Jenna Cave announces profound new album ‘Grief, Hope, Love’ out this November!
Jenna Cave composer/musical director Kristin Berardi vocals Yutaro Okuda guitar Tom Avgenicos trumpet/flugelhorn Loretta Palmeiro saxophones, clarinet Hannah James double bass Chloe Kim drums
Available 8 November 2024 via ABC Music
ABC Jazz Composer Commission
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In April 2022, at the age of 38, composer Jenna Cave’s life was completely turned on its head. She became a solo parent to her three-year-old daughter and was thrown into the depths of grief and trauma when her husband died from suicide.
Commissioned by ABC Jazz, Grief, Hope, Love is a suite of six songs composed by Cave in the twelve months after his death. With themes of hope and resilience in the face of loss and despair, these songs became an outlet for her to articulate, process and express her raw emotional states during the early stages of grief, including her sheer gratitude for the love and joy that still existed alongside her pain.
‘I hope this music may allow listeners suffering from grief and loss, particularly in the context of suicide, to feel heard and held,’ says Cave, ‘and that it will increase grief literacy in the community.’
To record these uniquely poignant songs, Cave brought together six of Australia’s finest jazz artists: vocalist Kristin Berardi, Yutaro Okuda on electric guitar, Tom Avgenicos on trumpet, Loretta Palmeiro on clarinet and sax, Hannah James on double bass, and drummer Chloe Kim. Profoundly moved by this experience, the performers were inspired to create their own musical responses, included on the album in the form of two improvisations.
Honest and uncompromising, compassionate and tender, embracing both past and future, this is an album that speaks from heart to heart.
Divergence Jazz Orchestra’s new album ‘Shadows and Light’ out now
In their third studio album, 'Shadows and Light', nineteen-piece Sydney ensemble Divergence Jazz Orchestra present a collection of original Australian compositions that explore both the shadows and the light of the human experience.
Compositions from bandleader Jenna Cave, album co-producer and guest soloist Paul Cutlan, and friends/collaborators Miroslav Bukovsky and Andrew Scott, take the listener through moments of darkness, fear, hope, reflection, exuberance, joy and optimism, a meditation on what it is to be living fully. Masterfully captured by the much sought after recording engineer Ross A’Hern, this stellar recording, with a warm lush sound, features exceptional soloists and ensemble players representing a diverse cross section of the creative music community in Sydney.
“Jenna Cave and Divergence Jazz Orchestra’s third impressive recording project in a decade is a tremendous accomplishment of ability and fortitude”
Dave Lisik, MyJazzReview.com
Director - Jenna Cave
Trumpets/Flugelhorns - Matt Collins, James Power, Paul Murchison, Will Endicott, Will Gilbert
Saxophones/Woodwinds - Loretta Palmeiro, Abi McCunn, David Reglar, Louis Klaassen, Laura Power
Trombones - Paul Weber (co-bandleader), Alex Silver, Rose Foster, Luke Davis
Double Bass - Hannah James
Guitar - Yutaro Okuda
Piano - Adrian Keevill
Drums - Mike Quigley
Voice - Marie Le Brun (track 3)
Tenor and Sopranino sax - Paul Cutlan (tracks 1 and 8)
The album was conceived in early 2021 when Paul Cutlan approached Jenna about co-producing a studio recording of Divergence performing his composition 'The Darkness of Silence', which was commissioned by Divergence in 2016. This was all the motivation Jenna needed to decide that it was time to record a new album with the group. While the recording was postponed from August 2021 to February 2022 thanks to Covid lockdowns, the delay in the project allowed time for Jenna to raise more money to fund more time in the studio, capturing eight tracks instead of five as originally planned.
