Bent Notes

Jennifer Salisbury visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about reimagining a composition of hers from some years ago called Oh Muse.  Jennifer brought in the talents of Mark Morand to rearrange the accompaniment for guitar – the result being a a brighter and more engaging piece of music.

Jennifer chatted about her enjoyment of singing and music in general, and spoke of the busy lifestyle needed to entertain while also maintaing a weekday job.  Of course Jennifer also spoek of those everyday things that can be muses for an artist.  Music is such an important part of Jenni...

Brisbane based pianist, composer, band leader and educator Callum Pask visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about his music and introduce us to a new album his trio has collaborated on from Brisbane based multi-disciplinary artist SOLCHLD.

The album – Scarred and Sacred –  is a collaboration merging Callum’s Jazz Trio with the Spoken Word in the form of poetry with a message, written by SOLCHLD.  Tha album is due for release on January 15, 2026 – checkout Bandcamp for the details and to hear the singles already released.

SOLCHLD is a Magan-djin based Jamaican/Arrernte artist who posesses r...

Melbourne based composer, arranger and Piano Accordian player Jo Abbott visited the Bent Notes Studio to chat about her musical development from Classical to Jazz inspired music.  Early in her musical education Jo discovered the beautiful French music from classical artists such as Debussy.

This music has served as a basis for Jo’s more recent works blending French and Jazz music to develop the repertoire of her 5-piece ensemble – SANFONA.

Sanfona will be touring Central Victoria (Bendigo,  Castlemaine, Ruffy, Bright) in late January – all the details, including a GoFundme campaign from the Sanfona website

He...

International Jazz Vocalist Hetty Kate spoke with Bent Notes about her brand new album – the first in a series of four, being released on November 7, 2025 at The Jazzlab in Brunswick.  The series is called JAZZ IN FOUR SEASONS, with Volume 1 being the SPRING edition, recorded in the Spring in Prague, and being released in Spring in Australia.

In her chat with Bent Notes presenter David Moyle, Hetty talks about the skills of her chosen musicians – both as players – and as arrangers, and her intention to record each of the four albums in different cities, with Jazz mu...

Composer, percussionist, painter, educator and proud Kamilaroi man Adam Manning spoke with Bent Notes about his growing up with music and rhythm and their becoming then a key feature of his life.   He said that his decision to work with these skills was essentially an evolution rather than a specific decision.

Adam discussed how our society seems to have forgotten how to feel and know the rhythm of the land, and how his work brings these rhythms to the forefront, with work recently in collaboration with groups such as the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s; and in hi...

Emerging Melbourne based Cello player, composer and educator Darcy Gilkerson spoke with Bent Notes about his Debut album – Acteon, and his music which works to build a bridge between contemporary classical composition and the jazz improvisatory tradition.  His first memory of music is of playing some very basic piano at around 4 years of age – likely to be a sliding up and down the keyboard!

Darcy is a trans man who uses his music to explore themes of self-discovery, empowerment, trans love and the ever-present ebb and flow between pain and joy.  Darcy talks about how some of his co...

Guitarist Robbie Melville, Cello player Zoe Knighton and Actor Richard Piper performed excerpts from Robbie’s latest creation – The Village Square – LIVE from Studio A at JOY 94.9.

Robbie talked about his writing a short story in response to a request from Zoe, but that it became somewhat bigger and more complex than he had originally thought; and the joy that he, Zoe and Richard have experienced themselves and from their audiences to date when performing the work.

The Village Square is a work that combines live music and storytelling – with a story that is set in an im...

Saxophonist Jason Bruer spoke with Bent Notes about his being taken with the music of John Coltrane and Weather Report in London for the first time when he was 16 years of age.  Jason’s only previous musical experience had been when he learnt the Recorder at school!

Within a few short years Jason was practising hours every day and well on the way to establishing his identity in the music scene across a range of genres, where Jazz has remained his goto.

Hear Jason talk about his amazing experiences over the years in both Australia and...

Serge Carnovale, Artistic Director of the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues, visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about this year’s festival, providing his guidance for your Wang Hang!  This is the 2nd festival that Serge has artistically directed, working with the new board establilshed to resurrect the festival and put it back on the map.

Serge spoke about the achievements made last year and had great joy in his voice as he spoke about the venues and artists for this year’s festival, including the opportunity thay have taken to introduce a number of inter...

Hamed Sadeghi asked his mother for a TAR when he was 14 years of age, after hearing it played on the radio and falling in love with the sound of the instrument.  He decided that Music was to be his career when 18 years of age then started his university studies into Persian Classical music.

Hear Hamed talk about his classical musical education in Iran before moving to Australia where he commenced fusing his Persian classical music with Western Jazz – creating his East-West fusion through his EISHAN ENSEMBLE – and how his music is founded in the Earth.  Their recent releas...

When Paul Grabowsky and Michelle Nicolle visted the Bent Notes studio they spoke about the feelings, emotions and memories they recall after gigs and projects, and their consideration of the history of songs and music in their projects.

Paul spoke especially about his memories and experiences working with first nations people for many years and the learnings he has made about their music and history, and how that has impacted his other musical work.

Michelle spoke about her memories of a gig many years ago in Siberia, where not only was there a language barrier...

Quinn Knight visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about his musical upbringing, developing musical career, and the debut album of his father’s TL;DR project.  The album is called Too Long;Didn’t Read – an album described by Quinn as music for the listener to interpret as they wish.

The 4-piece project was founded by Trumpeter Peter Knight, and includes Peter (Trumpet, Electronics, Live Signal Processing), his son Quinn Knight (Drums), Theo Carbo  (Guitar, Electronics) and Helen Svoboda (Double Bass, Voice).

Quinn noted that Peter set one rule only for the quartet – when introducin...

Mina Yu spoke on Bent Notes of starting her classical piano education at a really young age and of taking up the Jazz mantle when the concept of Jazz was introduced to her.  Mina has not become a Jazz musician, but rather a musician who plays in the Classical and Jazz spheres.

Three years in the making, this new album from Mina – A Day and Life – results from her cross- genre musical skills, and is a solo piano album providing musical interpretations of those everyday things that happen including – Waking up, Being Alone in The Tram, Walking Along T...

Melbourne based vocalist and composer Michelle Nicolle visited the Bent Notes studio upon the occaision of the release of her 11th album – THE SILENT WISH.  Michelle was about to leave Australia for a visit to America to launch the album in the country where she had recorded it with guitarist Larry Koonse.

The album is a collection of 10 songs including one composed by Michelle herself.

Hear Michelle discuss the sense of awe in the recording studio, and the attention to detail of her production team, as well as the care taken to put together a pla...

Perth based Pianist and composer Austin Salisbury spoke of his musical journey to date and bringing his piano trio to the Eastern States to launch their new album – OUTLINES – at the Church St Studios in Camperdown (NSW), and The Jazzlab in Brunswick (VIC)

Austin recalls his earliest musical memories which include watching the movie “The Blues Brothers” and marveling at the music of Ray Charles and knowing that the Piano was to be his instrument.

Austin graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2017 and has been building his career ever since, composing, performi...

Pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky chatted about emotion in music, from composer, arranger, engineer, performer and the listener; and how vocalists have the greateast opportunity to imbue their vocal works with emotion.

Paul will be accompanying American countertenor vocalist Reginald Mobley with his Gospel and Spiritual repertoire on his Australian Tour during March & April 2025.  This repertoire was featured in Reginald’s 2024 album BECAUSE.  Paul spoke of some of the history of this African-American music and the emotional potential built into each piece, and his enthusiasm for these concerts with Reginald.

Reginald and Paul will be perf...

Andrew Harrison is a musician who composes to order.  His new EP – Time Is Truth – is a work he was commissioned to create by a gay couple wishing to celebrate 20 years of relationship committment in a very special way.

A couple who love music, their chioce was a musical suite to celebrate deeper truths about love and committment, through contemporary Jazz arrangements and intimate vocal performances.  Andrew sought to capture the many aspects and the unexpected twists and turns of a two-decade long journey shared between two people.

Hear Andrew talk in this podcast about the pr...

Drummer, Composer and Educator Sonja Horbelt, the Artistic Director of the Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about the challenges experienced by Women in Jazz and the progress for them becoming featured artist and working musicians; and the fabulous women artists performing in this year’s Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival.

The festival cponcert series will be held agaon at The Jazzlab in Brunswick.

Hear about the Improvising Symposium and Equity in Tertiary Education discussion, the new Lumina Award, and so many talented Women featured across 9 days of fes...

Lee Orszaczky, co-leader of the Sydney based music collective MOSAIC, spoke with Bent Notes about his family musical upbringing, including exposure to a broad range of great music; as well as some of his experiences as a music student at the Sydney Conservatorium of music – where he has co-created the MOSAIC collective – a group with an objective to play as much original music as they can.  Lee was inspired towards creating Mosaic when he participated in a workshop led by Sydney based group Ten-Part Invention.

Album artwork: Lee Francis-Evatt (@blonde_pigeon_)

Mosaic released their debut album...

Alastair Kerr, one of Australia’s leading exponents of Brazilian percussion and jazz drumming, visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about his love of Brasilian jazz, the wonderful music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and his addiction to Brasilian Jazz!

Alastair told us that Antonio Carlos Jobim was perhaps the most important composer of the 20th century, becoming known for his Bossa Nova music, as well as orchestral works and art music.  The Stan Getz / Jao Gilberto album –  Getz/Gilberto, was the first internationally massively successful Bossa Nova album which featured music by Antonio Carlos Jobim...

Saxophonist Jamie Oehlers spoke with Bent Notes about the inspiration he received from hearing and seeing the saxaphone in popular music of the 80’s; and starting his musical journey at school with a year of learning and practicing the flute before migrating to the sax.  Jamie recalls the inspiration he recevied from his instrumental teachers along the way.

Jamie described pushing musical boundaries alongside guitarist Stephen Magnusson and drummer Ben Vanderwal.  Those boundaries are in part due to the instrumentation of their trio which does not include drums or bass, giving them their own sonic world to coll...

Saxophonist, Educator, Researcher and Educational Author Rob Burke visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about how the definition of Jazz has changed ove the years, and how that change has been driven in part by the different diaspora’s  around the world .

Rob talks about the challenges of collaborating with the music of other cultures, maintaining the character and life of the music, whilst blending it with the Western approach to improvisation.

Barlines and Beyond released their debut album, recorded at the Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music at Monash University,  on the Jazzhead labe...

Michael Tortoni, Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, visited the Bent Notes studio to talk about the team working with him to curate and activate the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, and the superb roster of artists creating music during the 2024 festival.

Michael spoke about over 400 artists representing 12 countries, performing in 109 events across 34 venues in and around Melbourne, with a collective tally of 34 Grammy award wins and 99 Grammy award nominations.  The festival also sponsors over one third of the program to be a range of free events for the entire community to enjoy – from toddlers to the...

Serge Carnovale visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about his new role this year as the Artistic Director of the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues.

Serge spoke about the range of artists appearing  across the many venues in and around Wangaratta and the venue-based ticketing system introduced this year, as the festival is re-born alongside the National Jazz Awards – this year for Saxophone.

This years artist roster includes Vince Jones, Hetty Kate, Mark Fitzgibbon, Ilaria Crociani, Kellie Santin, Tamara Kuldin, Julien Wilson, Jack Earle, High Society and lots more!

Find more det...

Harry Mitchell described the philosophy behind his latest album – NOON – when he spoke with David Moyle and Chelsea Wilson on Bent Notes.

NOON is created as a collection of songs inspired by Harry’s observations of society’s collectively diminishing attention spans.  The inspiration said to Harry that he should create someting long-form – that can’t be consumed quickly. (recalling the days when you would put a vinyl record on the turntable then sit down to listen for 22 minutes for each side.)

Harry would like us to listen to the entiure album from start to fini...

The Take Note Leader of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival for 2024 is Jazz flautist and composer Erica Tucceri.  Erica visited the Bent Notes studio to chat all things Take Note – an impportant role that addresses the underrepresentation of women and gender diverse musicians in jazz by celebrating and promoting women and gender diverse leaders on stage and in high schools across Victoria.

Erica spoke of the joy of meeting so many young musicians when visting secondary schools as part of the role; her thrill at being commissioned to write a major new work to be debuted at the...

Violin player, artist, songwriter and entertainer Xani Kolac described her path to become a professional violin player and entertainer when she was guest on Bent Note recently. Xani reminisces about causing her violin teacher to cry from the beautiful interpretation she gave of Dvorak’s Humoresque, and auditioning for the VCA with her sister playing the bass.

Xani spoke about the focus on improvisation and using the effects pedals and other equipment to produce her style of music using her electric violin – calling upon her skills in the worlds of Pop, Rock and Jazz to create interesting and...

Australian born musicians Jody Sternberg (Voice, Sax) and David Lewis (Trumpet, Piano) have lived in France for some years and spoke with David Moyle and Chelsea Wilson on Bent Notes when they visited the JOY 94.9 studios recently as they commenced their 2024 Aussie tour.

Jody Sternberg & David Lewis in-studio at JOY 94.9

Jody recalled her journey from Australia where she played sax in her primary school band, to Japan where she was discoverd by an American blues pianist who advised her to audition to study at the Berklee College, before moving to America to do just that!  J...

When trumpeter and band leader Travis Woods and sousaphone player Jay Scarlett from The Horns Of Leroy visited the Bent Notes Studio they spoke about the way they as a band are inspired by the music and the musicians of New Orleans.  They recalled the immense energy they picked up from watching, listening, jamming and performing with these bands and how this changed their outlook and musical creativity in their own projects, whilst still being conscious of their music being filtered through their Australian heritage and experiences.

The new album, Monster In Your Head, features 12 brand new p...

Michelle Nicolle visited the Bent Notes studio to chat with David Moyle and Chelsea Wilson about her brand new album – 10 Live At The Jazzlab.

The album was recorded at the Jazzlab by the ABC during the 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival and has now been released to the world.

Michelle talks about the thrill of performing in ALL RISE with the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis and the MSO at Hamer Hall during 2023; the scat syllables that we hear in scat singing and how one should not try to think about them; and pe...

Melbourne Drummer, Composer and Artistic Director of the Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival, Sonja Horbelt visited the Bent Notes studio to chat all things 2023 Festival with David Moyle and Paul Gardner.  The festival runs from December 3-10, 2023 with most events schedueld at The Jazzlab.

Sonja spoke about the legacy and the memory of the late Lynnette Irwin, for many years the backbone of the artistic direction of the festival, and the person to whom this years festival has been dedicated.

Hear about the amazing female musicians performing in the festival this year including Teri Roi...

Cheryl Durongpisitikul

Cheryl Durongpisitkul spoke with David Moyle on Bent Notes about the work involved in preparing for the debut of her new suite for 12-piece improvising ensemble that channels her own personal experiences of loss, grief  and healing.

As the Take Note leader for 2023 for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Cheryl was commissioned to compose this work as well as visit secondary schools across Victoria, as part of the festival’s activities to address underrepresentation of women and gender diverse musicians in jazz by celebrating and promoting women and gender diverse leaders on stage and...

Zac Hurren, Katie Noonan, Ben Hauptmann

Katie  Noonan‘s ELIXIR project kicked off in 1997, with their goal to explore the relationship between text and sound and celebrate great Australian poetry.

The current line-up for the trio is National Jazz Award, ARIA Award winning and Freedman Jazz Fellowship finalist saxophonist/composer Zac Hurren, Freedman Jazz
Fellowship winning and National Jazz Award finalist guitarist Ben Hauptmann and 5 x ARIA, AWMA, AIR and APRA award winning musician Katie Noonan.

Emma Pask

Emma Pask was discovered at a school concert gig by multi-instrumentalist and entertainer James Morrison – a week later Emma was invited to tour with the James Morrison Big Band – and the rest is history!

Hear Emma talk about that amazing experience and much more in this podcast from Bent Notes, including Trombone player, arranger and band leader Ed Wilson, the necessity to get on with achieving items off your bucketlist without undue delay, performing with wonderful musicians, all with a main aim of making everyone happier.

Emma will be performing standards from...

Vanessa Perica. Photo: Pia Johnson

Award winning composer Vanessa Perica is launching her 2nd Jazz Orchestra album as part of the lineup for this year’s Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

The 1st album, Love Is A Temporary Madness, was named one of the best Australian albums of 2020 by The Guardian, winner of the Best Jazz Album at the Music Victoria Awards, ‘Work of the Year’ at the APRA Art Music Awards and Australian Jazz Bell Awards, and was nominated for the prestigious Australian Music Prize.

Vanessa spoke about the opportunities that have arisen for he...

Australian composer and pianist Paul Grabowksy AO and Chinese-Australian composer, performer and pioneer of modern guzheng music Mindy Meng Wang chatted about the empathy, cultural awareness and conversation necessary to create new music crossing boundaries between different muscial cultures.

Mindy plays the Guzheng – a chinese instrument similar in look and sound to a Zither, and has collaborated throughout her career with musicians from different cultures.

Hear the conversation in this podcast from JOY 94.9

Mindy Meng Wang and Paul Grabowsky are performing together at Chapel off Chapel on Saturday October 21, 2023 as part of the Me...

Ruth Rogers-Wright

Ruth Rogers-Wright began her career in London where she was one of the leading artists in the “New British Jazz” movement, before migrating to  Australia.  Her band in London included two Aussie ex-pats – pianist Mark Fitzgibbon and vocalist Nichaud Fitzgibbon.

Ruth was introduced to the music of Nina Simone while in London and saw her perform live a number of times.  These experiences formed part of the inspiration for Ruth to put together a show about Nina and her music.

In this podcast from JOY 94.9 Ruth chats about her musical beginnings in London...

Monique diMattina

Stella Miiles Franklin was an Australian author, activist and feminist, leaving an endowment behind celebrating Australian Literature in the form of the annual  Miles Franklin Award.  However, Stella was much more than an author!

Inspired by the dramatic and exciting life story of Stella Miles Franklin, Melbourne based composer, vocalist and pianist Monique diMattina has written a new musical – STELLA – about the life of Stella Miles Franklin.

Monique has developed the music and script to the degree that it is ready for a public workshop performance before the next stage of develo...

Ericka Ascenzo visited the Bent Notes Studio to chat about the upcoming release of her latest composition – IN TIME.

Erika says that her vocals are a tribute to the Jazz greats, and that her songwriting pays homage to the Soul classics.

Hear what Erika has to say about her music, and hear her in a fabulous in-studio  performance of two of her compositions – BOUND (Erika’s first single as an independent artist in 2020) and Erika’s new single IN TIME, accompanied by guitarist Tavis Wardlow.

Erika’s EP including IN TIME releases towards the end of...

Melbourne based guitarist James Sherlock visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about the value of awards to up and coming musicians, how he listens to music, and his brand new Trio album The Verb not the Noun – his first trio album since 2010.

While in-studio James played Live-To-Air a piece from the new album , and discussed performing with his trio consisting of Bass Player Sam Anning and Drummer Danny Fischer.

The launch of The Verb not the Noun, referencing the fact that music is an active activty, will be held at The Jazzlab on Tuesday Oc...

When Pianist and Composer Luke Howard was guest on Bent Notes he spoke about working in both the Comtemporary Classical and Jazz worlds as both composer and pianist, and being drawn back into the musical world after starting a career outside of music.

With Story Telling at the heart of his music, Luke spoke about his contemporary classical composition created during COVID lockdowns called ALL OF US, based upon a book called THE PLAGUE, written in 1947 by French novelist Albert Camus.

Luke also spoke about combining his Solo Piano and Jazz Trio in a single...

Inspiration for Stephen Hornby’s +F:rst Sunn+ project came out of Lockdowns, when Stephen found himself with time to think and work without interruption.

The result is the debut album for his +F:rst Sunn+ project.  (Yes, Stephen also talks about that spelling . . . .)

Hear Stephen talk about the project, as well as his interest in writing in text form about music, in this podcast from JOY 94.9.

Stephen Hornby was guest of Bent Notes on Sunday July 16, 2023
Bent Notes – 2 hours of Jazz and Improvised Music – 7 o’clock Sunday nights
JOY 94.9 – Out.Loud.Proud...

Harry Mitchell is a pianist based in Perth who spoke about growing his love of live music through his enjoyment of live bands at his church when growing up.  His enthusiam resulted in his studying his degree and masters at University before moving on to teach, compose and run a number of projects – buildling a library of 16 albums to date.

Harry remembers the thrill of seeing and playing with guest musicians visiting the university during his study.

Harry’s QUIET COUNTRY project seeks to infuse originals and covers with a Country feel – developed after experiencing some co...

Tim Stevens celebrates a number of things this year – marriage, first child – and his Trio – the Tim Stevens Trio.

Celebrating the trio takes the form of a gig where the trio will get together and play music from the five albums released across the 20 years as well as new tunes that Tim has ready to go.

Tim and Ben Robertson chat in this podcast about many Monday nights rehearsing upstairs at Tim’s home with drummer Dave Beck while building their friendships over a home cooked dinner ; their similar mindsets when it comes to chord voicings...

Aussie ex-pat musicians Jody Sternberg (Voice, Saxaphone) and David Lewis (Trumpet) spoke with David Moyle and Matt Warne on Bent Notes shortly before their departure from France to visit Australia.

Jody and David have lived in France for some years, enjoying the Jazz scene across France.

Hear Jody talk about her finding her voice, and her approach to playing the sax – as well as her enthusiasm to visit and perform in Australia.

Jody and David will be performing with Melbourne pianist Mark Fitzgibbon at The Count’s (Melbourne Wednesday July 26, 2023), MONA (Hobart Monday  Augus...

Fiona Burnett and Sonja Horbelt spoke about the challenges experienced by female artists as they try to establish themselves in the Jazz world, and the impact that their all-female band MORGANA had when they formed 30 years ago.

Regretfully the Jazz world has not moved with as much speed to encourage, train and embrace an equal number of female artists as was hoped, but progress is occurring.

Getting back together again last year (2022) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their forming was so much fun that they decided to continue the experience with a few more...

In this podcast from Bent Notes on JOY 94.9, Michelle Nicolle speaks of her love of the music of J.S. Bach from her early Violin studies when she was only 8 years of age.

Changing focus from Classical to Jazz during her university studies saw Michelle change focus to the traditional Jazz repertoire, but not lose that love of Bach, which was reinvigorated when asked by the Bach Festival at the University of Adelaide to present a ‘Jazzy’ Bach concert.

After almost ten years of gestation of this music, Michelle is releasing the album “The Bach Projec...

Paul Grabowsky visited the Bent Notes studio to chat about his latest work – Fascinatin’ Algorhythm – being performed by his Jazz trio Torrio! onstage with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. (MSO)

Paul Grabowsky ‘Fascinatin’ Algorythm’

Paul spoke about his observation upon returning to Australia early in his career that Melbourne Jazz had stepped out with a new attitude while he had been in Germany, due in no small part to the pioneering work of Vince Jones; and how Paul has continued to develop his and Australia’s our own Jazz stylings through his attitude and approach to Jazz and music...

Guitarist and composer Robbie Melville visited the Bent Notes studio to play live to air two pieces from his latest album – Tangled Trails.  The album contains 55 minutes of solo guitar, the same length as the 1921 silent movie – Tangled Trails.  Robbie discovered after recording the album, that the music coincides with the action on the screen of the movie!

Hear Robbie chat with David Moyle, about his favourite guitarists and his enthusiasm for accompanying Silent Movies in Central Victoria with Ronny Ferrella playing Drums.

Robbie is looking forward to his album launch tour commencing June 23,2023 where he wil...

David Lewis is looking forward to a series of shows at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June this year when he brings the Paris Combo to Adelaide to celebrate in three very special shows their tribute to their late vocalist and band leader Belle Du Berry.

David Lewis also recalls the process of the evolution of the Paris Combo from a covers band to a band that plays original songs when he spoke with David Moyle on Bent Notes recently.

The Paris Combo performs three times at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival across the w...