from the early 1920s to the end of the 20th century
Andy Firth is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding jazz clarinet players in the world today, having complete mastery of the clarinet and saxophone, with unrivalled expression of tone and technique, and endless devotion and enthusiasm.
Andy has performed at concerts with over 90 legendary Jazz and blues artists, including B.B. King, Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, Pete Seirs, Joe Buerger & Don Burrows. In 2008, he performed a “Tribute to the Great Jazz Clarinetists” at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The concert also featured clarinet legend Buddy DeFranco as guest artist.
Andy is also a composer, with 700 compositions to his name, some of which are full classical or chamber music works. In contrast, he won a 2001 Australian Film and Television award for “Best Music for an Advert” (Visa-Dining Out), which he composed, arranged and played on saxes and clarinet. In 2006 Andy received an Australian MO Award for “Best Live Jazz Performance”. He has been described as a “genius of the clarinet”.
Kevin Hunt is a jazz pianist-composer who has performed regularly in the Sydney jazz scene since 1979. His academic career began in 2001, when he won the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust Jazz Scholarship for piano and composition studies. An outcome of his 4 months study in New York was a jazz oratorio “Ceremony: A Celebration Of Life”. He then completed a Masters in Jazz performance (MMus) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2004 followed by a PhD in 2015.
Since 2005 Kevin has been a lecturer and research fellow in the Jazz Studies faculty at the Sydney Conservatorium, specializing in Jazz History and improvisation. In 2007, Kevin directed the AMEB Piano Teachers Festival at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 2010 he instigated a program called “Our Music” - an annual event which encourages collaboration between Sydney’s indigenous and non indigenous musicians.
Kevin currently performs regularly with vocalist Emma Pask and pianist Simon Tedeschi and toured with Don Burrows for some years. He has also formed the Kevin Hunt Trio with Dave Goodman on drums and Karl Dunnicliff on bass.