Samara Joy is that ray of sunshine, crowned Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammys, armed with nothing but her natural talent, a voice that flows like honey, a repertoire championing the legacy of the Great American Songbook, a work ethic that puts many to shame, a team of great musicians who see her as their peer, and what is certainly and unmistakably an old soul. (Okay, all that is certainly not ‘nothing’.)
By now we have established that Gregg Arthur’s return to Australia has brought a very welcome element of timeless elegance and old-fashioned charm to the music scene. Here, the crooner shares some of the music that matters to him.
Adam James, whose career saw him travel from North Stradbroke Island, to Nashville to Europe to Canada and back home, is at his core a proud Quandamooka man with a vision: to champion First Nations songwriting, in that most theatrical, smooth and engaging singing format — jazz crooning.
If you have been even vaguely familiar with this here website, you probably know Zela Margossian. You know she is a pianist of spectacular prowess, a composer of hear-melting lyricism, and a musical explorer blending the many dialects of jazz with the classical tradition, and the musical heritage of her motherland, Armenia. You might even be aware of her journey in life, that brought her from Beirut to Sydney via Yerevan. Here, she chooses some of the tunes that have been her companions in that journey, leaving an imprint on her life, and influencing the way she creates her version of ‘ethno-jazz’.
If you like highly nuanced contemporary jazz performed with energy and flair by one of Australia’s finest jazz ensembles then a Hammerhead is for you!
Hamed Sadeghi: “With the political situation in the world, especially in the Middle East, it breaks my heart. I can’t do anything about it. That sadness comes through in the music.”
Benjamin Creighton Griffiths: “The explosion of jazz harp has absolutely been noticed — and it’s a long time coming! I have a number of excellent colleagues around the globe striving just like me to bring the harp out of its box and into the jazz clubs, world music festivals, and the mainstream music scene.”
‘The program is really a representation of me and my journey — songs I love, that have brought me to where I am. There’s a wide mix: originals I wrote at MONA, jazz and blues pieces, Celtic traditional music, and some contemporary covers — probably from the ’90s, because I love that era.’
“By paying attention to what I liked about my own playing and focusing on developing that, I naturally created a mash-up of everything I love about music. All the greatest players, recordings, and gigs I’ve experienced filter through me — and what I love about all of that became my voice, my sound.”
“Translating Kundera’s prose to music involved capturing the emotional depth and contrasting themes of lightness and weight. The main challenge was creating compositions that embody the philosophical nuances of the text while maintaining a coherent and engaging musical narrative.”
