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The project, says Petra, started in 2018 when she was asked by Brian Ritchie to participate in his Mona Foma festival: ‘It was a tribute to my dad, featured in a program called A Weekend of Protest Music. Having the opportunity to play his music means everything to me. He’s an inspiration to me and to so many people. I feel his energy when I sing and that helps me so much.’
It was at Mona Foma that Petra met Nick Haywood, ‘the wonderfully talented, amazing bass player and person who put together this incredible band. I am so honoured to be working with all of them.’
Among the works on the program is a new version of Charlie Haden’s ‘There in a Dream’, with lyrics written by Jesse Harris. ‘The idea of putting words to the song came from Steve Cardenas, who plays in the Liberation Music Orchestra…To me, they convey the beauty of the song and what it means.
‘I’m trying to sing and put something good out into the world. I believe that when people do good, it becomes contagious like ripples in an ocean, and those ripples turn into waves. We just can’t get distracted to all the ugliness going on.’
In a restlessly eclectic, wholly unique musical career that spans two and a half decades, Petra Hadenhas established a singular reputation for creativity and versatility, and a unique niche that's allowed her to apply her multiple talents to a dazzlingly diverse array of music.
As one of the triplet daughters of the late, legendary jazz bassist and composer Charlie Haden, Petra was literally born into a life in music. She first picked up the violin at the age of seven, after being inspired by watching older street musicians playing. Her early fascination with the violin and other instruments led her to develop an uncanny ability to use her voice to recreate the sounds of the instruments she heard, and to develop elaborate pop, jazz, blues and classical arrangements based on those sounds.
As a singer, instrumentalist and composer, Haden has built an impressively varied and accomplished discography encompassing her work as part of the beloved alt-rock quartet That Dog, her collaborations with a broad array of acts, and a series of her own releases, which often showcase her unique talent for constructing complex, evocative a capella arrangements by inventively layering multiple tracks of her own voice.
Across all her far-flung creative endeavours – from folk to indie rock to the sound world of master jazz guitarist Bill Frisell to Hollywood film soundtracks – is a consistent sense of adventure and expression, along with a playfulness that gives her projects a consistently uplifting, inventive spirit that marks them as uniquely hers.
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Over the past thirty years Nick Haywoodhas become one of the most in demand bassists and educators on the Australian music scene. He has performed at major festivals and concerts around Australia and in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Europe, China and the USA. He has been a featured artist on over 100 CDs and has been nominated for numerous ARIA awards. In 2012 he won the Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Australian Contemporary Jazz Album and the APRA Art Music State Award for Excellence in Jazz. He has performed and recorded with ensembles including Blow, Bennett’s Lane Big Band (which he co-founded), Tony Gould Trio, Mistaken Identity, Robert Burke Quartet and the Allan Browne Trio and Quintet, as well as leading his own trio, quartet and and now quintet.
TRACKLISTING
CHARLIE HADENThere In A Dream
TRADITIONALCanto del Pilón
BILL FRISELLThroughout
JIMMY WEBBThe Moon’s A Harsh Mistress
PAT METHENY / LYLE MAYSThis Is Not America
CHARLIE HADENLa Pasionaria*
PETE ST JOHNFields of Athenry
TRADITIONALShenandoah
CHARLIE HADENSilence
Petra Hadenvocals, violin*
Nick Haywood Quintet
Nick Haywood bass
Stephen Magnusson guitar
Colin Hopkins piano
Eugene Ball trumpet
James McLean drums