If you have not heard Kristin Berardi sing, rush to do so. She is probably the finest jazz singer Australia has produced, and given the world-wide scarcity of the genuine article – as opposed to singers who just work with jazz musicians – we may well lose her to an international career.
Berardi is the winner of Freedman Jazz ’07, the annual fellowship offered by the Freedman Foundation and administered by the Music Council of Australia. Aiding the cause of that international career, Berardi won $15,000 cash and a $5000 promotional package. The first singer to win the prize, she plans to use the money to record some especially commissioned big-band material in New York.
Proving the fellowship’s value, two of the best CD releases of 2006, James Muller’s Kaboom and Matt McMahon’s Paths and Streams, were the direct result of those artists being previous Freedman winners.
The decision of the judges Kerrie Biddell, Mark Isaacs and James Greening was based both on the intended use of the funds and of performances by the four finalists: Berardi, saxophonist Matt Keegan, pianist Marc Hannaford and saxophonist Carl Mackey. This may have been the hardest choice in the fellowship’s seven-year history.
Read the full review on The Sydney Morning Herald website.
