MWIJF Presents: Sasha Gavlek Quartet (Tas/Vic) & Monash Art Ensemble feat. Andrea Keller and Cheryl Durongpisitkul

Sasha Gavlek Quartet
Sasha Gavlek – Bass
Angus Leighton – Tenor Sax
Stella Anning – Guitar
Holly Thomas – Drums

SGQ x Melbourne

A collaboration between local jazz legends of naarm/Melbourne and nipaluna/Hobart; bassist, soup enthusiast, and queer jazz luminary of lutruwita, Sasha Gavlek presents her original compositions in company with Stella Anning (guitar), Holly Thomas (drums), and Angus Leighton (tenor sax).

High intensity rhythmic ideas encouraging soulful improvisation, each member of the ensemble will bring their personal touch to Gavlek’s alt-jazz compositions, forging a partnership between the Women’s International Jazz Festival of Melbourne and the Clarence Jazz Festival of Hobart.

Based in nipaluna lutruwita (Hobart, Tasmania), Sasha Gavlek (25) is a contemporary bassist, bandleader, composer and educator, with a love for alternative jazz and improvisation. Gavlek graduated from the UTAS Conservatorium of music with a Bachelor of Music in 2019, and is a prominent and busy musician of the island, regularly performing within various established ensembles and in 2022 released her debut all-original album ‘On Second Thoughts’ by the Sasha Gavlek Quartet.

Monash Art Ensemble feat. Andrea Keller and Cheryl Durongpisitkul
The Monash Art Ensemble (MAE) commissions, performs and records new, mainly Australian, work for a mixed ensemble ranging in size from around ten to twenty players.

Driven by the philosophy to play music that explores the interface between composition and improvisation, the MAE began in 2012 during the final months of Paul Grabowsky’s tenure as AD of the Australian Art Orchestra, with the aim of encouraging mid-career artists, nurturing young talent and developing audiences outside the critical mass of cultural infrastructure in Melbourne’s CBD. It has engaged University funding and infrastructure to leverage significant philanthropic support, expand music audiences in the south east of Melbourne and support social equity through commissioning, performing and recording new music by diverse identities of composers, performers, staff and students.

In addition, the MAE aims to mentor select music students via the engagement of leading independent practitioners and music staff alongside them in the performance of new music to engage artistic research to understand and evaluate the challenges thrown up by the creation of new works, particularly in terms of ontological and phenomenological aspects of reflexivity in improvisation.

Since its inception in 2012, the MAE has commissioned 26 new works and features annually at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Notable commissions have included Carla Bley, Kris Davis, Andrea Keller, Cheryl Durongpistkul, Aaron Wyatt, Iran Sanadzadeh & George Lewis, to name only a handful.

This performance in MWIJF 2023 is the launch of the ensembles’ recordings of Cheryl Durongpisitkul’s ‘A Pinky Promise’ and Andrea Keller’s ‘Circuit Breaker’.