Dec 8 Anita Wardell (UK) CD Launch with Dave MvEvoy - “STARS”

opening set: StAT

evening show 7.30PM

The Jazzlab Wednesday Dec 8 doors 7pm Show 7.30pm

Tickets HERE $30/25 Bookings essential

Anita Wardell (UK) “STARS” CD LAUNCH with Dave McEvoy

UK vocalist Anita Wardell and Australian pianist Dave McEvoy launch their duo album ‘Stars’—exploring love and loss; the vulnerability of human experience; and the vast expanse of sky that can at once liberate you or bring you undone. Anita, recipient of the prestigious BBC Jazz Award, was once described by Mark Murphy as ‘a gift’. Lauren Henderson (2020 winner of the National Jazz Awards) writes, ‘Anita Wardell is my hero; a world-class storyteller and improviser. Dave McEvoy embodies everything I believe jazz to be—honesty, heart, and playfulness—all the while maintaining impeccable technical command of the instrument. Don’t miss your chance to see two of the greatest living jazz musicians do their thing. It will change you.’

Anita Wardell’s singing is exciting and breathtaking. She is noted for her mesmerizing and captivating vocal improvisations and vocalese lyrics to instrumental solos. Anita is a musician who uses the voice as her instrument, displaying precision and agility, mixed with heartfelt emotion. Singer Norma Winstone praised her “unexpected vulnerability, which makes her reading of the ballads both beautiful and touching. Her honesty shines in this well-chosen collection of songs.”

Bebop pioneer, Mark Murphy, proclaimed Anita, “a gift from Australia”, adding “What hits me, is how expressive her ballad singing is. Then she has the courage to scat a ballad or two, not unlike a young lady disciple of the Ben Webster school.”

Born in Guildford, UK, Anita moved to Australia with her family as a child. Anita's formative years were spent soaking up the Rodgers and Hammerstein and Cole Porter classics. She also explored her father's collection of big band albums by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and many more. During her teens, she started to get to grips with the complexities of modern Jazz when she discovered Clifford Brown, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. At the same time, she learned her vocal craft from greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Mark Murphy, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, Jon Hendricks, and Eddie Jefferson. After attending secondary school, she completed her degree in Music at the Adelaide University. In 1990, Anita relocated back to the UK where she studied at the Guildhall school of music and drama.

Her longstanding musical relationship with pianist Robin Aspland started with the release of Until the Stars Fade in 2001, also featuring the exciting US drummer Gene Calderazzo and Jeremy Brown on bass. Jazzwise Magazine called her “energetic and inventive” while The Guardian proclaimed her “a model of the Jazz singer’s art”, highlighting her clarity, improvisational skills and emotional resonance. Anita received the prestigious BBC Jazz Award for Best of Jazz category in 2006. In the same year she was signed to Proper Records and recorded Noted (2006) and Kinda Blue (2008). The Road, was released in summer 2013. In the same year she won the Best Vocalist category in the British Jazz Awards, and in 2014 Anita was nominated in the 2014 British Jazz awards.  Anita has travelled extensively, performing and leading jazz vocal masterclasses in USA, Europe and Australia.

Opening set: StAT

Stella Anning - Guitar

Claire Cross - Bass

Joshua Barber - Drums

Stella is a Melbourne based Guitarist and composer.  Stella plays in a variety of genres, performing as guitarist and backing vocalist for Country Folk band, the John Flanagan band, blues/jazz force Lisa Baird’s Bitches Brew, neo-soul collective Push Portal and with blues/soul singer ISEULA.  Her prominence as a performer has seen her perform alongside artists such as C.W. Stoneking, Guy Sebastian and Sarah Blasko.

In 2022, Stella released her second album, the Stella Anning Trio’s album ‘STAT’, with acclaimed musicians Joshua Barber (Kerryn Fields) on drums and Claire Cross (Oh Pep!, Danika) on bass.  The trio have been performing their eclectic jazz/blues grooves all around Australia, with performances at The Ellington Jazz Club in Perth, Lazybones Lounge in Sydney and at venues in Melbourne such as the JazzLab, the Paris Cat Jazz Club, Bar Open and the Wesley Anne.  The trio will be performing for the Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival later this year.