Name: Jonathan Zwartz (SYD) with Tom O’Halloran and WAAPA
Start: 2025-04-04T18:00:00+08:00
Location: The Ellington Jazz Club - Perth

$Jonathan Zwartz (SYD) with Tom O\u2019Halloran and WAAPA$

Doors 6pm
Show 7pm
Music Director Tom O’Halloran
Performed by Visiting Artist Jonathan Zwartz with Tom O’Halloran and Jazz students
Renowned for his exceptional talent as a jazz bassist, Jonathan Zwartz has garnered multiple accolades, including the 2008 ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album for his work on Animarum. Jonathan has played with Pharoah Sanders, Branford Marsalis, Lionel Loueke, Kurt Elling, Nigel Kennedy, Mark Murphy, Annie Ross, Larry Goldings, Johnny Griffin, Terri-Lynn Carrington, Genesis Owusu, and Katie Noonan.
Jonathan is also a composer, producer, songwriter, and live music advocate. His music is characterized by a rich blend of melodic sophistication and rhythmic depth, often evoking a serene yet vibrant atmosphere that resonates with both jazz aficionados and newcomers alike.
He has released three award winning albums as composer and bandleader. His debut Album ‘The Sea’ was released in 2009 and won two Bell awards. His follow up CD entitled ‘The Remembering and Forgetting of the Air’, won best jazz album in the Australian Recording Industry (AIR) awards. His third Album ‘Animarum’ (2018) won the ARIA for best jazz album as well as the Bell and Air awards for that year.
In late 2019 recorded with Mike Nock, Julien Wilson and Hamish Stuart a composer’s collaborative album entitled ‘This World’ which was released in 2020 to critical acclaim, sold out a two week National tour and was nominated for an ARIA award. In 2021 the follow up album ‘Another Dance’ was recorded and released in early 2022. It entered at no 2 on the ARIA Blues and Roots Charts.
In 2021 Jonathan was commissioned by SIMA to compose a concert work for the visiting Finnish Harpist and pianist Iro Haarla. After some delay due to the Covid epidemic, the suite was performed for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival in November 2022. The Melbourne concert was recorded and broadcast by the ABC. He co-produced and wrote the orchestrations for singer/songwriter Martha Marlow’s debut album, Medicine Man released in May 2021.
He curated a series of free concerts for City of Sydney in 2021 under the working title ‘Music and Architecture’. He is currently pursuing an initiative to reactivate bandstands and rotundas in NSW for Make Music Day.
Jonathan is a Writer Director Board member of APRA and has a Masters Degree in Music from the Australian National University, an Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies from the NSW Conservatorium and also completed a diploma in screen composition at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in 2012.
He co-produced a ten part series on Australian jazz for ABC TV entitled ‘The Pulse’, which has been re-screened many times since the series’ release in 2001.
He has composed Music for documentaries – ‘To Spring From The Hand’ (2014) ‘Ka-Ching, a Pokies Nation’ (ABC, 2015), ‘Madhattan’, (2016), ‘The Scribe’ (ABC 2017) ‘Backtrack Boys’ (ABC 2018), ‘Richard Leplastrier – Framing the View’ (ABC 2020) and a number of short films also.
He is co-director of The Starfish Club, a monthly concert series now celebrating it’s 24th year, featuring artists such as Jon Cleary, Deb Conway and Willy Zygier, Don Walker, Tim Rogers, Amanda Brown and Lindy Morrison, Leah Flannagan, Rai Thistlethwayte, Reg Mombassa and Peter O’Doherty, Diana Rouvas, Steve Kilbey, Jade MacRae, Mahalia Barnes, Lucy Thorne and many many more.