February 2024
This year is off to a flying start! I’ve just returned from performing in Japan with Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura. We played eight concerts in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and in Aichi prefecture. Five of these were Kira Kira performances showcasing new material and featuring extraordinary drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. The band sounds so good! We are looking to tour again in Europe at the end of September and in Australia in late October. More on that soon.
I also played concerts with Satoko (piano duo), and with Satoko Fujii Orchestra Nagoya premiering new large ensemble pieces written by Satoko, Natsuki, Yasuhiro Usui (SFO Nagoya director), and myself. It was very special to re-connect with Satoko and Natsuki, and dive into our music together again.
In other news, the Alister Spence Trio is performing at the Gladstone Hotel, Dulwich Hill on February 7 and at Johnston St Jazz on May 9. We plan to record a new trio album in the middle of the year.
I also have a solo fender rhodes album in the works. It was recorded during the pandemic and is finally seeing the light of day. Tim Whitten is currently mixing the tracks. It sounds really great I think! The album is planned for release in the next 4-6 months.
October 2023
Asteroid Ekosystem return to The Great Club to launch a brand new album – Asteroid Ekosystem LIVE. Recorded last year during a three-week residency at The Great Club, this album captures the band in full flight, seamlessly blending Ed Kuepper’s exploratory guitar playing with the musical intuition, inventiveness and experience shared between the Trio – myself, Lloyd Swanton on double bass and Toby Hall on drums with over 30years of performance together.
Asteroid Ekosystem LIVE is available now in limited vinyl, on Bandcamp, Artist First, Birdland Records, Rocking Horse records and other select stores. It will be widely available for digital download/streaming etc. by November. You can hear the band’s sound expanding, pushing forward into new possibilities. Forget the sky; the cosmos is the limit!
“Set the controls for the heart of the Sun!” (Rigo Dittmann Bad Alchemy). Join us on Saturday October 21, at The Great Club for our only Australian show for 2023!
On October 21, I’m playing a duo with Alexandra Spence as part of the Inner West Jazz Fest at Annandale Creative Arts Centre. We start at 7.30pm. There is a great line-up of music from 6pm onwards, so come and support this exciting new festival.
FEBRUARY 2023
I’m very pleased to announce the release of Mythographer a duo collaboration between brilliant drummer Tony Buck and myself. Out now on CD and digital album!
In other news the Alister Spence Trio played the support set for the Sunnyboys at the NEX Entertainment Centre in Newcastle on February 4. We are also playing in Sydney for Monday Night Confessions on February 20 featuring brand new music.
Tim Whitten is currently mixing tracks from our Asteroid Ekosytem residency at the Great Club last December. The music sounds terrific. We are aiming for a live album release in the second half of the year.
And in May I’m returning to Europe to tour with Kira Kira: Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura and Peter Orins. And also reconnecting musically with Joe Williamson and Christopher Cantillo in Sweden.
I acknowledge the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners and pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging, on whose lands I live, work and play. Sovereignty was never ceded. It always was, always is, always will be Aboriginal land.