This October the concert features three award-winning musicians – Carl Morgan, Alex Stuart and Kade Brown, each artist inspired by the wild beauty of this corner of the world.

But there will also be an international flavour, with Stuart’s French musicians playing in the jam session that concludes this ‘mini-festival’ event.

Zephyrs hopes to satisfy the welded-on jazz lovers but also to introduce jazz to people perhaps for the first time.

So what is jazz? It’s the great 20th Century Afro-American musical art form, now played increasingly by musicians all over the world, adding their own musical culture to the mix.  Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of jazz is improvisation – where individual players will develop a song’s core tune by playing original variations, playing with themes, timing and chords, stimulating each other to new heights.

It’s why, after appreciating a good piece of improvisation, audiences break out in applause in the middle of a song. So anything can happen, especially when the jam session gets going. Come along and see.

Alex Stuart (guitar) calls Barragga Bay his Australian home and the region’s coastline has inspired songs on each of his albums. He moved to Paris in 2005 after graduating from ANU’s School of Music and releasing his first album, Waves.

Stuart has formed various ensembles with some of France’s leading musicians and released three albums there. He won the prestigious Jazz à Juan Festival’s ‘Révélations Jury Prize’ in 2010. In Australia he was nominated for the Freedman Music Fellowship in 2013. He will perform with his French band during this Australian launch of his new album, Aftermath. Among other accolades, France’s leading jazz publication Jazz Magazine has awarded Aftermath one of its rare 4-star ratings.

Carl Morgan (guitar) grew up in Central Tilba. He graduated in 2009 from the ANU School of Music with the Karmel Award for most outstanding student then moved to Sydney. He released his debut album, Stone, in 2012, won the National Jazz Award in 2014 and is currently a nominee for the 2018 Freedman Music Fellowship.

Morgan performs with his own ensembles and in several other top Australian bands such as The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra and he has shared the stage with international stars such as Chris Potter and Jim McNeely – and the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts in his jazz persona! He has appeared on 14 Australian albums – most recently as part of Barney McAll’s award-winning band for Hearing the Blood.

Kade Brown (piano) comes from the impressively musical locality of Candelo and is now based in Melbourne. He studied at Monash University under luminaries Paul Grabowsky, Barney McAll and Sam Keevers, graduating in 2016.

Brown leads a quintet with top Melbourne musicians and has performed at some of the city’s major jazz venues. He has also performed with international greats such as Ben Monder, Melissa Aldana and George Garzone. Brown’s latest composition, the suite ‘Frictions’, is inspired by his home country’s pristine landscapes. Brown won the Monash Jazz Prize in 2016 and the 2017 Allan Zavod Classical-Jazz Fusion Award for this impressive work. A record release is scheduled for late 2018.

Zephyrs Jazz, in partnership with Four Winds, presents “Bringing their music back home” with Carl Morgan, Alex Stuart and Kade Brown, Sunday, October 28, 1-5pm. Held at the Windsong Pavilion, Four Winds, Barragga Bay. Gates open 11.30am.