The fourth Jazz:NOW event - CHORUS - welcomes a relationship with storied alternative arts performance space Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville. Here, we will witness two ensembles who bring an improvisatory sympathy to song structures and music that leads with the lyric.

Heaps Grass are one of the most talked about young bands in Sydney’s vibrant and diverse underground scene. Comprising Ebony Tait, Lachlan Mills and Jack Rosenzweig, the band shifts easily between dream-like soundscapes, rolling grooves and irresistible melodies all buoyed by Tait’s lead vocal, which can turn from soaring to simmering on a dime. Imbued in the music is an inherent musicality and a mature deference to the sound itself - a sensitivity which is demonstrative of the bands improvisational prowess. With a recently released debut EP, a successful East Coast tour and a celebrated performance at Phoenix Central Park for Strata III, now is the time for Heaps Grass.

Ben Hauptmann is one of Australia’s leading lights on the guitar and a long-time SIMA stalwart. One part of the esteemed Hauptmann musical family, Ben has carved out a carved out a career as one of the country’s most in-demand guitarists, sharing the stage with a diverse range of artists including Gurrumul Yunupingu, Paul Kelly, Bandaluzia Flamenco and more. He was awarded the Freedman Fellowship (Jazz) in 2010 and received 2nd placed in the National Jazz Awards in 2007. In this rare performance, Ben assembles an ensemble featuring some of the country’s great musicians including Arne Hanna, Lauren White, Harry Sutherland and James Hauptmann to perform music from his stunning independent release simply titled ‘the one with the singing on it’, which highlights Ben’s virtuosity as improvisor, guitarist and songwriter.

Says Artistic Director Novak Manojlovic; “When Ben Hauptmann released his diptych of albums ‘the one with the jazz on it’ and ‘the one with the singing on it’ in 2023, he cast a subtle shockwave of energy through the Australian jazz landscape; I remember my friends and I talking about these records in hushed tones as though we had been let in on some valuable secret. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to present this music in a live context and to pair it with one of Sydney’s most hypnotising new ensembles in Heaps Grass, whose stellar ascent through the scene I have been following like a devotee and whose busy working schedule is made evident by the effortless synergy the band demonstrates in each performance. Long live the working band!”

HEAPS GRASS - Ebony Tait; keyboard and vocals, Lachlan Mills; guitar, Jack Rosenzweig; drums

BEN HAUPTMANN; THE BAND WITH SOMEONE SINGING IN IT - Ben Hauptmann; guitar, Arne Hanna; guitar/vocals, Lauren White; bass/vocals, Harry Sutherland; keys, James Hauptmann; drums