DEC 4 - SIX OF THE BEST

at the Brunswick Ballroom

evening show 8.30PM doors 6.00PM kitchen opens 6.30PM

co-presented with Identity Promotions

tickets available here

Vocals :

Bridgette Allen (Perth), Margie Lou Dyer, Jacki Gaudion, Nina Ferro, Annemarie Sharry, and Amelia Evans.

Piano Bob Sedrgreen

Bass Annette Yates

Drums Sonja Horbelt

special guest Savannah Blount Tenor Sax

Three decades ago, the show Six Of The Best commenced at Mietta’s restaurant in Alfred Place in the heart of the CBD, a lavish, chic and fashionable venue, internationally renowned, that appealed to Melbourne’s upwardly mobile set, the place to be seen!

Mietta O’Donnell, a legend in Melbourne entertainment and culinary circles, entrusted the music program to iconic Melbourne jazz pianist, Bob Sedergreen, who envisaged a show that had not been tried in Melbourne before, a glamorous show featuring six female vocalists representing their generations’ approach to singing, and obviously matched with a suitable rhythm section preferably consisting of women. At the time drummer Sonja Horbelt and her soul sister on bass Annette Yates were the obvious choice, having established their careers with American jazz great Mickey Tucker.

The original six singers were Madam Pat Thompson (vaudeville), Beverley Hay (swing), Brigette Allen (modern jazz and cabaret), Margie Lou Dyer (jazz and blues), Jacki Gaudion (soul), and Nina Ferro, the youngest (the next wave). So successful was the show that demand kept up year in year out. Changes of venues also saw casts vary, with selections from the vast pool of fine Melbourne-based singers including Julie O’Hara, Michelle Nicolle, Kerrie Simpson, Anastasia Aspeling, Shonah Honeyhill Sonko, Matilda White, Chantal Mitvalsky, Nilusha Dassenaike and Alison Wedding.

A show like this would need a wildcard instrumentalist and Bob chose American trumpeter Gil Askey, who at the time had been the musical director for the Motown record label with artists including Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson, to add extra spice to the performance.

Unfortunately, we have lost 3 (Madam Pat, Beverley and Gil Askey) but the original performance concept of the show remains. Identity Promotions in collaboration with the Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival are excited to announce the return of SIX OF THE BEST, with, Bridgette Allen (Perth), Margie Lou Dyer, Jacki Gaudion, Nina Ferro, Annemarie Sharry and introducing Melbourne’s rising young jazz singer Amelia Evans. The original rhythm section of Bob Sedergreen, Annette Yates and Sonja Horbelt will be joined by the explosive tenor saxophonist Savannah Blount.