New festival celebrates Perth’s outstanding women of jazz

Whereas the Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival turns twenty-five this year, the Perth equivalent is only now making its debut. An initiative of the Ellington Jazz Club and its program director, Simone Craddock, the inaugural Perth Women’s International Jazz Festival will be held at the Ellington over the weekend of August 21 to 24. The event will provide a long overdue opportunity to celebrate a selection of Perth’s outstanding women of jazz.

Modest in its first outing, the program comprises seven shows over four days. With the exception of the finale, a vocal summit featuring five prominent stars. Each performance focuses on a key figure or ensemble known for their instrumental prowess. As well as a strong connection with Perth, the featured artists all have international leanings. Some have trained or worked overseas, and others play music that focuses on a specific international style. The headline act, Grammy Award-winning bassist/composer Linda May Han Oh, was born in Malaysia, raised and trained in Perth, and has resided in New York since 2008.

The season opens next Thursday, August 21. The Artemis Orchestra is a nineteen-piece big band made up of musicians of marginalised genders. The ensemble presents original works by predominantly female but also non-binary and transgender Australian composers, including the acclaimed Linda May Han Oh and the orchestra’s founder and musical director, Gemma Farrell.

Farrell is a major force in the women’s jazz scene in Perth. A saxophonist/composer, she studied at the Queensland and Amsterdam Conservatoria, is AD of the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra, lectures in jazz studies at WAAPA, and founded WAAPA’s New Standards Ensemble. She is highly acclaimed, with her many accolades including the Humanitarian Award at the Australian Women in Music Awards in 2024.

Farrell sees the Women’s International Jazz Festival as a positive move for Perth and applauds the Ellington for taking the initiative.

“It is vital for the next generation of female jazz performers to have visible role models,” she said. “Too often they only see male jazz performers on the stages here, which leaves them thinking there is no place for them in the scene.”

The Artemis Orchestra challenges this impression by showing that there is no shortage of talented female jazz musicians working in Perth. The two special guests in its festival performance, vocalist Holli Scott and trumpeter Jessica Carlton, only further emphasise this.

Linda May Han Oh’s headline concert is on the Friday evening. Oh is another internationally renowned educator. She has an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music and is currently an associate professor in the bass department of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. She has written for and performed in films as well as large and small ensembles and has played alongside such luminaries as Pat Metheny, James Morrison and Terri Lyne Carrington. Her sold-out concert promises to be a night of world-leading modern jazz.

This performance will be followed by a late-night show from the all-female funk septet, Echo of Aphrodite. Under the leadership of vocalist/saxophonist Andrea Jordan-Keane and drummer/vocalist Martha Bird, this high-energy ensemble will lead the audience onto the dance floor for an eclectic electric romp.

The Ellington Jazz Club is committed to diversity, gender equality, and leading the Perth scene into new and different areas. As well as presenting shows every night of the week, the club’s owners, Zoe Jay and Travis Simmons, sponsor a prize for Equity and Excellence at the WA Academy. This generous award not only assists the winners through their studies but also gives them the opportunity to perform in the club. The 2024 winners, Brook and Isabelle, presented a concert featuring the music of Holly Forster.

Program Director Craddock is always looking to push the boundaries of what the Ellington can do. She is committed to presenting a diverse program and often offers more invitations to women performers than are accepted (they’re a busy lot). Even so, everyone she invited to be a part of this festival program has gladly confirmed attendance. Her aim is to look to the future and revolutionise, rather than repeat the same thing over and over again.

To this end she has forged strong connections with Melbourne’s jazz scene and its festivals in the hope of building a viable touring network and also works closely with Mace Francis, director of the Perth International Jazz Festival, on programming acts into the club for that festival. She wants to take the Ellington into new and adventurous areas so that when she does eventually leave, it will be a bigger and better centre for the Perth jazz scene. The Perth Women’s International Jazz Festival is one of many initiatives she hopes will further that goal.

Saturday is the busiest day of the festival, with three shows running from 1pm through until midnight.

The matinee performance, Emily Gelineau and Hanna Kim, is the one new collaboration to come out of the festival. Although familiar with each other’s work, it was only on Craddock’s suggestion that Korean-born Kim and Perth-born Gelineau united for this performance.

Gelineau, a graduate from the Berklee College of Music, has been gaining prominence on the Perth scene over the past few years. A multi-instrumentalist and vocalist of rare talent and energy, she is a much sought-after collaborator, composer, performer and arranger. Kim is a pianist/composer who has been living in Perth since 2014. She too has been prominent on many jazz stages, with her original compositions blending Korean and Australian influences.

Sparks should fly as these vivacious virtuosi appear on stage together.

The evening concert, Olá Brasil, is by Australian songstress Georgie Aué. As a vocalist, pianist and composer, Aué is fascinated by the music of Brazil. She lives and breathes it, both in her original work and her vibrant renditions of the classic Brazilian repertoire—Gilberto Gil, Tom Jobim, Eliane Elias. She will be performing with her established quartet supplemented by a horn section: trumpeter Jess Carlton in her second festival appearance and flautist Annalisa Powell. In Aué’s inimitable style, it will be an uplifting evening of bossa nova rhythms and Latin passion.

Saturday’s late show moves into some serious R&B with Shameen and her Late-Night Soul Lounge. Soul singer/pianist/singer-songwriter Shameen Taheri-Lee leads her quartet through some infectious grooves and sensual rhythms over which her compelling vocals soar. Shameen has supported such international stars as Belinda Carlisle, George Benson and Ronan Keating. Her original songs should see the Ellington rock well into the festival’s second midnight hour.

On Sunday female vocalists reign with five outstanding artists performing in rotation through the festival’s inaugural Vocal Summit.

Hosted by Simone Craddock, herself an acclaimed singer and no stranger to West End stages, the program features Allira Wilson, Victoria Newton, Holli Scott, Libby Hammer and Ali Bodycoat. Together their illustrious achievements, performance history, and list of awards would double the length of this preview. From Wilson’s prominence on the Australia jazz festival circuit to Newton’s well-established presence on the London jazz scene, Holli Scott’s darkly tinged poetic and nuanced songwriting, Hammer’s musical theatre brilliance, and Bodycoat’s sheer style and grace, they cover it all.

The cantatrices are clearly the most prominent women on the Perth jazz scene, so the festival would not be complete without them. Still, it is fitting that they have been held back until the closing concert to allow the instrumentalists and composers their moments in the spotlight. The summit will be a show to savour in its range, depth and power.

All up, the Perth Women’s International Jazz Festival is an organic program that not only highlights an array of talented female musicians but also covers the range of jazz styles. While the majority of the performers are female, the festival includes a range of ensemble configurations, including male ‘allies,’ as Craddock describes. It is not easy to develop an itinerary so tightly unified in theme yet diverse in temperament and style. This festival looks to walk that fine line in only seven shows.

There is no doubt that Perth is now truly a city of musicians. On any night of any week there is a plethora of live music—rock, classical, jazz, blues and folk—with a wide variety within each genre. There is no shortage of Perth-born and trained artists who are now making waves around the world, while many internationally acclaimed musicians, whether born here or not, are choosing to live and work in our fair city. Along with the quality venues and number of high-profile music festivals, these people are drawing attention to the city from around the world.

The Perth jazz scene in particular is vibrant, although still predominantly male. The Perth Women’s International Jazz Festival will shine a spotlight on some of the great female artists who have also helped to shape the scene and are carrying the good news beyond our shores. Here’s wishing the festival every success in its inaugural year.

The Perth Women’s International Jazz Festival will be held at the Ellington Jazz Club from Thursday, August 21 to Sunday, August 24, 2025. Tickets are on sale now from ellingtonjazz.com.au

IAN LILBURNE