Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Judy Bailey

Judy Bailey holds a special place in Australian jazz history as one of this country’s earliest and most prominent female jazz musicians and teachers. Born in New Zealand, Judy moved to Australia in 1960 and became involved in the musical life of Sydney through regular performances at the legendary El Rocco jazz cellar with musicians, including with John Sangster, Don Burrows and Graeme Lyall. For much of the sixties she worked as a pianist/arranger with television orchestras led by bandleaders such as Burrows, Tommy Tycho and John Bamford. In 1973 Judy become a founding faculty member in the highly respected Tertiary Jazz Studies Program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she continues teaching to this day. The eighties and nineties saw more performing, composing, teaching, recording and touring, while Judy also became musical director of the Sydney Youth Jazz Ensemble Association, an umbrella organisation for the Jazz Connection big band. Judy’s career over the past few years has focused on teaching, education and composition. Judy has received many honours, including an Order of Australia Medal for services to music and education (2004), an award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music as part of the 2008 Australian Classical Music Awards—the first award ever granted to a jazz musician—and, in 2014, induction into the Graeme Bell Hall of Fame. Most recently, Judy received the 2018 Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award, given annually by the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Freyja Gabett

Freyja is a compositional storyteller. Her pieces are through-composed journeys; they weave the listener through a series of magical sound-scapes, heavy grooves and unforgettable melodies. Her sound combines an eclectic array of musical genres including but not limited to traditional and contemporary jazz, soul, classical, afro-caribbean styles, funk and reggae.

Performers: Judy Bailey, Craig Scott, Tim Firth, Freyja Garbett, Nish Manjunath, Maximillian Alduca, Alexander Inman-Hislop

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (02) 9036 6292 or by email to operations@sima.org.au

Featured artists

• Jazz/improvisation by Judy Bailey
• Jazz/improvisation by Freyja Garbett