The 2014 Australian Jazz Bell Awards have announced the nominations across all categories for this year’s awards, with the overall winners to be announced at a ceremony, hosted by Tracey Curro, at the beautiful Regent Theatre Ballroom on Thursday 1 May.
Category: Award finalists
Congratulations to Joseph O’Connor who took out first prize in the 2013 National Jazz Awards tonight at Wangaratta Festival of Jazz. Joe, with fellow finalists […] Read More
“I’m looking forward to getting the competition over and done with so that I can relax and enjoy the festival. Gerald Clayton’s trio will be a highlight.”
My first teacher was a passionate jazz pianist and the only teacher in the phonebook willing to take on such a young pupil. He taught me the language of jazz from my very first lesson.
I was always a fairly unconventional student. I wasn’t interested in reading the dots as a kid, and would learn everything by ear, make arrangements and compose my own pieces. I wondered why in Art class you were encouraged to make your own paintings, but in Music class you were only encouraged to learn other people’s creations.
Each year since 2005, in the month leading up to the jazz festival in Wangaratta, Miriam Zolin interviews the finalists in the National Jazz Awards. […] Read More
Early on I was really into Brad Mehldau and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Rosenwinkel for his tone and compositional sense and Mehldau for his standard playing, which I always found fresh, exploratory and exciting. I never checked either artist out on a technical level, but I did listen prolifically.
Each year since 2005, in the month leading up to the jazz festival in Wangaratta, Miriam Zolin interviews the finalists in the National Jazz Awards. […] Read More
I was lucky enough to have very inspiring teachers in high school and beyond – I distinctly remember one teacher in particular recommending that I buy Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and a live Oscar Peterson disc while we were on a school band trip to ‘the big smoke’ (Melbourne) – these records opened the door for me…
I’m most looking forward to seeing the other pianists play in the competition. They are all exceptional players and are extremely varied in their approaches, which should make for interesting listening.