The Brisbane International Jazz Festival is proud to present some of the hottest new jazz in Meanjin! Featuring TYDE, the Andrew Ball Quartet and another soon to be announced act.

TYDE
Brisbane fem-lead 8-piece TYDE have a truly genre-fluid sound, brandishing an intricate soundscape that ebbs and flows between jazz, prog, pop, funk, and folk. Combining percussive finger-style guitar riffs, funky bass and horn lines, and heavy prog moments for your head-banging pleasure, TYDE will get you both grooving and wondering what time signature you're dancing to.

Their repertoire calls to mind artists like The Cat Empire, Hiatus Kaiyote, Vera Blue, and Franz Ferdinand - their energetic live show seamlessly knits this broad range of sounds together.

ANDREW BALL QUARTET
The Andrew Ball Quartet fuses the spontaneity and interactiveness of improvised music with an uniquely structured and intricate approach to composition. By challenging norms, embracing weirdness, and foregrounding innovation, ABQ makes chamber music that grooves. Led by Ball on sax/electronics, the group shares a deep musical rapport, after their long-standing collaboration of more than a decade gigging, touring and recording with bands such as His Merry Men and Nomika. The quartet is a vehicle to “let loose” outside of their other established projects, and to put their own personality and spin on a modern electric small group sound, coalescing inspiration from artists such as Kneebody, Sungazer, Mark Giuliana, Donny McCaslin, David Binney, Nate Smith, Tigran Hamasyan and Snarky Puppy.

CON ALMA
Con Alma originated as a student ensemble from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, directed by Dr Chris Stover, and is now looking outward to connect with various music-loving communities: from the Latin dance scene, to the Jazz world. The focus of the group is to bring a jazz sensitivity to the study of Afro-Cuban soundscapes, opening up the improvisatory and experimental potential of traditional Cuban and Latin folk music of the African diaspora, with both interpretations of the canon, and original tunes. The act spans four-part acapella moments, to a full salsa 'orquesta', with timbales, drumkit, a conga section, bongos, double bass, pianist, and horn section. Con Alma will present a selection of Afro-Cuban traditional works, both sacred and secular, originals, and some Afro-Cuban reimaginings of Jazz standards for the audience to, at times listen attentively, and at other times, explode into dance.