Vince Jones meets the Australian National Jazz Orchestra
Sun, 30 May
|Sydney Conservatorium of Music


Time & Location
30 May 2021, 6:00 pm AEST
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1 Conservatorium Rd, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
About the event
Sydney Con Jazz Festival - Website & Ticket link
Australia’s leading jazz vocalist, Vince Jones, is also a remarkable interpreter and composer of songs in a contemporary jazz style – a style that appeals equally to listeners and his musical peers. As a vocalist he resists showing off technique to the detriment of feel – he’s confident in his musical literacy and sings like there’s nothing to prove. It’s a refreshing approach that gives us, the audience, the chance to be really moved. Vince Jones also plays trumpet and over the years his style has developed a distinctive reserve and subtlety – he plays a little less and draws a good deal more from it than he did in earlier days. A brief, thoughtful solo from Vince is worth a hundred notes played with less discretion.
Born in Glasgow, Vince and his family came to live in Australia when he was 11 years old. He grew up in Wollongong, NSW, listening to his musician father’s collection of great jazz albums, and the feel, style and essence of the music became a natural part of Vince’s world. Starting his jazz performance journey as a bebop trumpet player, the young man had no idea that in 10 years, then 20 years – his superb voice would touch the hearts and minds of many listeners – in Australia and beyond. At 20, Vince began playing the club circuit in Melbourne. He was drawn to R&B music – a genre in which the emotive force of the voice is matched by technical and improvising skills. To a young man steeped in jazz and blessed with a good voice – it was natural to meld these elements together and so began the evolution of Australia’s great jazz vocalist.
The Australian National Jazz Orchestra is the brainchild of Sydney saxophonist and bandleader David Theak. Australia has a long history of big bands ranging from the all-female Trocadero big band during the war years to the Daly Wilson Big Band in the 70's and 80's to more recent editions; The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, ATM15, Mace Francis Orchestra, Vanessa Perica Orchestra, Mike Stewart Big Band, Divergence Big Band, Sirens Big Band, Bennett’s Lane Big Band, Dan Barnett big Band, Sydney All Star Big Band, Perth Jazz Orchestra, Enthusiastic Musicians Orchestra (EMO) and in 2017 David Theak decided it was time to establish a truly national orchestra that reflected the diversity and talent that Australia has to offer both as musicians and composers. ANJO exists primarily to perform, record, broadcast, tour, and commission new Australian work by Australian artists.