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Matt McMahon is a pianist/keyboardist /composer based in Australia. He leads his own groups and co-leads “Band of Five Names” with Phil Slater and Simon Barker. Matt won the national Jazz award in 1999, and the Freedman Jazz Fellowship for 2005. He has played/recorded with Dale Barlow, Greg Osby, Phil Slater, Joe Tawadros, Katie Noonan, Vince Jones, Bobby Previte, Dave Panichi, Steve Hunter, Jazzfolk, Guy Strazz etc, and played concerts and festivals throughout Australia and Asia.

Matt will be releasing his first solo album in 2015.  He will also be presenting Part II of the Paths & Streams project, for which he was awarded the Freedman Jazz Fellowship.

H released his second album, Ellipsis, with his trio – Jonathan Brown on the bass and Simon Barker on the drums, playing mostly his pieces. The Sydney Morning Herald said “after about 15 years on the scenehe released his first solo album, “Paths and Streams”, .It was one of the half-dozen best releases of 2006. Now “Ellipsis, the first release by his long term trio finally emerges and it is stunning… the music is as good as any current piano-trio jazz.” John Shand

1716 Grand Avenue, Spring Valley, CA 91977, USA
206-686-2922 then 877-616-3401206-686-2922 then 877-616-3401
St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC, Australia

Paul Grabowsky is a pianist, composer, conductor and founder of the Australian Art Orchestra. Born in Papua New Guinea in 1958, and raised in Melbourne Australia, he began classical piano lessons as a five-year-old, studying with Mack Jost from 1965-1978. He began informal studies in jazz around 1976, and devoted his energies fully to improvised music from 1978. Paul lived in Munich, Germany from 1980-1985, where he was active on the local and European jazz scenes, performing and/or recording with Johnny Griffin, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Benny Bailey, Guenther Klatt, Marty Cook and many others. He returned to Australia in 1986.

In 1983, he formed the Paul Grabowsky Trio, winner of two ARIA awards and still one of Australia’s longest-living and most influential bands. Their latest recording Big Adventure was released in November 2004 on ABC Classics.

As a performer, he became known for his work with the Wizards of Oz, a group he co-lead from 1987-1989 with saxophonist Dale Barlow and Vince Jones, and for whom he was musical director from 1988-89. From 1990-1992 Paul lead the Groovematics, the band on the nightly national television show Tonight Live.
He performs and records regularly with singers Robyn Archer andKatie Noonan (george / Elixir).
In 1994, he founded the Australian Art Orchestra that features the cream of Australian improvising musicians.

Paul produced and presented the television series Access All Areas in 1996, and was Commissioning Editor for ABC Television Arts and Entertainment 1996 -1998.

He is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost screen composers, working with such directors as Fred Schepisi (Empire Falls, Last Orders), Paul Cox (Human Touch, Innocence), John Irvin (The Grooming, Shiner) and Gillian Armstrong (The Last Days of Chez Nous). His television credits are numerous and include the ABC series Phoenix and Janus and the award-winning Channel Ten mini-series Jessica directed by Peter Andrikidis.

His works for the theatre include the operas The Mercenary(1997-99) and Love in the Age of Therapy (2000-2001). His music for the shadow play The Theft of Sita (1999-2000) won a Helpmann award. Before Time Could Change Us – a Song Cycle with lyrics by Dorothy Porter and music by Paul Grabowsky – is scheduled for a 2005 CD release featuring Katie Noonan and the Paul Grabowsky Trio with Scott Tinkler.

In 2004 Tales of Time and Space (Warner) was released to critical acclaim. Paul recorded this in New York with Branford Marsalis,Joe Lovano, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Ed Schuller and Scott Tinkler.
Photo Credit: Jeff Wassmann
Recordings
Tinkler Rex Grabowsky Edie (2005)
Tales of Time and Space (2004)

wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Phil Slater was born in Wollongong in 1972 and began playing the trumpet at the age of 12. In 1990 he studied music composition at Unversity of Sydney and University of Wollongong. In 1996 Phil moved to Sydney and began playing with various groups, including those of Mike Nock, the Australian Art Orchestra, Dale Barlow, Barney McAll, Steve Hunter, Baecastuff and DIG, as well as international artists Bobby Previte, Vincent Herring, Terumasa Hino, and Nigel Kennedy. Phil has performed at many national and international music festivals, including the Montreux, Copenhagen, Toronto, Montreal, Umbria, Pori, Vancouver, and London Jazz Festivals, and has performed in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, the U.S.A., Germany, Czech Republic and New Zealand. He was a finalist in the 1997 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, was awarded the 2002 Music Council of Australia/Freedman Foundation Fellowship and winner of the 2003 Wangaratta Festival of Jazz National Jazz Award. He is the leader or co-leader of several groups, including Strobe Coma Virgo, Band of Five Names, The Very Interactive Band, and Diagram.

Sean Foran was born in 1979 and moved from Lismore, NSW to study at the QLD conservatorium in Brisbane in 1998. He performed in the Brisbane scene with various groups including the trio Misinterprotato which he formed in 1999. He has performed around the country at the Melbourne Int. jazz festival, Brisbane Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Valley jazz festival, Valley Fiesta and internationally at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo.
He is currently co-leading Misinterprotato and the JS Quartet.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Stephen Magnusson is considered one of Australia’s most accomplished, versatile and distinct musicians with incredible technique and an astoundingly beautiful tone. His hectic schedule shows that he is a delight to work with and someone that has ‘something to say’ in the world of improvised music.
He was given his first ukulele at 3, his first guitar at 6 and began performing at 10 on an electric guitar that he loaned from his schoolteacher. At 13, he started to study under the guidance of Gordon Pendleton at the Box Hill Tafe and discovered the world of improvised music.

In 1986, he studied at the esteemed Victorian College of the Arts under the supervision of some of Australia’s finest musicians – Tony Gould, Bob Sedergreen and Mike Doyle. Here he expanded his practice regime and playing. He joined various bands playing numerous styles and developed an understanding of different methods. But, his main focus remained, to develop and hone the craft of mastering the guitar.

He travelled to Europe and lived there and after being appointed on the staff at The Academy of Contemporary Music (Zurich) in 1997, Stephen met his long time collaborator – Sergio Beresovsky. They began to perform regularly with Swedish bassist – Bjorn Meyer and in the July of the same year, Australian saxophonist Julien Wilson travelled to meet and play with the trio. After the first week of playing, they formed SNAG and produced a self-titled album (released in Australia ‘Hey Guess What’).

After 3 years of living in Zurich, Stephen returned to Melbourne in August 2000. He entered the National Jazz Award at Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival, were he tied for first place amongst much controversy. At this festival he performed with his trio featuring Sergio and Eugene Ball. This recorded result is captured on the CD ‘Healing Songs’.

He has worked with many artists including Charlie Haden, Meshell Ndegeocello, Ricki Lee Jones, Sinead O’Connor, John Cale, Gurrumul Yunupingu, Paul Grabowsky, Vince Jones, Katie Noonan, Lisa Young, Christine Sullivan, Michelle Nicole, Martin Breeze, The Assumptions Trio, Megan Washington, Paul Kelly, Jim Black, Mike Nock, Barney McAll, Enrico Rava, Arthur Blythe and many others. As a part of the Katie Noonan trio Elixir, the ensemble won the ARIA for Best Jazz Album in 2011.

In 2013, Stephen was awarded the Melbourne Prize for Outstanding Musician, and the Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album with his quartet MAGNET (with Carl Pannuzzo, Eugene Ball and Sergio Beresovsky).

Stephen is currently concentrating on writing for his duo Boundaries with Frank DiSario, and trio MAG featuring DiSario and Dave Beck. He will also be completing the second release from MAGNET, SOM.

Perth WA, Australia

Tom O’Halloran leads his own original jazz piano trio outfit and conducts orchestras from time to time, composes new classical music, plays wild old analogue synthesizers and even rock guitar. Most recently he has played with acclaimed bassist Robert Hurst (USA), was nominated for a 2012 APRA Australian Art Music award and was a finalist in the 2011 Freedman Foundation Jazz Fellowship – where he was featured at the Sydney Opera House.

His overseas performances have included the Houston International Jazz Festival, the IAJE festival in New York, Villa Celimontana in Italy, Dubai, UAE where he played with the Dubai Philharmonic Orchestra, and club dates in New Zealand. Tom has two jazz trio records to his name, released through the Sydney based Jazzgroove Records label. His latest album We Happy Few won the 2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Limelight Magazine award for best jazz achievement.

Tom regularly tours Australia with his original jazz trio comprised of Peter Jeavons (double bass) and Daniel Susnjar (drums). Together they have played large venues like the Sydney Opera House and The Promethean Theatre (Adelaide), and also the best jazz clubs in the country – including 505 and The Basement (Sydney), Bennett’s Lane and Paris Cat (Melbourne), and The Ellington Jazz Club (Perth).

At the end of 2011 he performed a two piano duo concert with Graham Wood – complete with two Fazioli grand pianos – at the stunning Government House, Perth. He was also commissioned to compose for the event. The resulting piece was Dissolve, for two pianos, and further explores his ideas of interruption and chromatic saturation, synthesised with jazz interaction and improvisation.

He is part of the exciting new Perth group Memory of Elements, and contributes compositions alongside Jamie Oehlers (saxophone), Carl Mackey (saxophone), Simon Jeans (guitar), Pete Jeavons (bass) and Ben Vanderwal (drums). They performed at the 2011 Wangaratta Jazz Festival, completed a national tour, and have released a self titled album on the Jazzhead label. When living in Sydney, Tom formed the new band Soundgun, comprised of Jonathan Zwartz (double-bass) and Evan Mannell (drums). They also debuted the group at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival in 2008, and have recorded for ABC Jazz Radio.

Tom has also been playing in an unusaul trio with Lucky Oceans (pedal- steel guitar) and Ben Vanderwal (drums) where he plays acoustic instruments and analouge synthesizers. A recording is to be released shortly.

He plays a myriad of styles, and recently arranged all the music for the concert series JONI – a Joni Mitchell tribute that was staged at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne and Brisbane, starring Katie Noonan and Wendy Matthews. He has also worked with other industry names such as Pete Murray (Sony), James Morrison, singers Tina Harrod, Ilan Kidron (Potbellez, Universal), Max Sharam, Geoff Duff, Josh Quong-Tart (Home and Away, All Saints), Hugo Race (Bad Seeds), David Campbell, Deni Hines (Sony BMG), Mark Sholtez (Verve label), Rick Robertson (DIG), and other jazz musicians of the caliber of James Muller, Simon Barker, Kristen Berardi,  trumpeter Phil Slater, bassist Cameron Undy and 20th Century Dog, Dan Barnett’s Big Band – and has performed at other Australian jazz festivals including the Melbourne Jazz Festival, Newcastle, York (WA), Manly and Coolah Jazz Festivals.

Tom O’Halloran leads the Jazz Piano department at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University, and also lectures in jazz composition and improvisation. He is a regularly commissioned composer, and currently holds a Master of Music in classical composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance) from WAAPA.

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