Johnston Street Jazz

17/06/2026

To celebrate the release of Driftwood’s new album MAPS on ROOM40, Naarm based experimental musicians Aviva Endean and Nick Ashwood are hitting the road with a car full of microtonal pump organs, clarinets and guitars. At Eight o’clock Sharp they share the bill with the legendary local avant folk duo Runa Cara.
Performing face to face, with back to back organs, Driftwood meets in a microtonal, buzzing, blurring landscape. Their unique instrumental line up features two re-tuned antique pump organs, which create a resonant backdrop for their primary instruments of clarinets (Aviva) and guitars (Nick). Their slowly evolving music draws influence from minimalist, drone and folk traditions to create a generous and shimmering sound, inspiring a hypnotic and transformational quality of listening in their audiences, who are momentarily immersed in this harmonic expanse.
www.avivaendean.com [http://www.avivaendean.com]
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/driftwood [https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/driftwood]

Runa Cara is the partnership between Irish-Australian percussionist and indie-folk singer-songwriter Bonnie Stewart (aka Bonniesongs) and Danish-Australian contemporary cellist and nyckelharpist Freya Schack-Arnott. Drawing from their culturally diverse roots and a rich mix of classical, folk, and improvised musical practices, the duo creates imaginative Irish and Scandinavian folk songs interwoven with experimental soundscapes and original compositions.
https://www.runacara.com [https://www.runacara.com/home]
https://runacara.bandcamp.com [https://runacara.bandcamp.com/album/runa-cara-2...]

10/06/2026

Evoking places and experiences in nature through a rich blend of jazz and experimental music, with hints of folk and contemporary classical, Underwards is led by award-winning composer and trumpeter Ellen Kirkwood. Currently, the majority of Underwards’ works form part of Kirkwood’s PhD project, exploring respectful Indigenous-informed immersive connecting with and learning from Country.
At Eight O'Clock Sharp they will be launching “Not Yet”: a love song for a beautiful place in Wiradyuri Country, and a musing on Kirkwood’s reluctance to leave lookouts.
“Deeply sensitive, intellectually inquisitive, modern and of today. Underwards is breaking the jazz coma.”- Eric Pozza, Canberra Jazz Blog
“Beauty blended with visceral excitement” - John Shand and Annabel Ross, Sydney Morning Herald
Ellen Kirkwood - trumpet, voice
Hilary Geddes - guitar, effects
Brendan Clark - electric bass, effects
Alex Inman-Hislop - drums

03/06/2026

The piano & alto sax duo performs an unusual repertoire of Thelonius Monk tunes, film music, and their own original tunes, reflecting a love of the history of jazz. The music tonight will be swinging, bluesy and spiky, just as Monk would have liked it.
Peter Dasent is widely known as a composer and performer of jazz, film music and children’s music. His band The Umbrellas has released a number of CDs, and he composed the score for Peter Jackson’s iconic Australian film Heavenly Creatures.
Phillip Johnston has released 25 CDs as a leader, composed music for film, television and theatre, and toured widely in Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA with his silent film scores and bands.
Peter and Phillip are co-leaders of the early jazz repertory band The Greasy Chicken Orchestra [https://phillipjohnston.com/the-greasy-chicken-orchestra/], who have released the highly regarded CD, I Cakewalked With A Zombie [https://phillipjohnston.bandcamp.com/.../i-cakewalked...] (Earshift).
Video clip: Peter Dasent and Phillip Johnston play Monk’s Locomotive [https://youtu.be/SeM1zZe4_ag]
Web page: https://phillipjohnston.com/playing-with-monk/ [https://phillipjohnston.com/playing-with-monk/]
Jazz Goes To The Movies: https://phillipjohnston.com/playing-with-monk-jazz-goes.../ [https://phillipjohnston.com/playing-with-monk-jazz-goes.../]
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/phillip.johnston.92 [https://www.facebook.com/phillip.johnston.92] (PJ), https://www.facebook.com/peter.dasent [https://www.facebook.com/peter.dasent] (PD)

27/05/2026

Presented by Eight O‘Clock Sharp, Hilary Geddes‘ Redleaf merges jazz, indie, and experimental influences in an emotionally resonant show driven by her stellar quartet. With pianist Matt Harris, double-bassist Max Alduca and drummer Alex Inman-Hislop, Geddes delivers bold, improvisation-rich music with heart and nuance.

Hilary Geddes is an award-winning composer and guitarist. She is the 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellow and the 2019 Jann Rutherford Memorial Award recipient. In 2021, she released her AIR-award nominated debut album Parkside (ABC Jazz) with Hilary Geddes Quartet. The group have performed at Melbourne International Jazz Festival, as well as at Art Gallery of NSW's inaugural VOLUME festival. In 2024, she supported Marcus Miller (USA) at his sold-out City Recital Hall concert. Outside of jazz and improvised music, Hilary is a member and lead guitarist in the rock band The Buoys.

Proudly funded by Sound NSW, this project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
Doors 7:30pm, music starts at 8pm (sharp!)
BYO food but NO alcohol. Tea/Coffee provided

20/05/2026

Sharing a love of unusual jazz standards, and with a musical friendship stretching back several decades, Susan G*i Dowling and Paul Cutlan blend tradition and freedom in this intimate concert of duets. Between Susan’s expressive voice and Paul’s 4 octave bass clarinet, the pair explore the beautiful melodies, harmonies and emotive themes of classics by Gershwin, Strayhorn, Golson, Ellington et al.

For vocalist Susan G*i Dowling the challenge of performing a full concert accompanied by a bass clarinet is not a challenge at all. Susan has spent a career appearing with elite musicians here and overseas. For example, a trio of Bernie McGann on alto, Susan Voice and Carl Dewhurst guitar performed together for over 20 years. Many tracks on the six albums released by Susan attest to her adventurous musical spirit. Susan is delighted and excited to once again collaborate with reed maestro Paul Cutlan to produce magical interpretations of jazz classics and other special musical gems at 8 O'Clock Sharp.
Paul Cutlan is a multi-instrumentalist and composer specialising in improvisation, cross-cultural music, jazz and hybrid genres. A member of the Australian Art Orchestra for 15 years, Cutlan continues as a member of world music outfit MARA! after 28 years. His career has taken him to major venues and festivals in over twenty countries. Cutlan has performed with Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Gurrumul, Lou Reed, Bobby Previte, Jim McNeely, and Ólafur Arnalds.

04/05/2026

May the Fourth be with you, friends.
Nine years ago today we held the first ever Johnston St Jazz - Spike Mason's Boogaloo Quartet. We've moved to Newtown now, every Wednesday. Please follow our new gig at Eight O'Clock Sharp

15/04/2026

LIVESTREAM UPDATE!
We've just discovered that to be able to LiveStream on the new Eight O'Clock Sharp page we need 100 followers (currently 75) and for the page to be 2 months old (currently 2 weeks). So for the next 6 weeks we'll be streaming from this page. Don't get used to it though!

07/01/2026

A great obituary of Judy Bailey, with some solid thoughts about how hard being a musician has become since her heyday.

A colossal figure in Australian jazz, Judy Bailey was one of the final links to a half-forgotten world.

30/11/2025

Thursday 4th December folks! Get along to the beautiful venue that is , I’m excited to sing alongside the wonderful, cheeky and inspiring with on piano and on bass! It will be swinging!! Ticket link in me bio

22/10/2025