Friday April 25th, 7.30pm, MJFF Commission Concert
Federation Square, BMW Edge Theatre

Eclectic pianist-composer Erik Griswold embraces experimental, jazz and pop traditions, multi-media and cross-cultural collaborations to create works of striking originality. Often employing prepared and toy pianos, he performs as a soloist, with his ensembles Clocked Out Duo and bluepoles quartet, and with En Rusk quintet and the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble. He has composed a substantial body of chamber music for a variety of instruments, but especially for percussion and piano. His percussion compositions have been performed widely by Red Fish Blue Fish, Tambuco, Defying Gravity, Schlagwerkensemble Derndorfer, Los Angeles Percussion Collective, Steven Schick, Vanessa Tomlinson and many other ensembles and soloists. His Commission work will feature music written for Violin, flute, 2 clarinets, 2 tenor saxophones, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, prepared piano, bass and drums.

Saturday April 19th, 7.30pm, Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall

“The New Standards”
Gian Slater - Voice, Effects, Guitar
Christopher Hale - Bass Guitar, Bajo Sexto, Baritone Guitar, Lap Steel

Two of our most searching and original instrumental voices re-interpret, re-imagine get re-inspired by works from Doug de Vries, Ben Winkelman, Tim Rogers, Allan Browne and more in a tribute to Melbourne’s composers. With their unique individual voices and an almost telepathic rapport, Slater and Hale have performed together in different settings since 2004, including a duo performance alongside jazz guitar legend Wayne Krantz at New York’s legendary 55 bar.

Dave Brown – Guitar

Monday 21 April, 7.30pm

La Mama Musica @The Carlton Courthous

$15/10 Entry - includes hot drinks & nibbly treats…

Dave Brown in his guise as “candlesnuffer” applies his prepared
instrument schtick to his own playing. After spending years developing an
alternative guitar language with extended techniques and all sorts of
utensils, candlesnuffer accompanies himself, building mysterious
relationships between his own sonic worlds.

Monday April 21st, 9.30pm, Lebowski’s @ Café 303

Timothy Pledger – Composer, Woodwinds, Guitar
Belinda Woods – Flutes, Percussion
Ali Watts – Bass, Percussion
Mike Portley - Drums
Tom Fryer - Electric Guitar
Louise Goh - Electric Piano

Bohjass presents a night of visual and aural stimulation. Using video footage from the last ten years, Timothy Pledger spins together a feast of distorted, sublime, erotic and macabre images to grace the front bar of Bar 303 for the MJFF 2008. Against the cool and abrasive electronic moods of the effervescent Bohjass clan, a night of wonderful, eclectic and sometimes disturbing images and sounds will make you ask yourself: “Is the Fringe allowed to cut this close to the edge?”

Friday April 18th, 5pm, Federation Square, Outdoor Stage

Phil Bywater – Vocals, Tenor Saxophone
Andy Williamson - Baritone Saxophone
Paul Coyle - Trumpet
Kynan Robinson - Trombone
Elliott Folvig, Simon Edwards - Guitars
Zvi Belling - Bass
Gavin Gray - Drums
Karen Berger, Tania Bosak - Percussion

2008 Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival opens with a bang!

Big Fela have been pumping out the afrobeat hits of Fela Kuti, plus their own choice cuts in the style, since 2004. Led by Phil Bywater’s fiery saxophone and vocals, the lineup includes members of Bomba, Labjacd, The Royal Swazi Spa, Skazz and Des Peres. They have collaborated with many of Australia’s finest African musicians, including King Marong, Kojo Awusu, Joe Malatji and Lamine Sonko, and recently performed pumping sets for the St Kilda and Globe to Globe music festival.

“this group plays the most authentic afro beat sound you will hear in this country”
rastainoz.com

Sunday April 27th, 7pm, Hall – Big Arse Sunday @ Northcote Town Hall

Ben Winkelman – Piano
Sam Anning – Bass
Ben Vanderwal – Drums

The Ben Winkelman Trio is an innovative and dynamic contemporary jazz piano trio, playing all original repertoire that draws on diverse influences. These range from Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music to stride piano and Jelly Roll Morton’s “Spanish tinge”, to Argentinean tango and classical music. The trio has released two albums on Jazzhead to critical acclaim and toured to every part of Australia in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 the trio has more national touring planned and will be making its first trip to Japan.

Sunday April 20th, 9.30pm, Bennetts Lane Jazz Club

Ben Carr - Tenor Saxophone
Leigh Barker - Bass
Phil Collings - Drums

This trio’s contemporary territory is wide-ranging, from bop to funk, with Carr’s most recent inspiration coming from Steve Coleman, whom he studied with in Europe. This performance will feature a set of new compositions developed over the last 2 years with this new trio. Odd metres, speed changes and extreme intervals are a focus for the music and the musicians. The compositions are a documentation of the progress this group has made with these concepts.

Sunday April 27th, 5pm, Hall – Big Arse Sunday @ Northcote Town Hall

CHASMS

Anthony Pateras - prepared piano

Chasms represents a simultaneously alien and familiar approach to the concert hall dinosaur, contemporising the sound world of the piano in an attempt to match the valuable sonic innovations of the early 21st century. Through purely acoustic means, Chasms attempts to enhance prepared piano performance via a compositional sympathy with algorhythmic computer composition and studio technology. In its essence, this is electro-acoustic music created purely with prepared piano.

Allan Browne - Drums
Dave Rex - Alto Saxophone
Steve Grant - Trumpet
Shannon Barnett - Trombone
Jex Saarelaht - Piano
Tamara Murphy - Bass

New improvised music based on short themes inspired by Aussie icons including “The Tree of Man”, “My Brother Jack”, “Fortunes of Richard Mahoney”, poems by Judith Wright and Ken Slessor; works by John Olsen and songs by Barry Humphries and Slim Dusty .The performance will include short readings, viewings or group vocals from each iconic work, the centrepiece being “I was down by Manly pier…”.

Peter Knight, trumpet and laptop:

Wednesday 23 April, 7.30pm

Blank Tape presents @ Northcote Uniting Church

$12/10

Live sampling and processing of micro sound worlds created using the trumpet - stretched and squashed with Ableton Live.
A new solo project from acclaimed Melbourne composer and trumpeter, Peter Knight.

Peter began developing digital environments to extend his improvisatory practice during a recent composer’s residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada where the work was premiered. He has since performed solo at Melbourne venues including the Make It Up Club, and Mash Out.

Peter’s solo work continues, albeit tangentially, his preoccupation with space, understatement, and long form structure and draws inspiration from diverse sources.

Peter is well known for the eclecticism of his musical output. He is a highly regarded jazz performer and has toured extensively with his quartet whose second album All the Gravitation of Silence was released on the Jazzhead label in 2006. In addition to his quartet, Peter also leads the acclaimed cross-cultural ensemble, Way Out West (Footscray Station Newmarket 2003, Old Grooves for New Streets Jazzhead 2007), and the 5+2 Brass Ensemble. 5+2’s 2005 release, Invisible Cities and Other Works (Rufus Records) received excellent local and international reviews including an inclusion in New York’s Cadence Magazine as one of the top-ten releases of 2005/2006 confirming Peter’s growing reputation as one of Australia’s most creative composer/performers.
Peter has also composed chamber music and most recently was commissioned to write a piece for the Dead Horse Ensemble, which premiered at the Forum in Melbourne in February 2007. He has composed for theatre, for short films, and created sound installations. He is also the co-artistic director of art-sound company, Double Venturi, which presented The Current at Melbourne Town Hall in July 2006.
In addition, Peter has recorded and performed with Australian and international artists including: Erik Griswold’s ‘Wide Alley,’ Adam Simmons, Fiona Burnett, Adrian Sherriff’s Oynsemble, Hugh Fraser Quintet (Canada), Quinsin Nachoff (Canada), Nigel McLean, Grand Union Orchestra (UK), Allan Browne, Ren Walters, Giorgio Magnanensi (Italy), Stephen Magnusson, The Violent Femmes (USA), Spiderbait, and You Am I.
Peter holds a Masters of Music Performance (VCA) and is currently completing a doctorate at Queensland Conservatorium where he is on full scholarship. Peter’s work has also been supported by grants and awards from The Ian Potter Trust, Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Alan C. Rose Trust, and The Myer Foundation. He was a recipient of the Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship, which took him to the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada) as artist in residence in October 2007. He lectures part-time at Victoria University and NMIT, and is on the board of the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival.