sirens big band

Sirens Big Band – Debut live music performance by 16-piece all female big band at Petersham Bowling Club – Sunday 21 March.

Sirens Big Band brings a new sound to the big band setting: 16 instruments weaving lilting African, Middle Eastern and Latin rhythms together with instrumental jazz.

This 16-piece all-female ensemble, co-led by bassist Jessica Dunn and saxophonist Harriet Harding, will perform their first show on Sunday 21 March at the Petersham Bowling Club.

Dunn and Harding are the recent recipients of the Jann Rutherford Memorial Award (named after the late pianist Jann Rutherford), which assists in the professional development of outstanding young female jazz musicians in Australia. The award was founded in 2005.

Presenting a broad repertoire gathered from global inspiration and local roots, Sirens Big Band explore the works of Australian contemporary jazz composers Linda Oh, Judy Bailey, Jeremy Rose, Zoe Frater, Nadia Burgess and Laura Kahle, as well as the band’s original compositions. In-house arranger Jenna Cave re-works music previously unplayed by big band – tunes from Ethiopia’s Mulatu Astatke to Sydney’s jazz-reggae outfit ‘The Vampires.’ With a strong focus on improvisation, Sirens Big Band features outstanding soloists such as Ellen Kirkwood, Monique Lysiak, Loretta Palmiero and Ruth Wells.

As eclectic as their repertoire, the members of Sirens Big Band come from a wide and varied background of experience: a string of Sydney Conservatorium jazz studies graduates; a couple of members of Sydney’s ‘The Bakery’, and even a shakuhachi player.

Sirens Big Band recognises a need to support young female jazz musicians, an outlook shared by the convenors of the Jann Rutherford Memorial Award. To further increase the visibility of female musicians in the Australian jazz scene Sirens Big Band plan to run workshops for female high school students to promote their interest in jazz studies.

A busy first year is set for the Sirens, with gigs lined up at the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival and SIMA’s Sound Lounge, as well as a recording with ABC Radio National.

Sirens Big Band @ Petersham Bowling Club
Sunday 21st March 2010
Doors 7pm/ $10 – doors sales only
77 Brighton Street, Petersham NSW 2049
Food available at the Bowling Club bistro.

For more information and press contacts, download the press release.