THE JAVA QUARTET ‘TEDDY AND ME’ Album Launch
Friday, September 18, 2026 @ 8:00 pm
Doors open at 7:30 pm
The Java Quartet celebrate over 30 years on the Australian jazz landscape with the release of their ninth album and September launch dates. A personal reflection, Teddy and Me explores composer and bandleader Michael Galeazzi’s relationship and memories of his father Telmo Galeazzi. Telmo ‘Ted’ Galeazzi emigrated from Italy in 1951 and married Pam (a Sydney local) in 1956. He was a complicated fella who spent decades navigating the space between the place from which he came (the tiny village of Cupramontana) and the place where he ended up (Sydney’s eastern suburbs).
The album is a sonic stroll down memory lane where musical style is a vehicle for memory translation. Think the subtle joy of the second line bounce in Teddy conjuring Telmo as the unexpected jovial butcher-goods salesman. The Latin groove of Trocadero reflects the enchanting venue where Pam and Telmo first met on the dance floor. Reflective swing unpacks Telmo’s complex relationship with mum in The Ballad of Pammy and Ted, and the 70’s drive of El Capitan is a nod to Telmo’s detective aspirations (he always laughed at the sitcom Columbo). The unease of Butter underpins that space that was his cultural interstice, and the melodic summer breeze of Speedwood is just Michael merrily riding on the back of his delivery truck. The gentle lullaby of Nonno closes the album with Telmo as the gracious, proud grandad.
Teddy and Me is a collection of songs marking time and place, memory filtering the narrative in a tribute to a man wedged between worlds… a good man. Recorded live at Rancom Street Studios by long-time collaborator Keith Walker, Teddy and Me captured a two-day session of intuitive playing where the band explored the memory frameworks presented by Michael.
Michael Galeazzi (bass), Matthew Ottignon (sax), Mike Quigley (drums), Greg Coffin (piano) have created a beautiful acoustic suite, spiced with groove, heart, and a sound that has been forged through decades of playing together. Teddy and Me is all that is typically Java: melodic and spacious, driving, elegant and honest.