This interview is the twenty-fourth in a series of interviews with a number of Australia’s most distinguished jazz artists, which 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/composer 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
Kevin Hunt is a jazz pianist/composer who has performed regularly in the Sydney jazz scene since 1979. He currently performs regularly with vocalist Emma Pask and pianist Simon Tedeschi. The people whom Kevin considers to be his most influential Australian artistic mentors include Don Burrows, Fr Ted Kennedy, Chuck Yates, Roger Frampton, John Speight, Judy Bailey, Sandy Evans, George Golla, Julian Lee, Paul McNamara, Paul Grabowsky, Bill Motzing, and many others.
As well as performing jazz music, Kevin teaches jazz studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has recently completed his PhD entitled ‘Perceptions of the Stuart & Sons piano: realising a creative, active vision.’ In this research Kevin analyses the unique sound produced by the Australian-made Stuart & Sons piano. As an outcome of this research, Kevin collaborates musically with local and regional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians to produce new music for the Stuart Piano. This research has instigated the annual Our Music Indigenous Music Program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to encourage continued collaborations between Sydney’s indigenous and non-indigenous musicians.
Kevin’s school days were full of music, playing in brass bands, rock bands, singing in choirs and playing for church. His home life was also musical, learning classical piano from his father Ellis, listening to the classical violin playing of his sister Marianne, and being profoundly influenced by the blues-rock music played by his older brothers Bernard & John.
Kevin’s first jazz piano teachers were Chuck Yates, John Speight and David Levy. In 1981 he studied jazz at the Conservatorium with Don Burrows, Judy Bailey, Paul McNamara, Roger Frampton, George Golla, Miroslav Bukovsky and Dick Montz.
Since the mid-1980s, Kevin has led his own jazz ensembles specializing in performances of his own compositions as well as classical composers J S Bach, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy & Leonard Bernstein. Kevin led the successful trio J S Bach Trio with Lawrie Thompson on drums and Gary Holgate on bass. This trio won ABC-FM’s ‘listeners choice’ award in 1998 for the recording Kevin Hunt Plays J S Bach.
In 1984-88, Kevin received rich composition and performance experience working regularly with the Kinetic Energy Theatre Company. In 1986 he was the assistant musical director for Pope John Paul II Youth Celebration at the SCG.
In 1987, Kevin was appointed prison education officer teaching music at Sydney’s Long Bay Correctional Facility. This was a most fulfilling experience for him. He taught singing, guitar, piano and songwriting. In 1990 he was given the MO award for Jazz Musician of the Year. In 1992, he studied composition at the Conservatorium with Martin Wesley Smith, Greg Schirmer, Gillian Whitehead & Trevor Pearce. In 1993, he studied jazz performance with the Austrian keyboardist & composer Joe Zawinul in Vienna.
Kevin has recorded jazz CDs with Don Burrows, Marie Wilson, James Morrison, Simon Tedeschi, Tim Hopkins, Adrian Mears, Janet Seidel, Steve Hunter, David Jones, and many others.
In 1992, Kevin, Steve Hunter and David Jones formed the modern jazz trio Tree, producing two CDs Tree and Love & Logic. Tree was a popular group in the 90s, and there are frequent plans for reunion performances.
From 1995 to 2008, Kevin performed and travelled regularly with Australian jazz maestro Don Burrows. Kevin says “Don has generously shared his music with me and the world, a very fortunate partnership”. In 2000, Kevin and Don released a double CD of their musical union entitled Eye For Eye Vol 1 & 2. Don Burrows’ intuitive teaching techniques have greatly influenced Kevin’s teaching style, particularly in teaching jazz improvisation.
Kevin and concert pianist Simon Tedeschi met in 1999, when both pianists were accompanying mouth organ virtuoso Larry Adler on his final Australian concert tour. Kevin says, “Simon’s musical ability and his friendship are truly inspirational.” Kevin and Simon have produced two CD recordings, Duelling Schimmels (2009) & Woodlands (2010).
In 2001, Kevin was awarded the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust Jazz Scholarship for piano and composition studies in New York City. He lived in New York for four months in 2001, studying composition with Mel Marvin at the New York University, privately with jazz pianist Kevin Hays, and composers Paul Winter and Anne Phillips.
As a result of this time in NYC, Kevin composed a jazz oratorio Ceremony: A Celebration Of Life, which was recorded and broadcast nationally by the ABC on Easter Sunday 2002.
In 2002-04, Kevin taught jazz studies at the Australia International Conservatorium of Music, Harris Park Sydney. In 2002, he produced a highly regarded jazz trio CD entitled Love Walked In, with Gordon Rytmeister (drums) and David Pudney (bass). Kevin says, “I am influenced and awed by the artistry of musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Bud Powell, and George Shearing. Love Walked In is an opportunity to explore these influences and pay homage to these great composers and players.”
In 2004, Kevin completed a Masters in Jazz Performance (MMus) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, under the supervision of Dick Montz, Bill Motzing and Phil Slater, with piano tuition from Stephanie McCallum. Kevin’s Masters degree focussed on transforming French classical piano repertoire into improvisatory form for jazz performance.
In 2005, Kevin was the musical director at Fr Ted Kennedy’s funeral. Fr Ted was Redfern’s mentor with ‘Mum’ Shirley Smith, of thousands of urban Aboriginal people since the 1960s. Since 2005 Kevin has lectured in the Jazz Studies faculty at the Sydney Conservatorium, specialising in Jazz History and Improvisation.
In 2007, Kevin directed the AMEB Piano Teachers Festival at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He began PhD research on the jazz capabilities of the Australian-made Stuart & Sons piano. This research has recently produced new music for the Stuart Piano based on Aboriginal chants of the Sydney region.
In 2010, Kevin formed a new jazz trio with Dave Goodman (drums), and Karl Dunnicliff (bass). This trio has recorded and performed extensively for Kevin’s research in comparing the Stuart & Sons piano sound with other pianos.
Since 2010 Kevin has developed the program Our Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, to collaborate musically with local and regional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians. In 2012, the Menindee Central School Aboriginal art students painted a Stuart piano for Kevin to play at the Our Music events. To date, there have now been three Our Music workshop-festivals hosted at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
In 2015, Kevin completed a research PhD entitled ‘Perceptions of the Stuart & Sons Piano Sound: realising a creative, active vision.’ In this research the tonal colour sound or spectra of the Stuart piano was defined by comparing it to the sound of the Steinway piano, and compositions using the Stuart piano sound were created collaboratively with Aboriginal musicians of the Sydney region.
In 2017 Dr Kevin was appointed Academic Fellow in Jazz and Improvised Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 2020 he was appointed Program Leader (director) of the Jazz Performance and Improvised Music Bachelor of Music degrees at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Eric Myers: What do you think of being a jazz pianist, improviser, composer, educator in Australia, and how have you been able to build your career so far?
Kevin Hunt: In my experience jazz music and improvisation are about two central areas: self-management and engagement. Both areas reveal to me who I am and possibly who I want to be in music. I’m seeing now that performing and teaching are closely intertwined as I develop as a teacher and a performer, because of the interaction that is invited and generated in both activities. How I have built a career is with a lot of assistance from others and significant luck with the timing of opportunities. There is ‘self drive’ yes – however there is luck and we do know that many greatly talented people struggle more than I have to establish a career.
How do your experiences in Australia compare to your experiences elsewhere?
I don’t think I have lived internationally enough as a musician to be able to articulate the contrasts of the Australian music scene and others. I can say though that since 1987, when staying in NYC I did experience a social artistic depth in the community, mainly through the African-American sensibilities, jazz people, church people and the understandings of the phenomena of jazz historically and in current times. Whilst in Poland in 1992 I lived in a more political changing flux and excellence in musical education. Whilst in Ireland & England cousin links with my family history and in India cousin links my wife’s family history. I wasn’t in Cuba for long enough to really get an idea of the day-to-day lifestyle. However in both the Dominican Republic (1993) and Cuba (2020), I observed the great depth of Afro-Caribbean cultures.
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?
Regarding the benefits of social media – I think I did prefer life without the constancy of mobile phones and Facebook. There seems to be an expectation or taken for granted that we’re supposed to want to be connected 24/7, to continually know about the latest and most important events. Whenever I lose my phone or can’t get on the internet I realise this, and wonder about its importance or even necessity. On the other side of this however, it’s very useful to have a website that contains research done, and current activities, blogs. And Facebook is very useful for finding people.
What is the main thing that nourishes your music?
A peace within – if I can touch this, and see it, then my activities feel nourished, light and even at times effortless – I’m never really ready, or know when this will happen – it’s like a pleasant surprise when I realise ‘the peace within’ is driving things.
List three things you would introduce to Australia to improve or enhance the music scene here.
A greater priority of (1) experiencing arts and music in all schools, and (2) in the general community. I observed this in countries such as Brazil, India, Cuba and Poland, where music is fundamentally tied in with the attributes of the people’s culture. It might happen more here as Australian culture develops.
What projects are you working on at the moment?
I’m interested in how text influences songwriters. So I’m looking at the lyrics of songs – how the composer has set the lyrics rhythmically and harmonically – and then allowing myself to be led by this in my improvisation or re-write of the piece. I’m enjoying improvising or re-composing a tune I know very well – totally prompted by the lyric – not so much the melody or harmony even though both the known melody and harmony would be fundamentally influencing me in what I am doing. Being led purely by the lyric enables me to experience & respond musically because of my nuance or interpretation of a word or lyric phrase….. leading to a new musical action depiction – possibly with new harmony and new form. The structural form of the tune is then re-written to fundamentally set a new plan that contains my nuances with the storyline of the tune – and new materials are set to improvise with. It’s a project I entitle “Nuance and Resonance”. The project is also centred on the inspiring sounds I find on the Stuart & Sons piano. The Stuart Piano soundscape connects me in my practices, to First Nations sensibilities now, because of the numerous works I’ve had the honour to create on the Stuart Piano in collaboration with First Nations artists since 2009. I’m excited to be collaborating with Bart Willoughby soon, playing the very latest Stuart Piano designs with compasses of 102 and 108 keys!
Would you like to share with us your best and worst musical memory?
It’s excruciating though dynamic that I continue to experience my best and worst moments in music each time I play or write or teach. Losing the connection and then finding it is a continuing dynamic and wondrous experience, and I feel so fortunate to have people guiding me through this dynamism each day – students, colleagues, family.
Can you describe your most serious challenges and how you surmount them?
Being organised, and meeting deadlines. I find both these to be endlessly difficult. Thinking small helps…. When I focus on the small matter at hand, and not the big ‘what if’ questions, I can relax and get things done.
If you could wave a magic wand over the music community, what would you wish for?
Regular full employment for performers.
If you weren’t a jazz pianist, improviser, composer, educator what would you do?
Hospitality/restaurant, trade or social work.
Who or what are you listening to at the moment?
My two go-to’s are Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, and anything of the twentieth-century French composer of contemporary classical music Gérard Grisey.
What are your other interests outside music?
Family and friends, though I don’t prioritise these enough!
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
