SIMA has plunged deep into February with a record 23 shows, spread over a variety of venues. Its Jazz NOW Summer Festival is a great initiative to keep dozens of musicians in work as well attracting punters to the various venues, many of which have been doing it really tough.
The festival features a wide range of music from jazz, world music, soul and R&B – and runs until March 3. While you may have missed five-time ARIA award winner, Katie Noonan’s festival performance and a few other gems, there is still plenty of great live music on offer from now on in.
Foundry616 jazz club in Ultimo will showcase the next-gen leaders of the alto saxophone Ben Lerner and Tessie Overmyer on Wednesday February 16.
Mary’s Underground (formerly The Basement) in Circular Quay still has HEKKA and Zela Margossian to come, with the latter launching her sophomore album on Saturday February 25 (Ropeadope Records).
On Thursday February 17, Mary’s will host Melbourne’s Claire Cross and her immersive, electro-acoustic suite “Into Light” which was commissioned by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, alongside indie/rock/jazz fusion outfit COAST led by drummer Paul Derricott. On Friday 18, Emanation, a new project by drummer Chloe Kim that showcases an all-star band featuring Sandy Evans, Jonathan Zwartz, Hilary Geddes and Zela Margossian, will perform in a double bill with critically acclaimed Delay 45 led by Tom Avgenicos.
The Mary’s season concludes with two nights of Alister Spence’s sonic trip Asteroid Ekosystem on Saturday February 26 and Sunday February 27. The band is a supergroup for the 21st century featuring pioneering guitarist Ed Kuepper (The Saints, Laughing Clowns), and legendary bassist Lloyd Swanton (The Necks).
The full line-up at Mary’s is:
Thursday February 17 – Claire Cross and Coast
Friday February 18 – Delay 45 & Emanation
Saturday February 19 – Mike Nock Sextet & Hekka
Thursday February 24 – Wayne Kelly Trio & McMahon Dewhurst Duo
Friday February 25 – Zela Margossian & Stu Hunter
Saturday February 26 – Asteroid Ekosystem & Ilex
Sunday February 27 – Asteroid Ekosystem & Fetherstone
The Riverside Theatre in Parramatta on March 2 welcomes the world premiere of Zashto? by the Mara! Big Band. The theme of the band’s new, 60-minute musical suite Zashto? (“Why?” in the Bulgarian language) is the experience of migration to Australia and the spectre of incarceration (physical and psychological) that has hovered over each wave of migration in the past 230 years. The work was commissioned by Mara Kiek in 2020 with support from CreateNSW and features compositions by current and former members of the Mara! band – Sandy Evans, Paul Cutlan, Andrew Robson, Tony Gorman and Llew Kiek and scored for the 12-piece line-up of the new Mara! Big Band.
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Book your Jazz NOW Summer Festival tickets through https://sima.org.au/
