Featured image: Aaron Blakey
This interview is the twenty-fifth in a series of interviews with a number of Australia’s most distinguished jazz artists, which originally were published monthly in Loudmouth, the e-zine edited by Dr Richard Letts. Loudmouth ceased publication in late 2024, so subsequent interviews will now appear in Sydney Arts Guide. They will now concentrate on musicians who are active either in Sydney or in New South Wales regional areas. These interviews include two sections: a biography provided by the artist and a question & answer interview which is conducted by email. Such interviews are designed to be brief, relevant and informative, allowing those artists to reveal hitherto unknown information about their musical careers, and giving them an opportunity to express their views on the Australian music scene. All artists in this series were asked similar questions about their experiences as a music maker, plus other questions which arose during the interview process. Originally they were based on the ten questions used by pianist Chris Cody in his celebrated 10 x 10 series of interviews, published in Loudmouth between August, 2021 and May, 2022. We express our appreciation that Chris gave us permission to use his questions, which facilitated such interesting interviews in his 10 x 10 series.
BIOGRAPHY
Aaron Blakey is a New Zealand-born jazz pianist/composer based in Sydney. He has been performing since 2006 and has studied in New Zealand (Auckland University), in Japan (under tutelage from Yuki Arimasa, former Berklee College professor), and in Australia at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney.
Aaron moved to Sydney in 2011 after a four-year stint of playing in Japan as an active pianist on the Tokyo jazz scene, including a stint at the internationally renowned New York Bar & Grill at the Shinjuku Park Hyatt, as featured in the 2003 blockbuster movie Lost in Translation.
Since relocating to Sydney, Aaron has made a name for himself as a sideman and leader, performing with the likes of Dale Barlow, Roger Manins, Hamish Stuart, Jonathan Zwartz, Andrew Dickeson, Tim Firth, Andrew Crago, Mike Rivett, Will Vinson, Brendan Clarke, and many others. Over the years, Aaron has also had the opportunity to further his jazz studies with Mike Nock, as well as with internationalartists including American jazz pianists Kevin Hays, Aaron Goldberg, and Danny Grissett.
Aaron writes music for his own bands and has performed regularly at Sydney venues such as Foundry 616, Venue 505, Lazybones, Butchers Brew, Botany View Hotel, Potts Point Hotel, Low302, and many others.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Eric Myers: What do you think of being a jazz pianist/composer in Australia, and how have you been able to build your career so far?
Aaron Blakey : I think there are some really great players over here in Sydney (and all around Australia) and since I moved over here in 2011 I have really enjoyed being able to perform and record with so many talented musicians. When I first moved here I only knew a handful of Sydney musicians (some of whom I had met in Tokyo) and it took a while to get to know people and get gigs, but one thing that actually helped me was that I had a nice Nikon digital camera and would often turn up to gigs and take photos of musicians and upload them to social media, tagging them etc, and then a lot of musicians got to know me through that, so it was easier to get onto the scene once they found out I played pretty good piano as well.
How do your experiences in Australia compare to your experiences elsewhere?
In comparison to Auckland (New Zealand) where I grew up, there are a lot more venues to play in over here, (especially before covid) but having said that, I also lived in Tokyo, Japan for four years before moving here, and they have so many jazz clubs and bars and all with pianos which is something that Sydney is really lacking at the moment. I think it’s a population thing as well and the appreciation for arts and music in Japan seems to be very high, whilst over here in Australia I think the emphasis is more on sports.
Have you found that the various forms of social media have been helpful in advancing your career? If so, in what ways have they been helpful?
Yes definitely Instagram and Facebook been very helpful for advertising gigs. I often take little video clips on gigs and upload them to social media to use for advertising the next gig or to say ‘hey, check out my new album or come to this gig or something like that’. I think social media is probably the most powerful tool for advertising these days.
What is the main thing that nourishes your music?
Lots of different things… being around a bunch of creative and passionate musicians definitely helps, and even just catching up with musician friends for a coffee and chat about what we are working on, who we‘ve been listening to, what are we finding inspiring/challenging etc, can often be nourishing and inspiring.
I also love playing sports, going to the gym, exercising and also photography. I think having a balance is helpful for me and I often get ideas for writing music from things that have totally nothing to do with music. For example, I‘m playing a fair bit of basketball at the moment and I’m starting to write tunes named after basketball phrases and terms, so that‘s going to be my new project. Basketball–influenced jazz with some bounce!
List three things you would introduce to Australia to improve or enhance the music scene here.
1/ More venues;
2/ More pianos in venues; and
3/ More jam sessions.
If you weren’t a jazz pianist/composer what would you do?
Probably something to do with sports or photography. I was originally planning on living in Japan and doing something to do with interpreting or translating (as I speak Japanese) so maybe something like that too…
Who or what are you listening to at the moment?
A lot of Branford Marsalis and John Coltrane. And I’ve just started checking out Sullivan Fortner’s album Solo Game.
Also I have been really enjoying the new album released by Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette called “The Old Country“ and Kurt Rosenwinkel’s album “The Next Step Band (Live at Smalls, 1996)”.
Would you like to share with us your best and worst musical memory?
This is a tricky one as I have had lots of interesting memories. One of the worst ones might have to be when I was booking a jazz festival in Surry Hills. I booked some bands to play and then a jam session to finish off the night. One of the punters wanted to get up and rap, but the bar staff were telling him that he was too drunk and had to leave the premises. He then refused, got angry, punched my keyboard and was escorted out of the bar where he proceeded to punch the glass door, shattering it; security had to call the cops. And to top it off the venue which had promised to pay me cash on the day (to pay the bands with) decided they didn’t have enough cash in the till and I would have to come back at a later date to collect it, whereupon they changed the deal and came up with some excuses as to why they couldn’t pay as much as initially promised. I ended up paying some people out of my own pocket.
One of my best musical memories was probably in Tokyo, back in 2007 or 2008, when I went to hear Keith Jarrett play a solo concert in a gigantic concert hall in Ikebukuro. He played four encores and made everybody cry! It was brilliant.
I also really loved gigging in Tokyo, where there are so many little (and big) jazz clubs and bars with grand pianos and everybody really digs jazz over there. It was so nice to play there. There would be all-night jam sessions so often musicians would miss the last train after work and go hang out at these jam sessions drinking and smoking and playing jazz until the mornings when they would catch the train home.
What are your other interests outside music?
Basketball, taekwondo (I have a black belt) general training at the gym, and sprinting. Photography, Japanese language, fashion, and nutrition as well.
VIEW & LISTEN
Aaron Blakey Sextet, Botany View Hotel, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQfIp4BzVII
Aaron Blakey Band with Roger Manins, Botany View Hotel, February, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzHC3dKey-I
Aaron Blakey Trio featuring Dale Barlow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQG_KImkpy8
Another with Dale Barlow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMhFMTpsJ9w
INTERVIEWER
Eric Myers was the inaugural jazz critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, 1980-1982, and jazz critic with The Australian, 1983-1987. He was publisher & editor of the Australian Jazz Magazine 1981-1986, and a government-funded Jazz Co-ordinator from 1983-2002. He returned to writing on jazz for The Australian in 2015. He has a website dedicated to documenting Australian jazz history at this link www.ericmyersjazz.com
