Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Nick Garbett  

Trumpeter and composer Nick Garbett has emerged as the winner of the 2018 Freedman Jazz Fellowship after the live finalist showcase in Sydney on 30 July. Garbett's fellow finalists were drummer-composer Angus Mason and guitarist-composer Carl Morgan. Each finalist performed with their band - Angus Mason with his trio, Carl Morgan with a sextet, and Garbett with a quintet featuring Peter Farrar, Danny Pliner, Jonathan Zwartz and Finn Ryan. The live audience also heard a performance by the 2015 Freedman Fellow, pianist-composer Tal Cohen.

Nick Garbett studied jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium and completed his Bachelor of Music in 2003, and has since made several trips to New York to continue his musical studies with artists including Clark Terry, Avishai Cohen, Cuong Vu, Ralph Alessi and Laurie Frink. His name is associated with several bands, particularly the Vampires, the reggae outfit Strides, and the Afro-Colombian rock 'n' roots band Watussi. He has toured extensively throughout Australia, South America and Asia. He has also performed and toured as a session artist with some of Australia's top alternate/pop acts including Lisa Mitchell, the Beautiful Girls and the Panics.

The Freedman Jazz Fellowship is worth $20,000 which Garbett will use to further his touring and recording career, notably in Europe. Judges for the 2018 Freedman Jazz Fellowship were Judy Bailey, Matt Keegan and Stuart Vandegraaff.

> The Freedman Jazz performances can be watched and listened to on the ABC Jazz Facebook page.

> Read John Shand's review of the Freedman Jazz Concert at the Sydney Opera House (The Sydney Morning Herald 31 July 2018)