TONIGHT is one of the last acts you’ll be able to catch at Smith’s before it closes on Saturday, a performance by jazz guitarist/composer Daniel Hunter, originally from Canberra but now based in Paris.

Hunter’s first album “The Twentieth” was independently released last year and has been well received in France and in Australia. He’s back in Australia celebrating his 30th birthday and doing shows in in Canberra, Yass, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney.

In his debut album, Hunter takes listeners on a musical voyage which his own travels over the past 7 years. Featuring saxophonist Warren Walker (The Kandinsky effect), bassist Damien Varaillon (Nicolas Folmer Quartet), and drummer Nicolas Charlier (Thomas Encho Trio), the album includes compositions which recall his home town of Canberra, the even icier Swiss winter and his present home, Paris.

While he aims to incorporate a European aesthetic, he also hopes to preserve flavours that can only be identified as specific to the Australian jazz sound.

Hunter grew up in Canberra, taking up the guitar at the age of 13. He graduated in 2006 with honours from the ANU School of Music, majoring in jazz performance and continued worked here as a teacher and performer before leaving for Europe in late 2007, basing himself in Geneva for 4 years as a teacher, performer and composer, then moving to Paris with the aim of further developing his original projects.

In short, he sounds like the perfect person to play a swansong for Smith’s.

Daniel Hunter, at Smiths Alternative, 76 Alinga Street, Civic, 8pm tonight, Thursday March, 19. Tickets at the door.