Meeting Points Series: Old Grooves for New Streets

See some of Australia’s most influential world jazz musicians in this one-off intimate concert.

A chance meeting in 2001 between trumpeter/composer Peter Knight, and traditional Vietnamese virtuoso Dung Nguyen, marked the beginning of a remarkable collaboration with iconic world jazz band Way Out West. Celebrating the cultural diversity of Melbourne’s western suburbs, Way Out West incorporated Vietnamese instruments and West African rhythms with contemporary jazz. The band achieved great success both locally and internationally, performing at major festivals including Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival and Veneto Jazz Festival (Italy).

Based on the critically acclaimed 2007 album of the same name, Old Grooves for New Streets now brings Knight and Nguyen’s collaborations into the world of the Australian Art Orchestra. Featuring some of the founding members of Way Out West, audiences will hear Knight’s original compositions in new arrangements written exclusively for this performance.

This Meeting Points Series concert is the first time that Knight and Nguyen have collaborated in over a decade, and they will reinvent some of the cult jazz they quickly became known for with Way Out West. Nguyen will be playing Vietnamese zithers, the dan tranh and dan bau, with Knight on trumpet and electronics. They’ll be joined by Way Out West percussionist, Ray Pereira (congas, djembe and balafon), rising jazz saxophonist Cheryl Durongpisitkul, composer and jazz heavyweight Christopher Hale on electronic bass guitar and award-winning young drummer James McLean.