For over two decades, the Melbourne International Jazz Festival has showcased the world’s best jazz, right here in Melbourne. MIJF is now Australia’s pre-eminent jazz festival, recognized internationally for the creativity and depth of its programming.
PBS 106.7 FM are proud to present 7 selected events from the 2018 MIJF festival, from Modern masters, Explorations in Jazz, 170 Russel, Melbourne Recital Centre and Jazzlab Club Sessions. Plus The Young Elder of Jazz special PBS event with Brenton Foster.
PBS Presented shows:
1. Gretchen Parlato (USA)
2. Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science (USA)
3. An Evening with Branford Marsalis (USA)
4. Yemen Blues (Israel / USA)
5. Chris Dave & The Drumhedz (USA)
6. Christian McBride's New Jawn (USA)
7. The Others (Paul Grabowsky/James Morrison/KRAM)
Show details:
Gretchen Parlato (USA)
Saturday 2 June, 7:30pm
Melbourne Recital Centre
Hailed as the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson, Gretchen Parlato is the kind of artist that comes along once in a generation. Her 20-year career has seen her work with powerhouses of the contemporary jazz world, including Wayne Shorter, Kenny Barron, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard and living jazz treasure Herbie Hancock. Renowned for her subtle, yet masterful command over her vocal instrument, Gretchen showcases delicate phrasing and a unique ability to transform jazz standards with her inventive and playful interpretations. Fusing jazz with undertones of African and Brazilian beats to create a distinct and intoxicating contemporary jazz aesthetic.
Watch the video here
Tickets and info here
Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science (USA)
Saturday 2 June, 7:00pm, 9:30pm
Sunday 3 June, 7:00pm, 9:30pm
The Jazzlab
"A slow-funk project rooted in the rhetoric of protest" - The New York Times
Virtuosic percussionist, Terri Lyne Carrington brings her stunning new social consciousness project Social Science to Melbourne for an unmissable Australian premiere event. A multi Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer and bandleader, Carrington has cultivated an impressive range of musical collaborators over her 30-year career, from folk doyenne Joni Mitchell to pop sensation Stevie Wonder, and luminaries of the jazz world including Stan Getz, Cassandra Wilson, Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau and Herbie Hancock.
Watch the video here
Tickets and info here
An Evening with Branford Marsalis (USA)
Friday 1 June, 7:30pm
Melbourne Recital Centre
Jazz master, renowned Grammy Award-winning saxophonist and composer, Branford Marsalis is a revered instrumentalist – immersed in the jazz tradition, but completely of today. Leader of one of jazz’s finest quartets, and a frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Marsalis’ blend of consummate artistry, thrilling ensemble interplay and the ability to create jazz-club intimacy on a larger stage makes him one of the most compelling players in the world. In addition to guest turns with a legion of jazz giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins, he has performed with artists as diverse as Sting, The Grateful Dead, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and his boyhood friend Harry Connick Jr.
Watch the video here
Tickets and info here
Yemen Blues (Israel / USA)
Wednesday 6 June, 9:00pm
170 Russell
Yemen Blues’ intoxicating music merges West African rhythms, influenced by Yemeni culture and melodies with jazz and funk to evoke a connection to places you may have never visited. Sitting in a musical crossroads of Middle Eastern traditions, the group paints a musical canvas with deep laments and jubilations to present a complex and resolutely modern offering. The group are known for their energetic and powerful live performances – with hypnotic percussion beats and multi-layered sounds created by instruments from bass, percussion, brass to oud and strings. Led by Jewish Yemenite vocalist Ravid Kahalani, with a soaring three octave range, his mesmerising vocals alongside a superb lineup of talented musicians from New York, Israel and Uruguay make this one of the most engaging and exuberant acts on the world music scene.
Watch the video here
Tickets and info here
Chris Dave & The Drumhedz (USA)
Friday 8 June, 9:00pm
170 Russell
One of the most revered and inventive musicians of his generation, Chris Dave returns to the Festival with his genre-defying outfit The Drumhedz, on the back of their long-awaited debut album release on Blue Note Records.
Once described by Questlove as his “worst nightmare” and named one of the 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time by Rolling Stone, Dave’s sublime musical fluency and ground-breaking approach to the kit has put him a league of his own. Since cutting his teeth in the world of gospel music, he has gone on to collaborate with jazz legends (Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis) pop royalty (Justin Bieber, Adele) and neo-soul pioneers (D’Angelo, Maxwell, Robert Glasper).
Featuring a rotating lineup of musicians at the razor edge of next-generation jazz, The Drumhedz sound is an amalgamation of R&B, funk, rock, jazz, hip-hop and electronica, foregrounding Dave’s experimental song structures and revolutionary approach to rhythm.
Watch the video here
Tickets and info here
Christian McBride's New Jawn (USA)
Saturday 9 June, 7:00pm, 9:30pm
Sunday 10 June, 7:00pm, 9:30pm
The Jazzlab
Legendary jazz bassist, band leader and Festival alumni, Christian McBride will make an Australian premiere with his exciting new quartet, New Jawn. Acknowledged as “one of the best jazz bassists in the world” (New York Times) this five-time Grammy Award-winning artist and giant of the contemporary jazz scene will deliver an unforgettable musical encounter. McBride is one of the most in-demand and recorded bassists of his generation, with over 25 years of performing with the likes of Sonny Rollins, James Brown, Diana Krall, Sting and The Roots. He consistently combines his deft musicianship with an innate showmanship and ability to communicate to an audience with irrepressible joy.
Watch the video here
Tickets and info here
The Others- First Contact (Paul Grabowsky/James Morrison/KRAM)
Saturday 9 June, 7:30pm
Melbourne Recital Centre
Some of the greatest festival moments arise from the joy of free-spirited musical cross-pollination. The Others is one of these rare gems, laden with surprise and improvisational magic. Featuring three giants of Australian music – trumpeter James Morrison, composer and pianist Paul Grabowsky and Spiderbait’s Kram on drums – this unlikely ‘’improv supergroup” reunite to explore new ground after their critically acclaimed premiere at the 2017 Wangaratta Jazz & Blues Festival. Showcasing the unique musical personality of three artists at the height of their craft, The Others is a wild tour-de-force of Kram’s immersive rock drumming, and Morrison’s blistering trumpet, all tempered and woven together by the prodigious talents of Grabowsky on piano.
Tickets and info here
Plus
The PBS Young Elder of Jazz Event with Brenton Foster - Love, As We Know It
Friday 1 June, 9:30pm
The Jazzlab
Winner of Best Jazz Album in the 2016 The Age Music Victoria Awards, pianist and composer Brenton Foster will present the premiere performance of Love, As We Know It, a new commission in a collaboration with US poet Christopher Poindexter and performed by some of Melbourne’s finest musicians. Foster’s skills belies his years, he skilfully traverses soulful and sultry to eclectic and eccentric to provide the contemporary Australian jazz scene with an exciting new sound and promise of things to come. The PBS Young Elder of Jazz Commission is generously support by The Newman Family Foundation.
Tickets and info here
All proudly presented by PBS 106.7 FM
