Doors 6pm
Show 7pm
Tonight, Harry Mitchell, Karl Florisson, and Ben Vanderwal present a live performance tracing 100 years of jazz piano history, moving through the decades from stride to modern jazz.
Featuring the music of legendary artists such as Fats Waller, Thelonious Monk, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, and many more, this trio will explore the evolution of jazz through the unique voices of its most iconic pianists.
More about Harry
Perth jazz pianist Harry Mitchell was still in his teens the time he played with Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Since then, the prolific Mitchell has released six albums under his own name, all with original compositions of his. He was named Young Australian Jazz Musician of the Year at the 2017 Australian Bell Jazz Awards. The following year he won the West Australian Music (WAM) award for Best Pianist. As well, he carried off the WAM Best Jazz Song award in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
Harry has played in the Perth International Jazz Festival, Sydney Con Jazz Festival, Melbourne Jazz Festival, the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues and the Ubud Village Jazz Festival in Bali. Harry was selected as a finalist in the Wangaratta Jazz Festival’s 2021 National Jazz Awards’ piano competition. He has backed a range of artists from Australia’s Kate Ceberano to American saxophonist George Garzone, and renowned vocalist Veronica Swift.
Harry was recently the ABC Jazz Artist in Residence and you can hear his solo recordings from that time here.
Harry studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts with a Masters in Composition. This recognition of the importance of composing to having an original voice, was reflected in Harry’s first album, released when he was twenty-one. Harry has devised his own approach to composing, deciding first on various musical decisions, such as the harmonic movements, form, and motivic development, before writing a note. It is a method of writing that he continues to refine.
Harry leads a number of bands including the Harry Mitchell Quintet, his standards band TrioTrio, with Vanderwal and bassist Karl Florisson which has released four albums, with a live album release featuring saxophonist James Sandon in the pipeline. There is also his country music infused trio, Quiet Country with Vanderwal and guitarist Harry Winton that plays originals and covers; and there was his acclaimed Paul Simon project with singer Allira Wilson. Unlike America where jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, another influence has been hailed for his excursions into country music, Harry laments that country music has a certain stigma in Australia. But he is not interested in chasing what is popular. His guiding principle is “striving for the artistic merit of the thing you are doing.’’
