|: Modern Swing Vocal Jazz

Hetty Kate
Jazz in Four Seasons
Album Release Concert «SPRING»

This is the first volume of ‚Jazz in Four Seasons‘, my four-album series exploring the seasons across different cities and cultures.

We begin with Spring – the most hopeful and capricious of seasons. A time of renewal and awakening, luring you from your porch with summer’s promise, only to surprise you with a sudden downpour.
This collection of twelve songs celebrates spring in all its tempestuous, colourful yet tender beauty. These standards, carefully chosen from the 1930s to the 1970s, paint a portrait of the season in its fullest expression – from the smallest creatures and sudden rainstorms to luscious blooms and frenetic energy; from the gentle warmth of sunlight on a May morning to that exquisite melancholy of walking beneath flowering trees while gloriously, unapologetically alone.

British/Australian jazz vocalist Hetty Kate presents ‚Spring, Vol. 1‚, the opening chapter of her four-album project ‚Jazz in Four Seasons‚. Recorded across continents and seasons, the series will follow the rhythm of the calendar year through sound, place, and repertoire, drawing from classics and curios of the jazz canon. Hetty’s ‚Spring‘ was recorded in Prague, capturing the freshness and energy of the season through compositions by Duke Ellington, Tadd Dameron, Dave Brubeck, Billy Strayhorn and more. Songs that echo the first buds of the season, melodies that capture the dance of April rain.

Hetty Kate brings a warmth, pure tone and natural artistry to the jazz tradition. Compared to „a good champagne: simultaneously effervescent and restrained“ by the Sydney Morning Herald, her distinctive approach balances her respect for the lyric and audience with spontaneity and wit, with a gift for finding the story in every song.

After coming up in Melbourne’s vibrant jazz scene Hetty launched an international career that has now spanned two decades, eleven albums and 28 countries. She has performed at many international festivals including Sapporo International Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, and Melbourne International Jazz Festival, and her work extends beyond the concert hall to film, television and theatre. For five years Hetty toured internationally as featured vocalist with Australian jazz luminary James Morrison AM, including his award-winning symphonic concert „The A to Z of Jazz,“ performing alongside orchestras in Europe, Asia and Australia. The live recording won a coveted Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Traditional Album.

Praised as „one of the best swing-style singers on the current scene“ by American author and critic Will Friedwald, Hetty’s discography spans the breadth of the American songbook and beyond. Sure to be a masterful and warm evening.

Hetty Kate – Vocals
Béla Meinberg – Piano
Gur Liraz – Guitar
Lukas Traxel – Double Bass
Ugo Alluni – Drums
Hetty Kate S/W Foto©Anthony LesPetits