THE SYDNEY WOMENS JAZZ COLLECTIVE AT FOUNDRY616

Trumpeter Ellen Kirkwood and bassist Hannah James from the Sydney Womens Jazz Collective.

The Sydney Womens Jazz Collective, a ten piece orchestra, fills this great little venue with a big sound. Their beautiful music is skilful and entertaining.

The Sydney Womens Jazz Collective can create a big band sound but they also have the ability to scale it back and play pared back solos or conversations between two or three instruments. It makes for an enjoyable and engaging balance.

The collective focuses on modern original Australian compositions. It is a great choice because they produce refreshing and innovative sounds of material that is new and exciting. Featured were compositions by Glenn Doig, Raf Karlen, Freyja Garbett and a German composer and performer Silke Eberhardt. Glenn Doig’s Up and Down was a mellow number which drew the audience in with great stirring & swelling passages.

Raf Karlen’s My Folk Song is a great composition with lovely structure and variety. Its haunting trumpet and trombone opening morphed into a much more energetic vibe. It also featured a great piano and guitar interlude where improvisation was taken to an exciting and amusing level. Freyja Garbett’s Last Time in Bulga, a tribute to a friend who passed away, featured an eerie avant-garde opening and bright passages to evoke the joys of swimming and fishing in the national park.

Any band that plays a song called Max Bialystock clearly knows how to enjoy themselves. It is a song that the Berlin based Silke Eberhardt had written. Silke Eberhardt has a connection with the band as she had performed with The Sydney Womens Jazz Collective when she toured here. The song contains Broadway references and seemed to inspire the musicians to bend notes just that little bit more.

The regular orchestra members are: Hannah James (Double Bass), Ali Foster (Drums), Sorcha Alburquerque (guitar), Freyja Garbett (piano), Ellen Kirkwood (Trumpet), Louise Horwood (trumpet), Alex Silver (Trombone) Laura Corney (Tenor), Loretta Palmeiro (Alto/Sop/Clarinet), Kali Gillan (Baritone). There were a couple of guests filling in at Foundry 616. Clare & Jack on trumpet and trombone were both impressive. All musicians displayed great skill and passion and it is difficult to single any particular performers out however Freyja Garbett’s embodied performance on the piano and Laura Corney on saxophone were both outstanding.

The Sydney Womens Jazz Collective performed at  Foundry 616 [Facebook]  Monday 20th August. They will be back on Monday 25th September and it is highly recommended.