Magazine (USA), June 2003
"Michelle Nicolle stands above any other jazz singer in the
country."- Weekend Australian, Dec. 2003
"...Michelle impressed from
the start with her talents, not only as a vocalist with a very
wide octave range but also as an excellent improviser." -
Bangkok Post, October 2004
"..an album that confirms Nicolle's place as Australia's
best jazz singer." - Sunday Herald Sun, June 2001 (After
the Rain review)
"..I can think of no one else who finds, in the modern jazz
repertoire, such a sense of pure song." Gilbert Haisman,
Evening Post, NZ, Oct'01.
".formidable technique and a staggering range......more interesting
than most other jazz vocalists in the country."Rolling Stone
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TOUR
DATES |
Melbourne International Jazz 'All Stars
series' : Friday 2 May - Palms at Crown Southbank - 8.00
pm - in double bill with 'Lost and Found (Oehlers, Grabowsky,
Beck). book: Ticketek 1300 795 012 and online: www.melbournejazz.com
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| In
2008/2009 - A number of artists groups will be toured by Henk van
Leeuwen internationally including: |
- Joona Toivanen Trio (Finland)
- www.joonatoivanentrio.com (Asia and Europe)
- Iiro Rantala New Trio (Finland) - www.iirorantala.com
(Asia/Europe)
- Michelle Nicolle Quartet (Australia) - www.michellenicolle.com
(Asia and/or Europe)
- Pierre Dorge&New Jungle Orchestra (Denmark)
- www.newjungleorchestra.com (Asia September 2008)
- Paavali Jumppanen (Finland) - (Australia - March/April
2009) |
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For all media information, interviews and tour contacts:
Henk van Leeuwen - Australia Northern Europe Liaisons
Phone: +61 3 9525 7022
Email: henk@henk.com.au
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