West End Composers Collective "Downstream"

W E S T . E N D . C O M P O S E R S . C O L L E C T I V E

Founded by trumpeter/composer Laura Kahle and pianist/arranger Steve Newcomb, the 10-piece West End Composers Collective began in 2003 as a monthly gathering of Brisbane's creative improvising musicians, composers and arrangers to workshop original works at the Tongue and Groove café, West End.

With the success of these monthly gatherings, the growth in repertoire and a grant from Arts Queensland, they launched their debut album “Downstream” in February 2004 featuring the original compositions of Laura Kahle, Kristin Berardi and Issac Hurren.

Doug Spencer, producer of The Planet ABC Radio National has this to say of the album:

“Downstream” is a jazz-leaning tentet album which would hold up very well, had it come from New York… This band can certainly motor along when required, but this is definitely not a set of “blaring” or “see how & fast we can go” music - it's rich & subtle, beautifully voiced, well-recorded & also blessed with a fine, distinctive vocalist in Kristin Berardi.

Since the collective's inception, it has appeared at Brisbane's more established venues such The Zoo, Rics Café and more recently has continued its regular monthly performance at the Milk Bar in Paddington.

In December 2004 the ensemble performed at the Woodford Folk Festival and featured at the Melbourne Women's International Jazz Festival with a live to air broadcast of their performance to over 20,000 listeners on Radio National's “Live on Stage” from Melbourne's premiere jazz venue Bennet's Lane.

Along with the core group of players/composers in Kahle, Newcomb, Kristin Berardi (vocalist/composer) and Mikael Strand (trombonist/arranger), the collective has featured the finest improvising musicians in Brisbane including:

Guitarist James Sherlock, Drummers Joe Marchisella and Sam Bates, Bassists Eugene Romaniuk and Georgia Weber (Bittersuite), Saxophonists Phil Noy, Issac Hurren (Elixir), Graeme Norris, Mark Spencer, Adrian Tully, Rafael Karlen, Dean Newcomb, Trumpters Shannon Marshall, Carl Harvoe, Burke Turner, Shane Hooten, and Trombonists Sam Denning and Shane Hannan.
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