by Helen Russell | 13 June, 2015 | News
Well, it’s been a little while since I had anything to say here – not that things haven’t been happening, I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t gotten around to writing about them!
Last Monday was the culmination (or culmination #1) of a project that I have been working on for the Brisbane International Jazz Festival with Leah Cotterell and Gian Ferrett commemorating the Primitif Coffee Lounge, a venue that Gian’s mum Peter Hackworth opened in 1957 in Brisbane city. It was one of the first venues in Brisbane to feature modern jazz and many of the elder statesmen (and women) of the scene today played there in their youth. I rehearsed up a band of appropriately young talented things, namely Melissa Lathouras, Sophie Min, Lachie Mitchell, Matt Hunter, Elliot Parker and Lachie Hawkins, who took on some hitherto unfamiliar repertoire in order to evoke a late-50s-early 60s ambience. Gian cooked up a storm in her evening wear (not for the first time in her career) and Leah marshalled the coming together of the folks that frequented the joint in its heyday. The band was augmented for a few tunes by the percussion of Buzz Ennis and Barry Sutton, and we had the pleasure of a couple of songs from the amazing Wilma Reading, who also led her own band in a set on Saturday evening. I think it is safe to say the afternoon was a great success, and Leah and Gian will be continuing to find and speak to people who remember the Primitif.
Next Sunday evening the 21st, I am going back to my old job of Musical Director for Women in Voice when we do a one-off show at QPAC as part of the Women of the World event. The show features Leah Cotterell, Megan Sarmardin, Alison St Ledger, Carita Farrer and the founder of WIV, Annie Peterson as the singing MC, with Bethan Ellsmore on board as all purpose BV singer and the classic WIV band, me, Jamie Clark, Steve Russell and John Parker.
Things are busy at USQ as we come to the end of semester – lots of things to mark and student assessments to be listened to. My colleagues Melissa Forbes and Bruce Woodward also played at the festival with the Hiroyuki Minowa trio from Japan and encored with a free concert in the Arts Theatre at USQ on Thursday night to an ecstatic audience. The trio also did a workshop with some of the students in the afternoon, which was lots of fun.
If you are a cabaret fan don’t forget that the Brisbane Cabaret Festival is on right now, with events happening all over town – lots of interesting shows happening.
That’s it from me for now, I shan’t leave it so long next time…..
by Helen Russell | 8 March, 2015 | News
Hi, well here we are well into March and there’s not very much to report on the gig front. I’m having a few weekends off and hanging at the beach with friends, so it’s not all bad. However, there is one very unusual event looming. 18 Wheels is doing a gig for the first time in, let’s see, maybe 15 years or so! This gig will be taking place at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, in the Ian Hanger recital hall, on March 20 at 6pm, $15 for adults and $10 concession. Some of you may remember our Sunday night gigs at the Zoo way back in the 90s, where we indulged ourselves with country music from the 40s to the 70s and eventually started to write some of our own tunes. We are so looking forward to this one, it’s going to be big fun to revisit that stuff.
Later in the month I’m appearing at the Toowoomba Jazz Club with my colleagues from USQ, Melissa Forbes and Bruce Woodward, and we’ll be joined by Joe Marchisella on drums – that one’s on Friday March 27.
On the uni front, it’s nice to finally have some students to teach at USQ now that the semester has begun!
Hope to see some of you at one of these gigs, I think the 18 Wheels one could be a huge catch-up event!
by Helen Russell | 1 February, 2015 | News
Well, tomorrow I’m starting a new chapter in my life, to use the well-worn cliche. A new job at USQ in Toowoomba and a new lifestyle living half in one place and half in another. I think I’m organized…… we’ll soon see.
Meanwhile, February is when the gig machine slowly starts to crank up again. I have a couple of JMI live gigs, one this Thursday the 5th in a quintet with Andrew Garton, playing new music of his, and on the 19th with my old partners in crime Jamie and Huddo. I’m also making 2 appearances at the Brisbane Jazz Club, one with my colleagues at USQ, Melissa Forbes and Bruce Woodward (+Huddo) on the 20th and my second outing there as vocalist/bassist, again with Jamie and Huddo on Sunday morning the 22nd. It would be grand to see any of you at one or more of these gigs, they’ll all be excellent fun.
I was just thinking that my new life coincides with a new page for Queensland, with the removal of that embarrassing git Campbell Newman – almost seems to good to be true! Well done Queensland.
by Helen Russell | 5 January, 2015 | News
Well, 2015 is here and as it turns out my life is in for big changes. After being a sessional teacher at various universities and tertiary providers for the last 20 years or so, someone finally offered me a full time job! That someone being the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. Yes, the same place I got my Diploma of Music so many years ago (in those days it was known as the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education), is having me back as a lecturer in the contemporary music department. I’ll be joining my talented friends Melissa Forbes, Bruce Woodward and Mark Sholtez in the faculty. No, I’m NOT moving to Toowoomba, but I will be spending approximately half of each week there, starting in February. I still plan to be in Brisbane probably most Thursday nights and throughout the weekends, so I hope you’ll still see me doing some gigs around the place.
In the meantime, I’ll be in, you guessed it, Toowoomba tutoring at the famous McGregor Summer School. If you are in Toowoomba, look out for the (almost) free concerts on most nights from 8th-17th of January.
by Helen Russell | 8 December, 2014 | News
Well, our gig at the BJC on Thursday night was as much fun as we expected, with a small but happy audience in attendance.
Di Clark, one of the jazz club volunteers and a fine singer herself has written a review which can be found on the Brisbane Jazz Club face book page, but I’ll take the liberty of quoting a little bit of it here: “Helen has an easy to listen to style of singing, reminiscent of those wonderful jazz singers from the golden era of jazz, no need for vocal gymnastics here, just great interpretations of American Songbook jazz tunes, including some of the beautiful ones we don’t often get to hear.”
Thanks Di!
On Saturday I had a fun day recording with the Josh Hatcher quintet, playing his new tunes, and then was treated to a great concert at the Hi-Fi by the astonishing Hiatus Koyote.
Things are on the quiet side here but we had an exciting first rehearsal with the Carol Lloyd band for our shows at the Powerhouse on December 18 and 19, and I have two gigs this weekend. The first is with Melissa Western at Post Office Square on Friday 5-8 – this is a pleasant, free to the public gig so anyone can join us there. The second is with The View from Madeleine’s Couch at that shrine to meat-eating, Navala restaurant at riverside. After that, not many gigs in the book but I’ll have a few things to talk about in February.
by Helen Russell | 25 November, 2014 | News
I have just returned from the Queensland Conservatorium Recital Hall where I witnessed Leah Cotterell’s show “The Pleasure of Sad Songs”. This performance is part of her Masters research and is a personal and very brave look at her family’s experience of trauma and mental illness. The show includes original songs written by Leah and Jamie Clark, as well as three tunes on which I collaborated with her – two brand new ones especially for this show, which came up well if I do say so myself – plus several classics plucked from the popular song repertoire of the past 100 years. It was a powerful performance, and accompanied beautifully by my brother Steve Russell at the piano.
I’m looking forward to playing at the Brisbane Jazz Club on Thursday December 4 in a trio with Steve and drummer and old mate Paul Hudson. This is a group that has played a lot together over the last 20 years or so and we have a large amount of interesting and unusual repertoire from which to draw. Steve and I will be having a bit of a sing as well.
The Women in Voice season is wrapped up for another year. The show was a cracker, featuring old-stagers Lil’ Fi and Carita Farrer (as her alter ego Larry Paradisio – Melbourne people watch out for her show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival), the lovely Liz Buchanan, and WIV first timers Bethan Ellsmore and Alinta J. And we took it on the road although not too far afield – Toowoomba, Buderim and Ipswich, making many new WIV converts along the way.
My next big project is working on a retrospective show of the career of Carol Lloyd, Brisbane’s first home-grown rock star, to be performed at the Brisbane Powerhouse on the 18th and 19th of December.
In January I have been asked to tutor at the McGregor Summer School’s first foray into contemporary music. The course is being coordinated by Daniel Spirovski and I will be joined by John Parker (drums), James Sherlock (guitar), Nathan Seiler (keyboard,) Daniel Robinson (voice) and Mark Sholtez (song writing). Two very special guests will be performing and workshopping with students – Clare Bowditch and Shane Nicholson. I went to my first McGregor Summer School as a classical piano student straight out of high school and had a blast – it’s fantastic to have so many creative people in one place at one time.
After that it will be head down getting my Masters paper handed in by late February, hopefully with the odd gig happening now and then, which of course will be detailed in these pages. Hope to see some of you at said gigs!
by Helen Russell | 8 October, 2014 | News
Welcome to my first ever website – the antidote to my erstwhile patchy presence on the world-wide-web!
I will be attempting to keep you informed of any interesting up-coming events that feature me, and perhaps even sometimes other interesting people.
For instance, this month at the Judith Wright Centre, the 21st anniversary season of Women in Voice takes place, opening October 17. I’m a little busy with the last few weeks of semester’s teaching, so I’ve flicked the Musical Direction duties over to my brother Steve, but I’ll still be turning up to play bass. We’re even doing some out of town shows in Toowoomba (29/10), Buderim (1/11) and Ipswich (2/11).
The scary G20 has at least spread a little love our way and I’m performing at “The Lady Singers’ Social Club” concert on November 8 at St John’s Cathedral in one of the ‘cultural events’. It will be a lovely night playing with lots of my regular associates over the last 20 years – Leah Cotterell, Alison St Ledger, Barbara Fordham and Karen Anderson, with myself, Dave McGuire, Sally Campbell and Kym Ambrose making up the band.
The night before I’ll be at the Brisbane Jazz Club with “Wild Silk”.
I hope you can join us at some of these happenings.
HR
