Above image: Peter Locke
From the first note at The Lounge on May 21 last, I was struck by the glorious sound of the venue’s grand piano, as it was played by the talented Peter Locke. This confirmed in one fell swoop why I feel strongly that The Lounge in Chatswood is currently far and away the best venue in Sydney to hear live jazz. In my lifetime of often hearing the piano down in the sound-mix, courtesy of sound technicians who apparently have little idea of how jazz should sound, it’s a great relief to be in a venue where I no longer have to approach a sound technician in the intermission and request that the piano volume be turned up, so I can hear it clearly.
At The Lounge, I’m glad to say, everything is in place: an excellent piano; an intimate 300-seater venue, where there’s not a bad seat in the house; highly competent sound & lighting technicians; and a warm, receptive audience which palpably keeps returning every month to enjoy ten jazz concerts per annum, courtesy of the arts-aware Willoughby City Council.
I’m mostly aware of Locke’s artistry in his capacity as singer Gregg Arthur’s regular pianist where, even though he’s an essential contributor to Arthur’s oeuvre, he’s in something of a subordinate role. In this concert he was the leader of his own trio, presenting exceedingly clever arrangements of primarily well-known compositions, so we were able to hear his own voice clearly for the first time.
His trio included the brilliant drummer Andrew Dickeson, also heard regularly in the Arthur band, and the extraordinary double bassist Phil Stack. I say extraordinary because Stack is the sort of bassist who’s a formidable crowd-pleaser, usually taking relatively short solos – in other words he doesn’t go on forever – with a huge sound, playing phrases which can be clearly heard, with a straightforward, melodic style which is immensely appealing to the listener. At this gig I came to look forward to his every bass solo, just to enjoy his melodic phrasing, and his ability to round off his improvisations with a coup de grace which generated applause.
Locke’s program began with three standards, beautifully arranged: Sweet Georgia Brown, Sweet & Lovely, and Stompin’ at the Savoy. These might have sounded run-of-the mill had Locke presented them in the conventional way– first playing the melody, then solos in turn from everyone, then four-bar breaks with the drums, then returning to the melody with perhaps a cadenza at the end. Locke’s arrangements effectively updated these conventions with interesting rhythmic passages, and stop chords or breaks within the arrangements which all the musicians were aware of. In a nutshell, familiar tunes suddenly sounded like stimulating new versions.
The trio then did a bracket of tunes associated with Duke Ellington: Caravan (written by Ellington trombonist Juan Tizol); Ellington’s own composition Sophisticated Lady; and finishing with two Billy Strayhorn numbers, which were essential to the Ellington oeuvre, Lush Life and Take The “A” Train. The cleverness of Locke’s arrangements was once again notable and needless to say, the solos from everyone in the band were consistently brilliant; this was Australian jazz at the highest level. The trio was able to effortlessly generate real swing, and I was particularly delighted that, as usual, Dickeson was, more often than not, willing to use brushes, where he’s an acknowledged master.
An unusual treat was an original composition by Locke entitled San Raphael, which he apparently wrote in Cuba some years ago when he was there with the touring Dan Barnett Big Band, and performed in San Raphael Boulevard, one of Havana’s busiest avenues. Played with a spirited Latin time-feel it featured gorgeous harmonic changes; this great composition was a memorable highlight of the performance.
The first set ended with a pleasant surprise: two numbers featuring special guest trumpeter Billy Burton: the Victor Young standard Stella by Starlight (on which Burton used harmon mute, effectively recalling the famous Miles Davis version); and the beautiful standard Here’s That Rainy Day, where Burton changed to flugelhorn. The spectacle of a 93-year-old musician still playing with such spirit is always heartwarming, and it was naturally greeted in raptures by the generous Lounge audience.
In the second set the Locke trio featured the relatively young female vocalist Kate Wadey. An immensely talented singer, with an elegant stage presence – she moves to the music beautifully – she opened her account with Irving Berlin’s 1935 composition Isn’t This a Lovely Day? and proceeded with Detour Ahead, a jazz standard written by the guitarist Herb Ellis in 1947, which has been recorded by umpteen jazz musicians and vocalists.
The rest of Wadey’s program continued with relatively well-known tunes from the Great American Songbook, and it’s a testimony to the resilience of the Songbook that they were all written in the 1930s or even earlier: You Go To My Head (1938), Lover Come Back To Me (1928), Willow Weep for Me (1932), and after Burton was recalled towards the end of the set, East of the Sun (1934) and Exactly Like You (1930).
All good jazz musicians and singers need to warm up, which is why their performances generally are more expressive as their performances proceed. I wondered why Wadey’s voice initially sounded somewhat thin, compared to her performance with the Pocket Trio recently at the Camelot Lounge, not to mention her two great tracks on the Pocket Trio album Something Borrowed Something Blue. I was not surprised to hear later, that she had not fully recovered from a recent virus, which affected her throat.
This did not prevent Wadey from delivering a fully polished and professional performance, and I doubt if anyone in the audience, other than a pedant like myself, would have been aware of the difficulties under which she was singing. By the time she did Lover Come Back To Me, taken at a bright clip, and a lovely version of the ballad Willow Weep for Me, she appeared to me to have warmed up and was at her most expressive. In the latter number Wadey sang with great freedom, and with faultless phrasing. With a very sensitive fade-out at the end of the tune, she was able to create a magic moment which generated serious applause; at that moment I felt the audience was completely won over, and she was able to surf a wave of acceptance until the inevitable standing ovation.
Trumpeter Billy Burton was brought back for the last two numbers of the final set, East of the Sun and Exactly Like You, both sung by Wadey, ending the performance on a high note. At the end of the former tune, Burton sustained an exceedingly long note on the trumpet with his harmon mute in the bell of the trumpet, long after the band had closed off its last chord. While this could be regarded as a harmless gimmick, it brought the house down, reminiscent of the last time Burton appeared at The Lounge with Gregg Arthur’s band in October, 2025. Such a playful decision is guaranteed to have a positive impact on a jazz audience, which it certainly did at The Lounge.
The Peter Locke Trio plus Kate Wadey was another sterling event in a monthly series of jazz concerts which appears to be seriously locked in for the forseeable future. In a world where our great jazz musicians are trying to find good venues in which to perform, it’s remarkable that the jazz flag is flying triumphantly in two places on Sydney’s North Shore: in Chatswood at The Lounge; and on the northern beaches peninsula in Avalon, where Billy Burton is a regular fixture in jazz concerts at Avalon Bowlo.
The Jazz At The Lounge series at The Concourse is presented by Willoughby City Council as part of Culture Bites, its program of arts and culture. The latest concert in the series took place on May 21, 2026, and featured Peter Locke (piano), Phil Stack (double bass), Andrew Dickeson (drums), Kate Wadey (vocals) & Billy Burton (trumpet & flugelhorn).
