Review: Tom Ollendorff Trio at Liberty Lair

Tom Ollendorff Trio at Liberty Lair
Perth International Jazz Festival 2025
Tuesday, October 28, 2025

The Perth International Jazz Festival (PIJF) is now in full flight and runs through until next Sunday (November 2). Tuesday night saw the opening of its newest haunt, the Liberty Lair in the basement of the Liberty Theatre on Barrack Street, with an extraordinary performance by young English guitarist Tom Ollendorff and his virtuoso band.

Ollendorff started making waves on the international jazz scene in 2021 with the release of his debut album, A Song For You. Since then he has performed at many of Europe’s premier jazz clubs (Ronnie Scott’s, Sunset-Sunside, Jazz-Hus Montmartre), featured in the programs of key jazz festivals (London, Koa, Brecon) and toured the world. He is currently midway through another international excursion—Perth is the fifteenth stop on a thirty-date trip. Tuesday’s show opened the Australian leg, his first visit to this country.

The PIJF audience were bowled over by Ollendorff’s exquisite playing. Backed by fellow Londoner Conor Chaplin (upright bass) and New York-based drummer JK Kim, his chops had to be seen to be believed. A fluid player, he would jump from a sublime sequence of chords to the smoothest six-string descent or an all-too funky bass riff. He can simultaneously finger-pick rhythm and lead, sometimes complicating the layers even further by looping them through his effects rack. The sprezzatura with which he incorporated one technique after another was wondrous; he was a true maestro.

Although he can deliver the proverbial thousand-notes-a-second, and did numerous times the other night, Ollendorff is best known for his more melodic and lyrical playing. The show opened and closed with two such features: his compositions Three Bridges and the soon-to-be-released single West Lake. Each piece, though, moved beyond this, built in tension and intensity and broke away into solos by the sidemen. But this mesmerising, more haunting style was the centrepiece—it reached deep down into your soul.

Chaplin and Kim are no slouches either. As Ollendorff claimed, “They are two of the finest players you’ll find anywhere.” Both had a frenetic edge that saw them squeezing every last drop out of their instruments. Chaplin’s bass runs were all over the neck, often up to the highest reaches of the highest string. Kim’s brushes and sticks marauded his kit, creating a multi-rhythmic melange that was again wondrous to hear and behold. His numerous solos were cleverly punctuated by Ollendorff’s swift chord progressions or a restatement of the tune’s main theme.

With the exception of the Bud Powell classic John’s Abbey, the ten songs in the two sets were all Ollendorff originals, mainly taken from his new album, Where In The World. The show was recorded by PIJF media sponsor ABC Jazz to be broadcast soon. Listen out for it. Although in his intro, PIJF artistic director, Mace Francis, encouraged the audience to applaud loudly for the recording, they didn’t need the prompting. Their delight at the talent and fine artistry on display was enough to provoke a spontaneous and enthusiastic response.

Liberty Lair was the perfect venue for such a hardcore jazz show. As Francis put it in a recent interview, “There’s something about a red velvet-draped basement that reeks of jazz. You can feel it coming on as you climb down the stairs.” Like the theatre two floors above, the room has recently been renovated. There is now a very stylish bar at one end, those velvet drapes, a newly painted pressed-metal ceiling with crystal lampshades, a polished concrete floor and very comfy though removable seats (Melanie Charles’ show there Wednesday will be standing only). A speakeasy hideaway, along with the Ellington Jazz Club, it makes a hub for this year’s festival. Later this week, a series of late-night jam sessions will also be hosted there.

Full program details and tickets for other Perth Jazz Festival shows can be obtained through its website: perthjazzfest.com. If Ollendorff’s show is anything to go by, you will not be disappointed. Mace Francis is to be applauded on his fine selection.

IAN LILBURNE

Photos by Adrian Thomson