Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Sydney-based saxophonist and composer David Theak is well known for his work as bandleader on the Australian jazz scene with his own quartet Theak-tet and collaboration with other groups as well as being artistic director/lead saxophonist with Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra. With numerous recordings and international tours and performances to his credit, he is also a jazz lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Tonight, he joins forces with young New Zealand-born pianist Charmaine Ford to debut this exciting new band in Sydney.

At only 28yrs, Charmaine Ford has an exciting future ahead of her. She became involved in jazz both as a player and as a leader from her high school days, her ‘training ground’ for the Auckland jazz scene. Shortly after, Charmaine won several national awards including ‘Best Pianist’, and ‘Best Combo’ at the National Tauranga Jazz Festival Competitions and was awarded ‘Jazz Musician of the Year’ by the Auckland Jazz Workshop two years running.

From there, she toured to Australia with her jazz quintet, ‘Carte Blanche’, and performed at the 1998 ‘Manly Jazz Festival’, in Sydney. Charmaine was selected as pianist for the ‘New Zealand Youth Jazz Orchestra’ on four occasions, in which she toured throughout New Zealand.

In addition to her staggering list of achievements, she appears on over 20 album recordings covering a wide variety of genres. Furthermore she is part of a collaborative project called the ‘Ford/Tipping/Wise Trio’ who have already released two albums.

Supported by an excellent young local rhythm section, this is a new band to watch.

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (02) 935 1794

Featured artists

• Jazz/improvisation by Charmaine Ford
• Jazz/improvisation by David Theak
• Jazz/improvisation by Alex Boneham
• Jazz/improvisation by Tim Firth