upcoming gigs
Jeff Lang ALBUM LAUNCH
"Alone in Bad company"
Saturday May 13th Doors open 8.30pm
Hotel Gearin 273 Great Western Highway Katoomba
Food service open for this show.
TICKETING INFO
$30 general
$25 concession
Wicked group booking specials for groups of 6, 7 or 8 people @ $22.50 p/p
Food and Drinks available
In a career spanning twenty- five years and at least as many recordings Alone In Bad Company is Jeff Lang’s momentous new album which presents the most organic union of Lang’s talents and influences yet. Released through ABC Music on February 24th this year Alone In Bad Company is filled with exquisitely sung stories and melodies demonstrating that, Lang is nothing if not a lover of song.
The first single from the album is ‘Burnside’ which immediately highlights Lang’s proficiency as one of Australia’s best guitarists with rapid fingerpicking and guitar work. Each song on the album is rendered such that an alternative approach is unimaginable and each time Lang steps up to solo, his hard-won style is unmistakable – fluid but with an edge-of-the-seat recklessness.
Acoustic fingerpicking, slide guitar, electric lead, banjos, mandolins and blue-eyed soul singing drop into place like puzzle pieces in a portrait conceived and executed almost entirely by the artist. Steadfast cohorts Danny McKenna and Allison Ferrier deliver on cue and master writer Don Walker shares his peerless wit on two songs, including the pointedly titled ‘With You I Can Throw Away The Pills’, a bitter-suite finale.
In the end, Alone In Bad Company presents one of our most inspired musicians – and songwriters – at the peak of his exceptional powers.
Jeff Lang ALBUM LAUNCH
"Alone in Bad company"
Saturday May 13th Doors open 8.30pm
Hotel Gearin 273 Great Western Highway Katoomba
Food service open for this show.
TICKETING INFO
$30 general
$25 concession
Wicked group booking specials for groups of 6, 7 or 8 people @ $22.50 p/p
Food and Drinks available
In a career spanning twenty- five years and at least as many recordings Alone In Bad Company is Jeff Lang’s momentous new album which presents the most organic union of Lang’s talents and influences yet. Released through ABC Music on February 24th this year Alone In Bad Company is filled with exquisitely sung stories and melodies demonstrating that, Lang is nothing if not a lover of song.
The first single from the album is ‘Burnside’ which immediately highlights Lang’s proficiency as one of Australia’s best guitarists with rapid fingerpicking and guitar work. Each song on the album is rendered such that an alternative approach is unimaginable and each time Lang steps up to solo, his hard-won style is unmistakable – fluid but with an edge-of-the-seat recklessness.
Acoustic fingerpicking, slide guitar, electric lead, banjos, mandolins and blue-eyed soul singing drop into place like puzzle pieces in a portrait conceived and executed almost entirely by the artist. Steadfast cohorts Danny McKenna and Allison Ferrier deliver on cue and master writer Don Walker shares his peerless wit on two songs, including the pointedly titled ‘With You I Can Throw Away The Pills’, a bitter-suite finale.
In the end, Alone In Bad Company presents one of our most inspired musicians – and songwriters – at the peak of his exceptional powers.
Jo Jo Smith
Celebrates 50 yrs in the Music Biz
+ lucie Thorne and Hamish stuart
Australian Soul Legend JO JO SMITH Celebrates 50 Years In The Music Industry, with a Little Help From her friends LUCIE THORNE & HAMISH STUART.
JO JO SMITH is one of Australia's greatest musical treasures, a sexagenarian pocket-rocket, soul-singing, groove-driving tour de force and 2017 marks her 50th year in the biz.
To celebrate this extraordinary, generous life of music-making, Jo Jo is hitting the road with dear friends and musical comrades LUCIE THORNE & HAMISH STUART.
Their massive tour will see them playing in dozens of their favourite intimate venues across every State and Territory over the course of the year.
Jo Jo Smith was the first woman to ever perform at the Byron Bay Music Festival...there are plenty more stories like this to tell on tour.
A radical exponent of the power of love and music- and certainly under-known given all the heavyweights from across the decades and genres whom she’s worked with and influenced -Jo Jo Smith has a somewhat cult status, deeply revered by fans and peers alike. As Thorne puts it, “I sure don’t know any half-arsed Jo Jo fans.
You’ve either experienced the joy and wonder that is being in the same room as this woman singing and playing, or…you haven’t heard her yet!”
Jo Jo Smith was the first woman to ever perform at the Byron Bay Music Festival...there are plenty more stories to tell on tour.
Lucie Thorne & Jo Jo Smith first met nearly a decade ago, and became fast friends and huge fans of each other’s work. They’ve teamed up many times since, and after a gig together sometime last year, around the kitchen table and a bottle of whiskey, Jo Jo mentioned that 2017 would mark her 50th year as a working musician. Right then and there they started brewing ideas for a huge celebratory tour.
"Jo Jo Smith drops jaws and melts hearts with every performance" Colin Thompson, Bendigo Blues Festival Director
“Jo Jo has been an inspiration to myself and many other musicians in Australia for many years" Renee Geyer
“Jo Jo Smith is a true soul singer. She sings soul music. She sings with and through her soul. Smith has a mighty weapon in her voice, she reserves its power striking only when necessary” Marty Jones, Rhythms Magazine
"Thorne writes some of the most simple and beautiful songs you will hear" **** The Age
Check out the youtube clip of Lucie on Rockwiz
Thursday 15th June
The Metropole Hotel, Gang Gang St, Katoomba.
Food and bar from 6.15pm
Show starts at 7pm
2 sets
TICKETING
Prebooked tickets : General $27pp Cons $22
Tix at Door: General $30pp Cons $25
*Group pre-booking $20 pp for a group of 6-8 U18s welcome / Companion Carers Free
Gypsy + Latin swing
Lulo Reinhardt + Bart Stenhouse
Thursday 13th July
Wentworth Falls School of Arts
217 Great Western Hwy
Food and drinks available
Doors Open 6pm/ 6.30 pm start til 8.30pm
TICKETING
Pre-sale tickets are $30/ $25 concession
Tickets at the door $35/ 30 concession
U18s welcome
*Tix availble from Lamdha Books, Station Street, Wentworth Falls, OPEN 7 days from 9am 47571420
(while you are at it check out their eclectic collection of CD's for sale, we love them!).
Not only are two of the world's top guitarists coming together but two hearty Blue Mountain's music promoters are also joining forces - 'Music Hunter’ (Meg Benson) and 'Music in the Mountains' (Chris Cannell) will host these virtuoso's. A little unusual for the music industry however, both are in love with the community focus of the Blue Mountains, and it makes sense to look past competition for an occasional collaboration in celebrating world-class music with our creative and supportive communities.
United in virtuosity for a national tour, is Lulo Reinhardt (innovator of "Latin Swing" and nephew of the immortalised king of Gypsy jazz, Django Reinhardt) with Australia's Bart Stenhouse, multi- instrumentalist and film score composer.
With a shared aptitude for fusing styles, including flamenco, Latin and Brazilian jazz, with a touch of Nth Indian classical, they also give a solid nod to gypsy influences. This concert also features the talents of drummer/percussionist - Trent Bryson-Dean and bassist - John Maddox.
Every now and then an artist comes along that reminds us that music legends still walk among us. Lulo Reinhardt is one of the foremost authentic and distinctive musical voices in gypsy music today and is from a long line of culturally distinctive musicians.
Lulo is the great-nephew of jazz legend Django Reinhardt and also the nephew of the gypsy violin master Shnuckenack Reinhardt. Lulo comes from a lineage peppered throughout with highly talented musicians. He first showed an interest during his formative years. By the age of five Lulo was already being handed down the guitar tradition through his father Bawo Reinhardt and has devoted his life to music ever since.
Over the years, Lulo expanded his musical horizons as he delved into the music of other cultures. Today, Lulo continues to explore and perform a fusion of styles, including flamenco, Latin, and Brazilian jazz. He combines these with his own artistic stamp, and always with a nod to his gypsy influences. After travelling all over the world and playing with musicians from Brazil, Spain, Africa, he defined his own style of playing which he called Latin Swing. More and more gypsy jazz guitarists around the world are incorporating this style of music which Lulo founded. His name and style have achieved international acclaim.
Critics and fans agree that it is not solely because Lulo is the great-nephew of world-famous musician extraordinaire Django Reinhardt, it's about Lulo's unique musical genius, and his ability to make it appear so utterly effortless. “The audience sometimes expects me to play exclusively in the style of Django Reinhardt, but I have found a style of my own, and I am happy and grateful that the people love it” states Lulo.
Lulo's last visit to the BLUE MOUNTAINS, 6 years ago, met him with a full house and a glowing review in SMH.
We could, of course, continue to explore what Lulo has brought to jazz however on Lulo's 2017 tour around Australia, Lulo has hand picked the talents of Australian born multi-instrumentalist and composer Bart Stenhouse.
Bart has a deep interest in jazz, world, fusion and improvisational styles of music and specialises in the guitar, bass guitar and electric mandolin. His playing style blends different cultures and styles to re-define musical genres and experiment with sonic landscapes. He has been fine tuning his skills in guitar and bass guitar ever since, completing a Bachelor of Music in Jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium in 2005 and continuing to study privately with some of the world's best. This has included study with North Indian Classical maestro Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, who plays the Chaturangui (Indian Slide Guitar). Bart has also travelled to Spain and North America to study with different flamenco and jazz musicians, expanding his skill and knowledge in these music genres.
Over the years, he has also applied his diverse range of skills to work as a film score composer, music producer and studio and live sound engineer. Bart's journey to discover different styles and approaches to music has produced three critically acclaimed albums.
His debut jazz fusion album 'Blue Benares' with percussionist Abe Stewart was recorded in the Indian city of Varanasi. His second jazz release, entitled ‘The Best Of Times’, featured three of the best up and coming Australian Jazz musicians: bass, tenor saxophone ans keyboards, consisting of a fresh mix of Indian classically inspired Jazz with touches of flamenco harmony and spirit. His third release ‘Five Days in Granada’ was released featuring flamenco jazz compositions and special guest talented US based vibraphonist James Whiting.
Bart Stenhouse an exciting and rising player on the Australian jazz and world music scene, so expect to see more of him.
Damian Wright - Solo
(Leader of Bandaluzia)
Sat 19th August
Kindlehill Indoor Ampitheatre
8 Lake St , Wentworth Falls
Doors open 7pm for 7.45pm start
Food and Drinks available
TICKETING
Pre-booked tickets:
$22 General or $20 concession
Tickets at Door $25
*Group pre-booking $20 pp for a group of 6-8 U18s welcome / Companion Carers Free
Music Hunter has hosted packed out Bandaluzia Flamenco concerts and now for the first time we can get up close and personal with Damian Wright as we experience him solo and discover loud and clear why he is an ARIA nominated musician. Great News! Damian has a new album on its way titled SHIFTING SANDS, so if you are a fan, get ready to hear some new stuff.
"Damian Wright is a brilliant flamenco guitarist...Wright showed what a captivating solo player he is on his own "In Time", and elsewhere his articulation of complex lines was fluid and dripping with conviction" - commented John Shand from Sydney Morning Herald, a man himself with acute listening powers. John also rates highly the rare acoustics of the Kindlehill indoor amphitheatre. With Damian's consumate powers coupled with the unique venue atmosphere, this event is bound to be a sound made in heaven. Some fortunate Music Hunters have also witnessed DAMIEN WRIGHT perform in a trio called Rasaduende, alongside Bobby Singh & Adrian McNeil, four years ago at Kindlehill.
In 2014 Damian was invited to perform as a solo artist at The Rajasthan International Folk Festival, INDIA and in 2016 performed at The Shanghai Fringe Festival, CHINA and was invited to perform at the biannual Adelaide International Guitar Festival curated by Slava Grigoryan.
Damian's Flamenco ensemble Bandaluzia was awarded "The Pick Of the Sydney Fringe" at The Sydney Fringe Festival and performed to a sold out Sydney Opera House Concert Hall as an invited artist to TEDX Sydney 2014. Known for their powerful performances, unique sound and explosive displays of dazzling musicianship and virtuosity that has made Bandaluzia a great success at festivals and theatre’s across Australia.
"Wright imbues every piece with the rich, rhythmic structure so characteristic of flamenco. .....A piece like Khyal, by Wright, has haunting harmonics and an evocative Moorish flavour. It's an imaginative journey: like travelling, without moving your feet". - Loyd Bradford Syke, Australian Stage Online 11/09/08
"Wright is an accomplished flamenco player and composer, who readily accommodates the expansion into wider musical pastures." - John Shand , Sydney Morning Herald 20/06/09
Here's a youtube clip Published on Dec 3, 2013
with Damian Wright playing music by Ramirez - 1a Flamenco Blanca.
The next clip below is 2014 at Sydney Opera House where you can hear Damian performing with his astonishing band Bandaluzia for TEDx along with the captivating percussive dance from the Great Jonny Tedesco from Buenos Aires.
http://www.damianwrightmusic.com/
invocations - Noam Blat
Sydney Sacred Music festival
Sat 16th September
Kindlehill Indoor Ampitheatre
8 Lake St , Wentworth Falls
Doors open 7pm for 7.45pm start
Food and Drinks available
TICKETING
Pre-booked tickets:
$22 General or $20 concession
Tickets at Door $25
*Group pre-booking $20 pp for a group of 6-8 U18s welcome / Companion Carers Free
Music Hunter Presents INVOCATIONS by Noam Blat
in the Blue Mountains as part of Sydney Sacred Music Festival program.
Music Hunter has been involved with the Festival as the Blue Mountains' host for 7 years, since the festival's inception.
Noam Blat, now based in Bellingen, was born in Israel to parents of Sephardi and Ashkenazi backgrounds. His homeland, a melting pot of musical and spiritual traditions, is a strong influence in his music.
Noam writes and sings both in English and Hebrew, with inflections that echo faraway lands, as he intricately accompanies himself on Spanish guitar. His compositions are alive with the sounds of the Middle East, Spain and Eastern Europe. His songs of unity and awakening are sung alongside traditional prayers and invocations from different cultures.
His uplifting performances open a space of attentive listening and are filled with humour and colourful stories from his life “an unexpected surprise and my festival highlight” Tony Hillier ABC, QLD
Noam performs in Australia and around the world in venues and festivals such as The Basement, Tanks Art Centre, Woodford Folk Festival, Cygnet, Zorba in the Desert (Israel), Bali spirit festival, and many more.
“Noam is imbued with disarming sense of humor, songs and charismatic capacity to connect with an audience. Prayerful, sad, tender and touching, but with a primal rhythmic undertow that almost compels one to dance. There's magic here” Australian stage magazine
Australian stage magazine full review
The first you tube clip is from June 2014, Live at Raga Paradiso Israel with Udi Ben Knaan, Elyasaf Bashari, Yshai Afterman, Itamar Erez and Noam Blat.
Check out Noam in the 2nd clip of him performing on the "One World Stage," BaliSpirit Festival 2013 Agung Rai Museum of Art, Ubud, Bali