Eugene Ball – trumpet
Geoff Hughes – guitar

Thursday 24 April, 7.30pm

Northcote Uniting Church

$12/10

Having played and recorded together for many years with Allan Browne’s quintet, Geoff and Eugene are exploring the duo setting. Pitting guitars and a rack that resembles a miniature off-shore oil rig against a lone trumpet and a packet of tin-foil, this music promises to be at once sublime and ridiculous.

Eugene Ball

As one of Australia’s most active and versatile trumpet players Eugene performs extensively throughout Australia and around the World with groups including the Hoodangers, the Andrea Keller Quartet, the Allan Browne Quintet, the Australian Art Orchestra, the Bennetts Lane Big Band and the Ball/Magnusson/Talia trio.

He has performed throughout Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and the Former Soviet States, Asia, North and South America, India and the Pacific. Freelancing highlights include performances with Paul Grabowsky, Mike Nock, Tony Gould, Graham Lyall, Gordon Brisker and Jamie Cullum.

Eugene is a prolific composer and arranger whose work is favoured by Melbourne’s performing elite, and has featured on countless recordings and television and film productions. He has received numerous commissions from specialist music high schools and universities and remains in continual demand as a freelance arranger.

Eugene was awarded second place in the Wangarratta Jazz Awards in 2003, and was a finalist in the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2003 and 2006. He also holds a Masters Degree in Performance and Composition (Melbourne University) for which he was awarded a Melbourne Research Scholarship.

In addition to his outstanding record of professional achievement, Eugene has sustained an acclaimed career in music education, and has since 1998 taught the trumpet, improvisation and composition as well as directed award winning ensembles at Eltham High School, Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts.

Eugene has also been actively involved in the creation and promotion of performance opportunities for many well-known and emerging artists through his work in establishing the performance space/organization Lebowski’s. Eugene was also a pivotal member in the creation of the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival.

www.eugeneball.com

Geoff Hughes

Originally from NZ,Geoff completed a Classical Guitar Major in Wellington and migrated to Europe where he lived for 5 years. Whilst a student at the Royal Hague Conservatory Geoff studied and performed with some of Jazz’ great Artists including Herb Ellis, Pat Metheny, Dave Leibman Bob Brookmeyer and Bob Berg.
Since arriving in Melbourne in 1994 Geoff Hughes has been a playing and recording with some of the country’s most outstanding jazz artists..
He has featured with Ben Robertson and Allan Browne on “The Drop” which received critical acclaim nationally and on Browne’s “Collected Works”, He has performed and composed for the Allan Browne Quintet’s releases ,’Cyclosporin” and “The Drunken Boat” recorded three CD’s and a DVD with jazz vocalist Michelle Nicolle , Pianist Aaron Choulai’s “Korema”, and many other recordings with a diverse range of artists.
Geoff continues to perform and record in Melbourne with various groups and artists and is on the permanent staff of the VCA Improvisation Department where he teaches Guitar and Aural Studies.

http://www.myspace.com/geoffh2