Dec 9 Rebecca Barnard and The d’Affinois Single Launch

Opening set : Sunny Reyne

evening show 8.00PM

The Jazzlab Friday Dec 9 doors 7.30pm Show 8PM

Tickets HERE $40/35 Bookings essential

Rebecca Barnard and The d’Affinois”

Rebecca Barnard has just recorded her first Jazz Album “The Night We Called it a Day” .This show for the Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival launches the release of her first single from the album. It is an album of carefully chosen songs dating as far back as 1937. The beautiful arrangements were written by Monique diMattina and the band that played on the recording are playing the show. They include

Monique diMattina on piano,

Sam Lemann - guitar,

Ben Robertson - Bass,

Paul Williamson - sax

Matt Jodrell - trumpet.

REBECCA BARNARD comes from a rich musical family history. In the 1920’s her grandparents Jim and Kath Barnard ran The Kath Barnard Jazz Band. Their son Len (Rebecca’s father) joined the band in the 1940’s at the age of 12. In 1952 The Len Barnard Jazz Band recorded Australia's first microgroove Lp record and toured extensively both here and overseas until his death in 2005 .

Rebecca grew up listening to Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong spending a lot of time in the pubs of Melbourne and Sydney listening to her Dad's band and eventually getting up and singing with them at the age of 13. At the age of 14 she heard Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan and became obsessed . The cross pollination of musical styles is evident in her music... especially her vocal phrasing .

Rebecca spent many years in various bands refining her live performance and vocal skills .She was asked to be backing singer for Stephen Cummings as he was starting his solo career post The Sports . She went on to record and tour with Cummings for the next 10 years. This is where she met Shane O’Mara ( They were married in 1989 and have a son Harry but separated lovingly in 2009  ). Meanwhile Rebecca started seriously focusing on songwriting and Rebecca's Empire was born. They became one of Australia's best loved bands releasing 3 Eps and 2 Albums, touring extensively and appearing on Triple J’s Hottest 100 albums 3 years in a row. Rebecca appeared for 2 years, once a week on Triple Js afternoon program with her segment Pot O Rock, a segment on cooking and recipies. This was incredibly popular and generated record sales and profile beyond expectation. The band disbanded in 2000 while the duties of being a mother took priority even though she still appeared regularly on other peoples recordings, specifically Paul Kelly, Tim Rogers, Renee Geyer, Deb Conway, The Meanies,TISM, Kutcha Edwards, David Hosking, Warped, The Audreys, The Fauves, You Am I and many more.

 In 2006 Rebecca released her first solo album FORTIFIED to critical acclaim. It was released on Rebecca’s own label Ladybird. FORTIFIED was promoted heavily with touring for 9 months, playing festival's and securing some great support spots . The album sold moderately well at retail but selling Cd’s at gigs proved to be very successful. In 2009 she received a grant from Vic Arts and headed off to New York to record her album EVERLASTING with Jazz musician Barney McAll, an Australian and very close friend who lived and worked in NY for 15 years as Sia’s MD among many other great artists. The album was well received and one of which she is very proud.

MWIJF 2022 sees the Melbourne launch of her 4th solo album - “The Night we Called it a Day” - an album of beautifully written jazz standards by artists such as Hoagy Charmichael dating back to 1933 ! The treatment for this album is eclectic and contemporary.

 Sunny Reyne

Sunny Reyne is a vocalist and musician hailing from Melbourne, Australia. Combining neo-soul and alt-jazz elements, Sunny’s earthy, lush vocal timbre and songwriting opts for minimalistic, rhythmic vocal lines and understated instrumentation in combination with detailed production choices, synth-laden sounds and disjointed grooves that combine to add extra weight to her lyrics, highlighting her considered vocal choices.

For this performance she will be presenting her stripped-back original work alongside keys player Ollie Rolfe.