Situated on the corner of Shepherd and Knox streets, Chippendale, one finds the Knox Street Bar. The building has been owned for over 30 years by the sculptor and photographer Bjorn Godwin, who converted what was originally a garage into a so-called neighbourhood bar in 2014. It includes a performance area which seats about 60 people. With a raised stage area, with good sightlines from wherever one might be sitting in the room, it’s perfect for a small jazz club, where the music can be experienced in all its intimacy.
This has been happening for about a year, one night a month, courtesy of the jazz quartet The Mezzanines led by the singer Meredith O’Reilly. The band is full of outstanding jazz musicians: Peter Locke (electric piano); Craig Walters (tenor saxophone); and Stan Valacos (double bass). On the night I attended, November 1, 2025, Jim Piesse was on drums, filling in for resident drummer Ron Lemke. The group plays from 8-10.15 pm.
O’Reilly is probably best-known in the jazz world as a frequent guest vocalist with the Dan Barnett Big Band at Balmain’s Unity Hall and at Billy Burton’s Wednesday Jazz Club at Avalon Bowlo. She comes to jazz with 40 years experience as an entertainer in the theatre world. Her CV is so full that we can only hint here of her impressive track record but, from 2019 to 2025 she performed seven different one woman cabaret shows at Claire’s Kitchen in Oxford Street, Surry Hills. Over the same period her one woman show Curtains, about the ups and downs of showbiz, played regional theatres and cabaret venues throughout New South Wales, and will be seen again in 2026.
In performance, O’Reilly shows clearly the benefit of that vast experience. Feeling entirely comfortable as a performer, she has a very strong stage presence. Also it helps that she’s an excellent singer with a particularly strong high register, and a lovely vibrato. She projects well, and it was a delight to hear the clarity with which she articulates her lyrics.
At the performance I witnessed recently, a Saturday night, I was struck by the high quality of her repertoire. I heard well-known jazz standards such as the swinging Louis Jordan number Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby, plus what one might call the better popular music hits, such as George Harrison’s great composition Something. An unexpected delight was the little-heard composition by Dory Previn I Wake Up Slow.
The Mezzanines in Knox Street Bar, left to right, Peter Locke, Meredith O’Reilly, Ron Lemke, Craig Walters, Stan Valacos…
I always appreciate a singer providing background info on the compositions being presented – it’s an essential part of the cabaret element that is such an important part of jazz singing. I was interested to be reminded by O’Reilly of something I’d forgotten: that Dory Previn was André Previn’s first wife, before he met and married the young Mia Farrow in 1971. As soon as I got home I ran to the internet to listen again to I Wake Up Slow, and thought it a very perceptive composition; my thanks to Meredith O’Reilly for alerting me to it.
When it came to Cry Me A River O’Reilly related the story of Julie London being encouraged by the pianist Bobby Troup (probably best-known as composer of the well-known standard Route 66) to record it. The result was London’s hit 1955 version, interestingly accompanied by two musicians only, Barney Kessel (guitar) and Ray Leatherwood (double bass). It’s a well-known success story in jazz history (London was later to marry Troup by the way) and it was typical of O’Reilly’s thoughtful presentation that she included this story; in my view this sort of patter brings the audience in, and enables a performance to come alive.
O’Reilly’s quality repertoire also included Cole Porter’s So In Love, enlivened by the fact that this was written for the musical Kiss Me Kate, Porter’s most successful musical. Others included Leon Russell’s masterpiece This Masquerade, and the Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune This Girl’s in Love With You.
O’Reilly says that the latter was written for Herb Alpert as his vocal range was restricted to one octave. I don’t know if this is entirely accurate; it’s not confirmed by the available commentary. But we do know that Alpert asked David to change some of the lyrics to suit him. As Alpert had a number one hit with the song, this is another success story, and O’Reilly is right to use it to enliven her performance, even if the story may be slightly embellished.
Other tunes reached back into jazz history with Hardhearted Hannah, the Vamp of Savannah (1924) recorded by umpteen singers, including Peggy Lee, and Duke Ellington’s classic Mood Indigo (1930). If I have a favourite song these days, it is probably Cole Porter’s lovely tune Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, which always affects me; I was glad to hear O’Reilly sing it so beautifully to close the performance.
I haven’t said much about the instrumentalists on the night, but I have waxed lyrical so often about pianist Peter Locke and saxophonist Craig Walters in previous reviews, particularly their work with singer Gregg Arthur, that I feel I’ve said it all before. Of course, their solos accompanying O’Reilly were always splendid, well worthy of their status as brilliant improvisers, and I was glad to hear bassist Stan Valacos and drummer Jim Piesse live for the first time, even though I’m well aware of their comprehensive track records in jazz over many years.
The instrumentalists in the Mezzanines were playing acoustically, by the way, without the need for amplification, except for a mike on the bass, in a room where the pristine sound of their horns could be clearly heard and appreciated. Also it’s important to note that the venue has a sound engineer, Journey Green.
Ten years ago the Sydney Morning Herald described this unusual venue as follows: “Knox Street Bar is the kind of knockabout place you want to have on your street corner. It’s a community-led drinking hole in all its weird glory…. You’ll love it if you like quirky, off-kilter neighbourhood bars.”
