Spike's Farewell Gig
This will be Spike's last Sydney gig before he moves with his family to Tasmania.
Spike will be joined by long time musical friends Barney Wakeford on piano, Aris Kartsonas on guitar, and Gabe Hons on percussion.
They will be playing their favourite jazz standards, a few original tunes, and completely improvised pieces.
Come along and hang with Spike as he does what he does best, and listen to some great music and a few stories too.
If you're a muso, bring an instrument and sit in with the band. If you're not a muso, I'm sure we'll be able to find a tambourine for you if you like...

This new quartet will be playing a collection of original music, jazz standards, and reworked classical tunes arranged especially for this ensemble - featuring henri peipman on piano, spike mason on saxophones, matt gruebner on double bass and tim firth on drums

Nadje Noordhuis, 2007 Thelonius Monk International Jazz trumpet competition finalist, New York adoptee since 2003,    will playing with local lads Henri Peipman (piano) and Tim Firth (drums) along with Mark Lau (double bass).   Nadje's music has grace strength and beauty not disimilar to the lyrical work of Dave Douglas, whom she recently had the pleasure of working with as part of the exclusive Carnegie Hall young artists in residence programme. And as for the band you couldn't ask for a more sympathetic and tasteful accompaniment...

The long-awaited launch of Clea Crimson’s debut album “Home Is Where The Art Is”.

The album is a collection of jazz/folk infused songs written by Clea and recorded live over two days at Aphek Studio with some of Sydney’s best jazz musicians (Bill Risby, Ben Ackland, Steve Elphick, Toby Hall and Spike Mason).

“I enjoy the process of recording live songs with the band – rather than tracking everything separately and then putting it all together.” says Clea. “It is an intense focus, to sing every time knowing it might be the one that goes on the album. We were exhausted at the end of the two days but I think we came away with a great result.”

Luke Pittman will open the night.  Growing up on a steady musical diet of Metal, Punk Rock and eventually Neil Young, one might be expecting a musical outcome sounding something like a very cranky bloke singing folk music.  The result is in fact laid back tunes ruminating on Love, God, Love, Satisfaction, Love, Dissatisfaction and the ocean, all presented in a voice sounding some what more like Tim Buckley than Jeff Buckley.  After a few years off, he returns to the stage in 2011 with a newfound relaxed stage presence that only comes from re-assessing life's bigger questions and coming up with very few answers.

The first performance of Spike Mason’s long-awaited new work - a significant new Australian composition for jazz sextet: Spike Mason (saxophones, composer), Henri Peipman (piano) Kristin Berardi (vocals), gareth lewis (trombone), gillian smith (violin), steve elphick (double bass)