MJC Presents: KINGSTON/SCHWING/HOUSTON/ROBB (Tasmania) – Debut

Kingston/Schwing/Houston/Robb is a new quartet of Tasmanians led by guitarists Damien Kingston and Julius Schwing, along with Hamish Houston on double bass and Tom Robb on drums. The group primarily explore Damien and Julius’s original compositions, which are vehicles for their uncanny ability to sound like one giant guitar together. The pair make brilliant use of their collective 12 strings to create truly extended harmonic and textural sound worlds with spontaneous counterpoint and collective improvisations. Hamish and Tom extend this symbiotic sound with their own deep connection developed over years of playing together in a multitude of formations. Damien spent many years based in The Netherlands before returning to Hobart to teach at the University of Tasmania. He recently released his acclaimed album,Harmony, with the Damien Kingston Quartet, through ABC Jazz. Since placing Third in the 2022 National Jazz Guitar Awards at the 2022 Wangaratta Festival, receiving an APRA/AMCOS Art Music Luminary award and being nominated for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship Award three times, Julius has started to develop a national profile (aided by his eight CD albums)