Each year the Australian Music Centre (AMC), in partnership with APRA AMCOS, present the Art Music Awards, covering Australian contemporary classical music, improvisation and contemporary jazz, and the broad spectrum of experimental music and sound art. This year the event takes place in Melbourne, and includes two awards relating specifically to jazz – the Jazz Work of the Year, and the Excellence in Jazz. The event also features five live performances, and brings together the community to celebrate outstanding achievement.

Finalists for the 2018 Art Music Awards have been announced, and include both established and emerging artists. In the Jazz Work of the Year category, the finalists are Sydney-based saxophonist and band leader Sandy Evans, Melbourne-based composer Johannes Luebbers, New York-based pianist Matthew Sheens, and Sydney-based trumpeter and bandleader Ellen Kirkwood.

In the Excellence in Jazz category, finalists are the Alister Spence Trio, pianist Barney McAll, saxophonist Jeremy Rose, and, again, Sandy Evans. Several of these artists may be already known to EJN members, by attendance at Jazzahead or European touring, but we encourage you to hear their work, which represents some of the very best dynamic music-making that you might find, anywhere. That is Australian jazz!
 

Image: Sandy Evans, photo by Cynthia Sciberras