Music / Andrea Keller Trio. At Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU School of Music, March 28. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

SINCE 1964, the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship has helped encourage creative works in the arts in Australia. Writers, visual artists, filmmakers and others have been selected. For the 2022 fellow, it was the turn of a jazz composer and musician.

Andrea Keller has a huge discography to her name, and then there are the many concerts she’s performed, plus she has won three Aria Awards. And Keller is an active educator in tertiary jazz; she’s done it all.

Making up the trio were Keller on piano, Miroslav Bukovsky, trumpet and John Mackey, saxophone. Beginning with a floating tune, there were ambient arpeggios on the piano, and a slight fill for both sax and trumpet, before the chords and the tune cut in. A reflective work, sad yet light, like something designed for a late-night interlude. With the sax and trumpet in unison and then their solo sections, this made for a refined and highly enjoyable tune.

The second work went gently into a sax solo. This music is surely jazz, but with a highly individual voice and a clear, direct language. The piano supported the other instruments while holding its own occasional, classical statements. 

The third work, titled “Time Takes Us”, was about a beautiful conversation Keller had with her family while stuck in a drive-through queue waiting for food. The story highlights the way jazz works. It’s about moments. Bursts of colour and life, unexpected joys and things with great meaning. The music had all these things. 

Keller is more than a fine and original composer; she is an inspired pianist. Music moves her, it speaks to her and through her out comes an array of colourful, clear tones full of meaning.

Bukovsky and Mackey matched equally the subtleties in Keller’s music. They have performed together many times, and their relaxed styles come out in how they sound. Neither overrides the other. There’s always a balance of tone, timing and quantity of time each gets to play. Together, they closely watch each note on their scores. After all, it is a school of music, not a jazz club – it’s composed music.

I like how some works were based on effect. In one piece, a repeated note on the piano was played at different volumes and tempos as the sax and trumpet floated in and out between. This showed an experienced musical mind at work. Someone who is interested in the quality of sound, and not just notes on a page.

Finishing with a lively tune that showed Keller’s inimitable and distinctive style, a work titled “Carefree Days”. I wish more concerts spoke to me the way this one did.