Thursday, July 10, 2014 Page 23

LINE-UP KEEPS BEATTHESCENE 3

Thrash bash DRUMMER Jared Roberts relishes returning to his home town of Albury to kick up a musical storm with his mates.

Roberts and bandmates from Melbourne thrash metal band Desecrator — Paulie Tipping, Riley Strong and Scottie Anning — will hit Albury’s Albion Hotel tonight in Uprise Promotions’ latest Tremor gig, supported by AtmostFear, The Inducer and Eviscerator.

Since releasing their limited-edition vinyl release Down to Hell last year, the band has unveiled a video clip of Balancing on a Blade and toured heavily in support of the release.

“We’ve completed two tours as well as a bunch of other shows including Heavy Magazine’s Brewtality, Melbourne’s Murderfest and Alice Springs’ Blacken the Globe Festival,” says Roberts, of ex-Border band Netherealm.

“We’ve covered around 20 cities and around 40 shows since September.”

Following last year’s Hellbent for Murder tour with Perth death/thrash outfit Malignant Monster, Desecrator joined Denver thrash metal band Havok, Adelaide metallers Se Bon Ki Ra, Melbourne’s Dreadnaught and one of Australia’s most popular metal bands of the moment, Melbourne thrash grind out-fit King Parrott, who will play Wodonga’s Carrier Arms next Wednesday.

The boys from Desecrator also plan to record a new single and a follow-up video clip before heading back out on the road.

BANDS

THE LOWDOWN■ When: 7pm tonight■ Where: Albion Hotel, Albury■ Tickets: Go to desecrator.net

FESTIVAL

Kate dims the lights“LIKE Peggy Lee on a Vespa”.

That’s how Mark Myers, of US music website JazzWorks.com, described British-Australian jazz chanteuse Hetty Kate.

The charismatic and technically gifted vocal-ist will return to the Border tomorrow night to launch her new album, Dim All the Lights, in the latest of Jazz Albury-Wodonga’s 2014 music concerts.

Born in Britain, Kate began classical piano and violin lessons as a youngster and her love for music grew when her parents took to West End musicals and played their Doris Day and Frank Sinatra records to her.

After arriving in Australia, she took classical singing lessons, rekindled her love of the Great American Songbook melodies of her child-

hood, travelled often to New York and made her performing debut in 2007.

Equally at home in a concert hall fronting a symphony orchestra or serenading patrons of intimate jazz clubs in the wee hours, Kate is often compared to the singers of the 1940s and ’50s, with her sweet sound and clear tone lending itself perfectly to the music she loves to sing, her influences including US jazz stars Peggy Lee, June Christy and Ella Fitzgerald.

Dim All The Lights is music made famous by Lee, Christy and Julie London.

JAZZ

THE LOWDOWN■ When: 8pm tomorrow — bar open from 7.30pm

(meals available at nearby La Maison Cafe)■ Where: The Jazz Basement, Gateway Village,

Wodonga■ Tickets: $25, $20 concession — phone 0438

623 462

● US jazz drummer Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts is one of an impressive line-up of international stars to play at the 25th Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues this spring.

AMERICAN immigrant turned Border broadcaster Frank Davidson has ended a three-decade-long full-time radio career, announcing his departure last Friday, US Independence Day.

In recent years the Oregon native has been the boss of North East Broadcasters, the company that operates Wangaratta’s Edge FM and 3NE as well as Deniliquin’s 2QN and Classic Rock.

Davidson had previously worked at 2AY in on-air and managerial roles as well as at community radio on the Border.

“It was time for a change,” Davidson said when asked why he was leaving full-time radio after 34 years.

“I’ve enjoyed everything, it’s not over yet; I still want to stay in radio in one form or another, whether that’s with

community radio or local radio, but it will not be full-time.

“It’s time to slow down and smell the roses, so to speak.”

Davidson plans to focus on the Wangaratta Jazz Festival through his position on the event’s board.

Asked for career highlights, Davidson cited the overseeing of the opening of new studios for 2AY in Hume Street, Albury, and co-ordinating different sta-tions while at North East Broadcasters.

“In the 1980s being the first foreign on-air accent, so to speak, was always good,” he said.

Davidson said advice to tone down his accent, through softening his vowels, proved worthwhile.

“There wasn’t any negative feedback, there’s been none since then although

there might have been the odd phone call, but I consider myself more an Australian than a Yank. I’ve spent more time here than in the United States and I’ve got the passport to prove it.”

RADIO 2AY is seeking feedback on whether it should extend its relay of Melbourne broadcaster Tom Elliott’s talk-back show by an extra hour.

The program airs from 3pm on its home station 3AW, but is heard on the Border from 4pm.

Feedback is being taken through 2AY’s Facebook page and is generally in favour of maintaining the existing music format.

Noteworthy are some calls for Border-based talkback with one suggesting newsreader Paul McSwiney should anchor a slot in the early afternoon.

Radio veteran changes paceRADIO NEWSwith Anthony Bunn

It’s time to slow down and smell the roses, so to speak.

● Desecrator● Hetty Kate will launch her sixth album tomorrow.

SIX-times-Grammy Award-winning drummer Jeff Watts got the nickname “Tain” from the legendary jazz pian-ist Kenny Kirkland when they were on tour in Florida and drove past a Chieftain fuel sta-tion.

The only musician to appear on every Grammy Award-win-ning jazz record by US jazz greats (and brothers), trum-peter Wynton and saxophonist Branford Marsalis, Watts will be one of the international stars at the four-day Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues, which kicks off on October 31.

Italian jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player Enrico Rava, US blues guitarist and singer Joe Louis Walker, one of the hottest blues guitarists in the business, and several expatri-ate Australians, including saxophonists Lisa Parrott and Troy Roberts, blues harmonica and didgeridoo player Harper and his band and pianist Sarah McKenzie, will also perform at Wangaratta.

Leading New Zealand jazz saxophonist Roger Manins, who won the National Jazz Awards (Saxophone) at the Wangaratta festival in 2002, will return to perform with Hip-Flask, his funky jazz fusion blues band.

Australian jazz artists Paul Grabowsky, Mike Nock, Tony Gould, Bob Sedergreen, Allan Browne, Niko Schauble and

Steve Grant, who played at the first festival in 1990, will return for the 25th festival.

The Australian Art Orchestra will perform Struttin’ With Some Barbecue, an inven-tive re-imagining of the legacy of Louis Armstrong;

● Frank Davidson outside the 2AY studios that were built under his management. Picture: TARA GOONAN

Jazz vocalist Emma Pask, a contestant on last year’s The Voice Australia, will perform as will Fem Belling and her band.

Belling will also contribute to the African jazz sounds of Royal Swazi Spa, led by her father Howard Belling.

Vocalist Hetty Kate (who is appearing at The Jazz Basement tomorrow night) will perform songs from her hit CD Dim All The Lights and Julie O’Hara will lead Ultrafox, the gypsy swing-inspired combo.

In addition to Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker and Harper, the blues program will include a strong lineup of Australian blues acts including Sydney’s Bondi Cigars, Blue Eyes Cry, Fiona Boyes, Nick Charles and Doc Span.

Guitar aces Ray Beadle and Darren Jack and their bands will also team up as All The Kings Men to celebrate the music of US blues greats B.B. King, Freddie King, Earl King and Albert King.

The National Jazz Awards will feature guitarists this year and an increased prize pool.

The top 10 finalists will compete at the festival, with the finals starting at 5pm on November 2 and broadcast live-to-air to a national radio audience on ABC Classic FM.

The 25th festival will feature 300 musicians, 80 concerts on the main program, 30 on the free stage in the main street as well as artist talks and master-classes, all within walking dis-tance in the city and at nearby wineries.

Paul Grabowsky and Steve Grant will both present solo piano concerts in Wangaratta’s Holy Trinity Cathedral; guitar-ists James Muller and Stephen Magnusson will make a rare collaboration in a quartet for-mat.

THE LOWDOWN■ When: October 31 to Novem-

ber 3■ Where: Various Wangaratta

venues■ Bookings and information:

Visitwangarattajazz.com