Barry O’Sullivan

The trio plays with a joyful abandon that one wishes there was more of in jazz these days, harking back to the days of Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian, when it was played for pure entertainment. But don’t be misled! Modern Ideal has its place in today’s jazz scene and its future.

Emma Pask has delivered a vocal assemblage that is truly representative of her career so far. The arrangements of mostly standards afford her a plush sonic environment, allowing her to utilise her complex scatting, the rigors of improvisation and invention that is very much her forte.

Each week, Barry O’Sullivan invites a studio guest onto Friday’s A Jazz Hour at noon, this week Australian keyboardist Gary Daley.  Gary Daley is...

Each Friday, Barry O’Sullivan invites a studio guest onto Friday’s A Jazz Hour at noon. This week’s guest is jazz songstress and composer, and Fine Music Sydney Weatherley Scholar, Kate Wadey.  

Wadey is songwriter and vocalist on an album of delightful original compositions. From the first track, If Only, the album’s tone is set to capture the affinity between the instrumentalist’s music and Wadey’s voice.

Friday 29th - Each Friday, Barry O’Sullivan invites a studio guest onto Friday’s A Jazz Hour at noon. This week’s guest is Australian guitarist and composer Julian Curwin. His recent release is Midnight Lullaby is a blend of jazz, classical film music and Latin sound, with a stellar ensemble.

Mace Francis employs a hint of Nelson Riddle, a tilt to Count Basie, definitively some Duke Ellington, a splash of “cool school” Gerry Mulligan, a little of Thad Jones, and a hint of Charles Mingus. But, mostly it’s just Mace’s music to make you happy.

Smaller Worlds has songs written at various times over the past ten years by Golden. While most of it was not composed for solo piano, throughout the first year of the pandemic and the ensuing isolation, Golden found all these chosen songs evolved to work best for him as solo pieces.

Jeremy Sawkins’ fifth release as a leader has delivered an album that doesn’t require too much analysis. Being a solo project on nylon-string guitar, it features some beautiful melodies and chords in counterpoint, very minimal improvisation, and a lot of space to create a very pleasing musical ambiance.

Each Friday, Barry O’Sullivan invites a studio guest onto Friday’s A Jazz Hour at noon. This week Barry welcomes Amy Curl, CEO of the Sydney Improvised Music Association.  Listen out as she talks about her music, SIMA and managing the current SIMA Summer Festival.