Cathy Harley Sextet, Jann Rutherford Trio, Nikki Iles Quartet

Unfortunately I arrived late and missed most of the Cathy Harley Sextet. What I did hear, however, made me instantly regret my tardiness. Cathy is an excellent pianist and her music intertwined effortlessly with the melodies and rhythms of her band (which includes Richie Maigraith on tenor sax - African Jazz band Badema’s sax man who, in my book, can do no wrong). The music was further enhanced by the excellent vocals of special guest Eduardo Santoni. Keep an eye on the ‘What’s On’ section for further Cathy Harley gigs.

Next up on this triple bill was the Jann Rutherford trio who played some of the most beautiful, soothing, jazz I’ve heard in quite a while. Jann is a pianist who hails from New Zealand and her compositions, whether lightning fast tunes or slow ballads, are all rich with melody and have a lovely feeling of space. Debbie Kennedy was excellent on the double bass, although she looked very nervous throughout, especially through one lightning fast and extremely difficult looking solo, after which she breathed an audible sigh of relief! Andrew Dickeson’s drums were crisp and clear and complemented the music beautifully, rolls and rudiments aplenty but always in his own space. Overall the music was of a very high standard, excellent modern but accessible tunes played to a very high standard. Jann is playing more dates in Australia before returning to New Zealand - check her out. You can also check out her music on CDs released with the Graeme Norris and Ed Hughes Quintets.

Last up was the Nikki Iles Quartet. Nikki is an accomplished British pianist who has been featured alongside established stars such as Bobby Wellins, Don Weller, Iain Bellamy and the Arguelles Brothers. She leads her own group ‘The Architechts’ and has recorded for Blue Note with the Sylvan Richardson group. She has just completed a highly successful season at Ronnie Scott’s in London and has also just been appointed as Head of Piano at the City of Leeds College of Music for their BA and Post Graduate Jazz Courses. In the Basement she performed with Sandy Evans on saxophones, Toby Hall on drums and Cameron Undy on bass. Cameron is a very talented double bass player and undoubtedly one of the rising stars of Australian jazz, his unusual and original CD with pianist Mike Nock entitled Temple is well worth checking out. Toby plays a very ‘out there’ style of drums which is well suited to the experimental style of this jazz quartet and I was blown away by the saxophone playing of Sandy Evans. She plays the slower pieces with feeling and sensitivity and the faster pieces with - well, her sax is on fire!

All in all a very enjoyable evenings entertainment which seemed to fly by even though it went on for over four hours (pretty good value for $10). If this is the standard of jazz that we can expect from the 3rd Australian Women’s Music Festival then I have no hesitation in heartily recommending that you check out some of the other upcoming gigs.