ALISTER SPENCE TRIO

This group was nominated for Best Australian Jazz Ensemble 2004 at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. They have recorded two CDs of Alister's original music, Three is a Circle in 2000 and Flux in 2003 both on Rufus Records, distributed in Australia by Universal Music.
Flux was nominated for Best Jazz Album 2004 at the ARIA (Australian recording Industry) Awards

ALISTER SPENCE

ALISTER SPENCE Alister is one of the most outstanding pianists and composers in contemporary jazz in Australia. In recent years he has devoted his energy to writing and performing with his trio, The Alister Spence Trio.

This celebrated group has recorded 3 CDs of Alister's original music, Three is a Circle in 2000, Flux in 2003 and Mercury in 2006, all on Rufus Records, distributed in Australia by Universal Music. In June 2006 they embarked on a hugely successful tour of the UK and Canada, and plan to return overseas in 2008.

In 2004 the group was nominated for Best Australian Jazz Ensemble at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Flux was nominated for Best Jazz Album 2004 at the ARIA (Australian recording Industry) Awards.

 The trio was also featured on the A.B.C TV documentary series on Australian jazz called The Pulse in 2001.Three is a Circle was released in Japan in January 2003 on the Earth Spirit Label

As well as this Alister co-leads internationally acclaimed group Clarion Fracture Zone. He is a member of  Wanderlust and The Australian Art Orchestra (AAO). Alister’s playing is featured on more than 30 CDs, several of which have won ARIA Awards. Over the years he has played with many of the finest musicians in Australia including Bernie McGann, Sandy Evans, Don Burrows, Dale Barlow, Peter O’Mara, Tony Buck and Phillip Slater, and overseas artists including Mark Helias (US), Andy Sheppard (UK), and Phillip Johnston (US).

Alister has toured extensively in Europe and Asia with Clarion Fracture Zone, Wanderlust and AAO, and has performed for radio broadcasts for ABC, BBC, and WDR (Germany).

His talents as a writer have been well recognised with several compositions featuring on Bernie McGann’s 2001 Aria winning CD Bundeena. He has also been commissioned to write for Wanderlust, The Australian Art Orchestra and Ten Part Invention with his work being featured on Passion (ABC Classics) by the Australian Art Orchestra and all of Wanderlust’s and Clarion Fracture Zones CDs.

In more recent times Alister has composed music for film, collaborating often with film director Ivan Sen. Together they wrote and recorded the soundtrack to Ivan’s first feature film, Beneath Clouds, which was first screened in June 2002. The score for ‘Beneath Clouds’ was nominated for the Best Score at The Film Critics Awards, and the Australian Film Industry Awards 2002. 

He is a graduate of the Jazz Studies course at the NSW Conservatorium and has studied in New York with Cedar Walton and Andy La Verne, and also Mulgrew Miller (USA) and Benny Green (USA).

Alister lectures  at UNSW University in Jazz Performance and Arranging

LLOYD SWANTON

Bassist, Lloyd Swanton enjoys a formidable reputation in Australia as a composer and band leader. He has performed with many of the cornerstones of modern Australian music: The Necks, The Benders, Wizards of Oz, Clarion Fracture Zone, The Bernie McGann Trio, The Last Straw, Vince Jones, Alpha Centauri Ensemble, Jeannie Lewis, The Dynamic Hepnoptics, The Seymour Group, Tim Finn, Stephen Cummings and Wendy Matthews. In 1991 he formed his own group The catholics. Lloyd has also performed a number of solo improvisation concerts, rare on the double bass. In Australia he has performed with such international artists as The Dewey Redman Quartet, Nat Adderly, Clifford Jordan, Vincent Herring, Jimmy Witherspoon, Margie Evans, Sheila Jordan, the Billy Harper/Malcolm Pinson Quintet, Barney Kessel, Justin Robinson, George Coleman jnr, James Carter, improvisers Joseph Celli and Jin Hi Kim. He has had extensive overseas exposure touring with many of the above mentioned groups, and has recorded on over 40 albums. Lloyd is a three-time winner of Best Bassist in the Australian Jazz and Blues Awards. Lloyd has lived and studied bass in London with Thomas Martin, and in Los Angeles with Buell Neidlinger.

TOBY HALL

Since 1990, drummer Toby Hall has been highly regarded in the contemporary jazz field in Australia.  He is a member of Clarion Fracture Zone, Mike Nock’s trio ,'The catholics', The Umbrellas and Alison's Wonderland; and has performed with many of Australia's finest jazz musicians including Bernie McGann, Paul Grabowsky, Don Burrows, Dale Barlow, Roger Frampton. He has also recorded with many of the above mentioned artists. In Australia he has performed with visiting international artists Chuck Findley, Louis Bellson and Doug Cameron. Toby has toured internationally with Clarion Fracture Zone, The Umbrellas, The catholics, Don Burrows and Mike Nock.  Toby is a graduate of the NSW Conservatorium.