Alex Stuart Australian Concert Tour Oct-Nov 2014

From the media release

Alex Stuart |image by Cyberhalides Jazz
Alex Stuart | image by Cyberhalides Jazz

Alex Stuart (www.alexstuartmusic.com/) will return from Paris in October and, accompanied by some of Australia’s top jazz musicians, launch his new album Place to Be. Alex moved to France in 2005 after graduating from the ANU School of Music in Canberra.

His Australian tour follows the album’s launch in May at Paris’s iconic Sunset Jazz Club. The album, released by the French label Gaya / Abeille Musique, has received many enthusiastic critical responses there, including Nouvelle-Vague magazine’s “balanced to perfection … one of the best jazz albums of the year – 5 stars” and national radio station France Musique’s “an absolutely superb album … music that shimmers”.

In Australia, ABC Jazz featured the album, while The Australian’s John McBeath praised it and gave it 4 out 5 stars.

Since arriving in France, Alex has immersed himself in Paris’s jazz scene and its rich and varied musical cultures and, in a residency in Kolkata, in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is now well recognised in Europe, especially after releasing his 2010 album, Around, and winning the prestigious 2011 ‘Révelation’ prize at the ‘Jazz à Juan’ jazz festival. Meanwhile back in his home country, in 2012 he played at the Wangaratta Festival and in 2013 he was nominated for the Freedman Jazz Scholarship.

Alex says: “I always love these opportunities to come back to my country, whose influence filters into my music in so many ways. It has also directly inspired several of my compositions, most recently the Place to Be track ‘Cuttagee, Wapengo’, which comes from fond memories of the NSW Far South Coast.”

Alex describes Place to Be as an “ode to cultural openness”, adding “I find inspiration in many places, including the jazz tradition, contemporary jazz, African and South American grooves, rock and post-rock, Indian and Balkan music, Australia, life in Paris’s 19th arrondissement and the sea and surfing.”

Alex also said he was fortunate to have been able to attract some of Australia’s best musicians for his quintet. Julien Wilson (saxophone) has won many of Australia’s national jazz awards through his career, including three of 2014’s eight Bell Jazz Awards! Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet) has been central to Australian jazz as a musician and teacher for decades, is an ARIA award winner and founder of the legendary band Wanderlust. Jonathan Zwartz (double bass) is one of our top rank musicians and composers and has won several Bell and other jazz awards. And Tim Firth (drums) won the 2011 National Jazz Award at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival. “This will be a fantastic band for my music.”

Personnel

Alex Stuart:   guitar, compositions
Julien Wilson:   saxophone
Miroslav Bukovsky:  trumpet
Jonathan Zwartz:  double bass
Tim Firth:   drums

 Alex Stuart Quintet Tour Dates

Tuesday 21 October: MJC / Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, 25 Bennetts Lane, Melbourne

Wednesday 22 October: Venue 505, 280 Cleveland St Surry Hills, Sydney

Saturday 25 October: Wollongong Conservatorium of Music, Wollongong

Sunday 26 October: Zephyrs Jazz, Four Winds Windsong Pavilion, Barragga Bay, (near Bermagui) NSW

Monday 27 October: The Street Theatre, Canberra

Alex will also play as a quartet at MONA and other venues in Tasmania between 30 October and 1 November.