Previously on Hetty in Paris:
After becoming one of Melbourne’s most successful and beloved jazz singers, Hetty Kate left everything behind and made a new start in Paris.
In this week’s episode she’s back in Australia for a series of performances and catching up with her friends and fans.
she is also taking the opportunity to present her special project, ‘New Wave Reimagined‘ — which is pretty much self explanatory, but we had to ask more.
What is ‘New Wave Reimagined’? How did you come up with the idea for it?
‘New Wave Reimagined‘ has emerged organically over the last nine years – time and space are often the most fruitful ways for any creative project to develop.
At its heart, it’s a collaboration between myself and Melbourne guitarist James Sherlock, built on years of musical partnership. Our shared connection to this music runs deep – I experienced it firsthand growing up in England during the 1980s, while James absorbed these same sounds in Christchurch, New Zealand.
There’s something uniquely powerful about the music of our childhood; it leaves a mark, it’s a secret treasure we carry through life.
The project’s seeds were planted before my move to France, when James and I recorded our interpretation of The Eurythmics song ‘Sweet Dreams‘. What began as a playful exploration – layering voice and guitar to reimagine this iconic track – ended up producing such satisfying results that it naturally pointed toward something larger. We answered that creative call!
Our first ensemble featured the remarkable talents of Ben Grayson on Hammond organ and Danny Farrugia on drums – essentially incorporating James’s work with the Grayson, Farrugia & Sherlock trio (who released their acclaimed Wolf & Hound album in 2015). Ben and Danny were instrumental in crafting our early arrangements, with everyone contributing songs for collective reimagining. This formation performed at prestigious venues including The Recital Centre, MONA, and the Melbourne Women’s Jazz Festival.
After relocating to France, my Australian performances became annual events, prompting a natural evolution in our lineup. James and I welcomed bassist Ben Robertson and drummer Danny Fisher into the ensemble. Together, we’ve continued to refine our approach, creating textural landscapes through our collective jazz sensibilities – where these seminal New Wave anthems can breathe.
The distance between Europe and Australia, while challenging, has given this project time to mature – allowing our arrangements to settle and evolve organically between performances.
What is the story you want to tell with it?
This is a great question!
The repertoire brings all four of us great joy, and of course we approach its performance and interpretation with artistic rigor.
I believe there’s a deeper parallel between Jazz and British New Wave which your readers might find interesting.
African American Spirituals, and Blues music emerged from profound struggle – there were songs that carried coded messages, preserved cultural identity and expressed both suffering and hope. The music wasn’t entertainment, it was survival, resistance and solidarity. This music evolved into early jazz forms such as Ragtime and Dixieland in New Orleans, when the African rhythms and blues harmony merged with European musical elements. As time progressed jazz changed again, giving us Swing and Big Band music – which made the music more ‘danceable’ and commercially viable whilst keeping a connection to its roots through improvisation, call and response and of course blues harmony.
At its heart, New Wave emerged as an evolution of British Punk; and Punk emerged from the frustration and alienation of the British working class in the 1970s. The music was raw, angry, and direct. Where punk confronted the listener with raw energy, New Wave artists wrapped their messages about social inequality, personal struggle, and political dissent in synthesizer hooks and dance rhythms.
New Wave took these same messages of dissatisfaction and social commentary but, like jazz before it, made them more palatable through sophisticated production and dance rhythms. Both genres underwent a similar transformation, from raw expressions of struggle to a more polished form which, at least at the beginning, kept the core message of the music.
Just as early jazz musicians used their art to speak their truth through an accessible medium, New Wave artists embedded social criticism within popular music structures. In both cases, the evolution wasn’t about diluting the message, but finding new ways to ensure it would be heard.
Both genres layer deeper meaning beneath an accessible surface. By reimagining these New Wave compositions through a jazz lens, we’re often able to reveal their underlying emotional power. Listeners frequently tell us they’re hearing the depth of these lyrics for the first time, as our arrangements strip away the original’s dance elements to expose the raw emotional core beneath.
In reimagining this music we are able to uncover hidden depths and mine for musical gold. But importantly, and I think most importantly, the music is very, very fun.
What does this repertoire mean to you?
For me this music and the New Wave sound creates a very powerful emotional memory, of growing up, of discovering the world, discovering myself. The music of anyone’s childhood is incredibly formative. I have no doubt anyone reading this can relate, no matter their age! The music surrounding us in childhood is often loved without irony or self consciousness as children embrace all their passions fully. Those connections run deeper than simple nostalgia – these songs become part of our emotional architecture, imprinted at a time when we were curious and impressionable.
So this particular repertoire is very precious to me, and also to James. Being able to examine it with experience as jazz musicians is a delight.
Tell me a little more about the band.
My collaboration with James Sherlock represents a natural creative evolution rather than a deliberate selection – our partnership grew organically from years of performing together in many iterations.
James’ role as both (unofficial) mentor and (official) friend has been instrumental in shaping my musical path and how I approach all music.
The project’s initial format flowed from James’s existing work with Ben Grayson and Danny Farrugia. Ben and Danny’s creativity and distinctive musical voices made them ideal collaborators for reimagining these pieces, and in hindsight the hammond organ’s rich palette opened up many pathways in our interpretations of these 70s and 80s compositions.
The ensemble’s current incarnation features two brilliant musicians, Ben Robertson on bass and Danny Fisher on drums, both pillars of Melbourne’s jazz scene whose musical relationships with James and I span decades across various projects and recordings. Ben and Danny bring far more than just their technical excellence to the group – their artistic perspectives and thoughtful approaches to arrangement have become fundamental to the band’s sound.
Their creative input extends deep into the each arrangement, making both of them essential architects of the band’s musical identity.
The foundation of any meaningful collaboration is respect and appreciation, and if you’re lucky, friendship. I’m fortunate to share this project with musicians I admire on all three fronts.
Which tune you have NOT included, but hope you can add to the list in the future?
Like any rich musical era, British New Wave offers an abundance of possibilities! However, the selection process for this band’s repertoire mirrors how I approach the Great American Songbook – some compositions naturally lend themselves to reinterpretation through their melodic and harmonic structure.
Some songs from the 70s and 80s are fun, but they aren’t suitable for what we do.
I do love to listen to bands like The Human League, Prefab Sprout and The Psychedelic Furs. At the moment our repertoire feels complete and cohesive, but who knows what may happen in the future – it’s important to remain open to all creative possibilities!
How ‘jazz’ is this project?
Well I personally don’t believe ‘jazz’ is defined by repertoire – it’s defined by approach and interpretation.
As experienced – and for some in the band, award-winning – jazz musicians, we bring our collective improvisational language, harmonic sophistication, and rhythmic interplay to these ’70s and ’80s compositions.
Just as jazz artists have reimagined popular music throughout the genre’s history, from Broadway standards to Beatles songs, we’re applying that same transformative process to British New Wave. The source material may change, but the jazz musician’s art of reinterpretation remains constant.
If you could choose any of the original artists to join you on stage for a duet, who would it be?
While Kate Bush might seem the obvious choice, and I adore all of the artists by the way, I’m particularly drawn to Jimmy Somerville from Bronski Beat. His extraordinary voice – that remarkable falsetto – has remained powerful and pure since his days as a young artist in the 1980s. It’s testament to both his natural gift and artistry that his voice has endured so beautifully throughout his career.
What are sweet dreams made of?
I think sweet dreams are having the freedom and ability to explore your artistic notions. That is a great luxury not afforded to many.
Also, Maltesers.
Which tune best describes your current state of mind?
I’d say ‘Breakfast in America‘, as I’ll be going to America after this wonderful Australian tour.
