Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival 2022
Jo Lawry with Dan Tepfer and Melissa Aldana Quartet
Opening night of the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival
was a double bill featuring, as the first act, vocalist Jo
Lawry with the amazing French pianist Dan Tepfer. The second
act was the highly talented Melissa Aldana Quartet, originally
from Chile but now New York based.

Jo Lawry is an impressive singer with a strong liking for scat
and free jazz. Her conversations and improvisations with pianist
Dan Tepfer were truly thrilling. Their ability to predict and
respond to each other was quite extraordinary. Her singing
reminded me of some of Joni Mitchell’s more jazz influenced songs.
Late in her set she performed a spine tingling version of Both
Sides Now. Her tone, range and dynamic response made this a
wonderful and memorable rendition. It is a song that is often
poorly attempted but Jo Lawry performed it with skill and passion.

Pianist Dan Tepfer is a world class performer and would be worth
listening on his own. His keyboard gymnastics and dynamism were
exceptionally entertaining. The emotion, range and dexterity of
his performance was a highlight of the evening.

The Melissa Aldana Quartet opened with some very smooth guitar
work from the stylish Lage Lund. Melissa Aldana joined in on
tenor saxophone with some brilliantly creative and avant garde
input. Their melodies would often start with some fairly orthodox
phrasing before venturing into unpredictable and inventive
territory. This necessarily required assured and adaptable rhythm
from bassist Pablo Menares and he excelled at his task. A real
highlight of the quartet was the brilliant and confident drum work
of Kush Abadey. His performance was scintillating, unpredictable
and a pleasure not just to listen to but also to watch. His
embodied performance was simply spectacular.

Opening night of the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival
2022 was on Thursday 27th October at the Seymour Centre. The
quality on display augurs well for the remaninder of the festival,
which runs at various venues until 5th November. Presented by SIMA.
More information at: https://sima.org.au/siwjf/

Pictures by Shane Rozario