NEWS
Barney McAll Graft. Performances at Bennetts Lane Melbourne 26th October and Wangaratta Jazz Festival 30th October.
Barney McAll – piano and laptop
Andrea Keller – piano
Dale Gorfinkel – vibraphone/percussion/sonic inventions
Gian Slater – voice; with Invenio (18 piece choir)
plus special guests
New compositions by Barney McAll in a rare collaboration. Graft seeks to respond in musical terms to the complexity of urban life in all its horror, beauty and strange, occasional calm– the accidental, inevitable surgery of the modern world, where humanity is implanted with technology and industry. Like plants growing through concrete, a child commanding a touch screen, or a tiny beating heart inside a hide drive, these pieces attempt to view adversity, joy and mercy through the same lens.
Graft convenes a superb ensemble of performers. Joining the dream dual-piano partnership of Andrea Keller and Barney McAll are sonic wizard Dale Gorfinkel and Gian Slater’s acclaimed 18-piece choir Invenio.
'Galumphing Round the Nation' Collaborations Project CD OUT NOW through JazzHead
The Andrea Keller Quartet (AKQ) release their 3rd CD. Celebrating the music of their 2009 national Australian tour with special guests Stephen Magnusson (guitar), Phil Slater (trumpet), Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet), John Rodgers (violin) Bernie McGann (alto) and Jamie Oehlers (tenor).
‘Place’ New Work for the Andrea Keller Quartet with strings
Easter 2010 saw the premier of this commissioned work at the 4 Winds Festival Bermagui NSW 60 minutes duration 'Place' blends many musical worlds and was inspired by the area surrounding Bermagui NSW. It explores the notion of identity and belonging.
"Andrea Keller has one of Australia's most consistently interesting musical minds."
Doug Spencer, August 2007
"A prayer of thanks seems appropriate. The meeting thirteen years ago of 20 year olds Eugene Ball (trumpet), Ian Whitehurst (tenor) and Andrea Keller (piano) has grown into a musical congregation of faith that has fulfilled musch hope and given us much to love."
Roger Mitchell, Herald Sun, Sunday August 19, 2007.
"visceral, lyrical..."
Downbeat August 2007.
Andrea Keller
Composer, pianist and improviser Andrea Keller is a leading light in Australian Contemporary music. Living in Melbourne, she performs with many ensembles at the forefront of the jazz scene and receives commissions from festivals and musicians throughout Australia.
She has released many CD’s as leader winning her three Aria Awards for Best Jazz Album (2002, 2003 & 2008), 2 Bell Awards for Best Australian Contemporary Jazz Album (2003 , 2008), and was awarded the inaugural MCA/Freedman Foundation Jazz Fellowship (2001), and an Australia Council Fellowship (2010).
Current Projects:
Solo Piano (originals & other repertoire)
Tim Wilson & Andrea Keller duo (Saxophone & piano; originals by Wilson & Keller)
Eugene Ball & Andrea Keller duo (Trumpet & piano; originals & standards)
Geoff Hughes & Andrea Keller duo (Guitar & piano; originals by Hughes & Keller) Keller/Murphy/Browne (Piano, bass & drums; originals & standards)
Three Lanes Trio (Piano, recorder & percussion/electronics; originals by Keller)
The Andrea Keller Quartet (Trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano & drums; originals by Keller)
Works for contemporary big band.
"one of the most original thinkers on the Australian scene... she has the priceless ability to think outside the square."
Review of 'Angels and Rascals' by Adrian Jackson, Rhythms, August, 2005.
"Pianist Andrea Keller is a major talent on the thriving Australian scene...
Apart from being an outstanding piano player, Keller has the gift for writing totally distinctive and engaging compositions. This recording stands as a marker of just how good Australian jazz is."
Review of 'Angels and Rascals' by Bev Stapleton, AllAboutJazz.com, January, 2006.
"One of this country's most daring and fascinating composers, she produces work that bristles with surprises, a powerful blend of European lyricism with space and improvisation."
Review of 'Angels and Rascals' by Leon Gettler, The AGE, May 5, 2005.