Tom Avgenicos has been announced as the 2022 Freedman Jazz Fellow. The finals of this prestigious award were held in The Studio at the Sydney Opera House. The three finalists were Tom Avgenicos, Flora Carbo and Holly Conner. They presented before judges, Virna Sanzone, Andrew Robson and
Steve Barry and a very appreciative audience. All three
finalists, and their ensembles, performed innovative and exciting modern jazz and any one of the three could have been worthy recipients of the award.

Tom Avgenicos presented first with his band, Roshan
Kumarage (piano), Dave Quinn (bass), Ashley Stoneham (drums) and the Ensemble Apex String Quartet featuring Seamus MacNamara (violin), Beatrice Colombis (violin), Phoebe Gilbert (viola) and Reena Oh (cello). Their music was an exciting mixture of avant garde creativity and swirling and ethereal expressions.

The second presenter was alto saxophonist Flora Carbo, who performed with Isaac Gunnoo (bass), Maddison Carter (drums) and Eitan Ritz (modular synthesiser). Her exploration of sounds again covered a diverse range and included some fascinating rhythms and repetitions with the bass and alto sax and some absorbing interplay between her sax and the synthesiser. Maddison Carter’s exploratory techniques on drums helped this group produce
a very textural set.

Holly Conner’s mesmerising presentation featured her drum kit centre stage flooded in Patrick Harris’s hypnotic visual projections. Her sound was enhanced with electronic samples and some quirky percussion to present three very different songs. The first, Five/Sevens, focused on more traditional drumming. The second, Sun Gongs, had a lighter and more textural feel. Her final piece, Haze, made exquisite use of the electronic samples for a complex sound with more melodic tones.

While the judges were deliberating the audience were
treated with Mike Nock (piano) and Julien Wilson
(saxophone). These two exceptional musicians engaged in an intense musical conversation which would have continued until after the last ferry left Circular Quay except for the intervention of a stagehand advising the judges had reached a decision.

Host James Valentine introduced the judges, prizes were awarded and the musicians congratulated. We all wish them great success in their future endeavours.

The Freedman Fellowships were conceived by Laurence Freedman AM and Dr Richard Letts AM, are managed by The Music Trust, administered and produced by SIMA (Sydney Improvised Music Association).

Featured image : © 2022 Patrick Callow, all rights reserved.