The Black Arm Band

Associate Artists & Personnel

Eugene Ball

Trumpet, Additional Musical Arrangements

Eugene Ball performs throughout Australia and internationally with groups including the Hoodangers, the Andrea Keller Quartet, the Allan Browne Quintet, the Australian Art Orchestra, the Bennetts Lane Big Band and the Ball/Magnusson/Talia trio. Freelance credits include performances with Paul Grabowsky, Mike Nock, Tony Gould, Graham Lyall and Gordon Brisker. As a composer and arranger, his work has featured on numerous recordings and in television and film productions. He has taught trumpet, improvisation and composition at a number of institutions and has been actively involved in the creation and promotion of performance opportunities for well-known and emerging artists, through his work in establishing the performance space/organisation Lebowski’s.

Carlo Barbaro

Alto Saxophone

Carlo has worked with some of the finest musicians and bands in the country (and in the world); The Cat Empire, Vada, Ross Irwin Soul Special, Snap Happy, Thirsty Merc, Harry Connick Jr, Michael Franti, Jackson Browne, Kate Cebrano, Paul Kelly, Julie O’Hara, Xavier Rudd, The Brown Hornet, Rhonda Burchmore, Wendy Stapleton, to name just a few. He has toured both nationally and internationally with aussie band ‘The Cat Empire’ and has played at many of the leading festivals throughout the world. He has also opened for James Brown and the Dave Matthews Band.

Shannon Barnett

Trombone

Shannon Barnett completed her Bachelor of Music Performance (Honours) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in 2005. In 2004 she was nominated for the Music Council of Australia/Freedman Foundation Jazz Fellowship and was also awarded an Australia Council grant for composition of a work with vocalist Gian Slater, which premiered at the 2004 Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival. In 2005 she toured Mexico with the Australian Art Orchestra, and appeared on Andrea Keller’s ARIA-nominated album Angels and Rascals. She is a regular member of improvising ensembles Andrea Keller Sextet, Vada, Barnett/Lee/Hendry Trio, Melbourne Women’s Jazz Festival Sextet, Murphy’s Law and the Ren Walters Project.

Kate Ben-Tovim

Producer (on extended leave until Dec 2009)

Kate is an arts worker and producer with specialist experience in music based projects and cross-cultural collaborations. In her current role with Arts House, Kate has produced two large scale inter-cultural music works for major festival programs We Don't Dance For No Reason and the Helpmann Award winning Black Arm Band - murundak.

Kate graduated from Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium in Classical Saxophone Performance and has held management positions with music organizations including Melbourne International Jazz Festival (as General Manager) and Serious International Music Producers (UK). Kate has managed programs for the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Melbourne International Arts Festival and Melbourne Fringe and was Associate Producer for the Australian Cultural Program in the 2002 Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Aaron Choulai

Musical Arrangements, Hidden Republic; Piano, murundak 2006 – 2008

Papua New Guinea-born Aaron Choulai has worked as a music director and pianist for Kate Ceberano, recorded in New York for Sunnyside Records, headlined at festivals and performed with artists such as Clarence Penn, Ben Monder, David Shea and Allan Browne. He leads and writes for several original projects, including Vada and The Aaron Choulai Sextet. He has worked on several film scores, gaining nominations for the APRA Young Composers’ Award and for Tropfest’s Best Film Score in 2003. His latest album Korema is recorded with The Aaron Choulai Sextet and features a number of Melbourne musicians. The recording was made as part of the band’s residency for Umbria Jazz Melbourne in 2005. Aaron was commissioned by the 2007 Queensland Music Festival to create a large-scale music and film work with musicians from Papua New Guinea We Don’t Dance No Reason. Premiering in 2007 QMF, this work was also presented as part of the 2007 Melbourne International Arts Festival and will be performed in Port Moresby in March 2008.

Mark Fitzgibbon

Piano, murundak 2009

Iain Grandage

Musical Supervisor, Arrangements and Orchestrations

Iain Grandage is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Youth Orchestras of Australia, having most recently completed a similar residency with the WA Symphony Orchestra. He has won Helpmann and Green Room Awards for theatre scores, which include Cloudstreet, The Blue Room, Babes in the Wood, Plainsong, Merry-Go-Round in the Sea and True West. He has been a member of Bulletin Magazine’s Smart 100, and has won APRA/AMC awards for his orchestral works, and has orchestrated songs for Ben Folds, Augie March, Tim & Tex and the Whitlams. He has composed an opera for children, scores for dance projects and incidental music for BBC Radio3 and Radio4.

Jude Gun

Producer

Jude Gun is Associate Producer at Arts House and has managed programs and artists for many of Melbourne’s major cultural festivals and events including Melbourne Fringe, St Kilda Festival, St Kilda Film Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival and the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival. Within her current role, she works closely with individual artists and companies to explore and realise creative development, presentation and touring opportunities and collaborations.  Jude’s area of interest is cultural exchange and collaboration, and in 2008 was the recipient of an Asialink Arts Management Residency, hosted in Phnom Penh by Amrita Performing Arts. 

Andrea Keeble

Violin, murundak, dirtsong

A graduate of the VCA, Andrea Keeble has studied at the University of Melbourne and in London. She has performed with artists including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, My Friend the Chocolate Cake and INXS, and has recorded with The John Butler Trio, Renee Geyer, Mick Harvey, David Bridie and Jimmy Barnes. She is a member of the ARIA Award-nominated quintet Cosmo Cosmolino, the Ad Hoc String Collective and string quartet Stroll, and is a regular violinist with the Stiletto Sisters. She has conducted and performed in a number of film and television scores; and is currently an examiner for the Australian Music Examination Board, a lecturer in violin at the University of Melbourne and a violin and viola teacher at Monash University.

Sam Keevers

Piano, Hidden Republic; murundak, 2008 – present

Sam Keevers studied piano at the QLD Conservatorium of music and the Victorian College of the Arts. He has performed and recorded with many artists including: Chris Potter, Bobby Previte's Bitches Brew Project, Joe Bataan, Scott Tinkler, Ian Chaplin, Adam Armstrong, Hamish Stuart, Jonathan Zwartz, Bernie McGann, Alison Wedding, Paul Williamson's Hammond Combo, Gary Pinto, Guy Sebastian, Daniel Merriweather, Katie Noonan and many others. Sam was also a member of the Vince Jones band from 1996 to 1999. A finalist for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2005, he was also nominated for an ARIA award for the album "Grace". He has performed worldwide including around Australia, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and New Caledonia.

Caerwen Martin

Cello, murundak

Caerwen Martin holds a Masters in Musical Performance (Honours) degree and has trained in instrumental music locally and in Europe. She is founding member of the Melbourne contemporary string quartet Silo and works as a composer and arranger for film, dance, theatre, live-performance ensembles and recordings. Her film score for Lost and Found was nominated for an APRA Award. Many of her performances have been broadcast on radio in Australia and overseas. She performs regularly in Melbourne and has toured extensively overseas.

Rory McDougall

Drums

Rory McDougal has been playing the drums for 15 years. Growing up in Daylesford, Victoria, he began playing in the local brass band before moving on to 1980s rock bands, jazz, classical, pop, folk and everything in between. He graduated from the VCA in 2001, and works regularly with all players in The Black Arm Band, particularly Aaron Choulai, who he has played with since high school.

Michael Meagher

Bass

A graduate of the VCA, Michael Meagher currently works with a variety of Melbourne ensembles as a freelance double bass and electric bass player. His credits include performances with City City City (New Zealand tour 2006), Scott Edgar & The Universe, Ish sIsh, Kate Ceberano (2004–06), The Ted Vining Trio (2006), Liz Cavanagh and Blow (Switzerland tour 2002). Since working on murundak he has begun playing with Kutcha Edwards and Dave Arden. Recording credits include albums with City City City, Marc Hannaford Septet, Kris Wanders Unit, Blow, Nigel B Swifte and Dreadnaught. In 2005 he received an Australia Council Buzz grant, enabling him to undertake a mentorship with Ted Vining.

Steven Richardson

Conception and Realisation

Steven is currently Artistic Director of Arts House - a City of Melbourne contemporary arts initiative. He has a broad experience in the arts spanning twenty years in a variety of artistic, producing and programming roles including programming at the Victorian Arts Centre, as Director of Contemporary Music Events, Artistic Director of Big West, Executive Producer for Next Wave Festival, Artistic Director for Eureka 150 –Diversity, Dissent, Democracy in 2004. He holds a Fine Arts degree in visual arts and also studied dance at Victorian College of the Arts before working professionally as a dancer with Dance Works and Dance Exchange. Steven joined Circus Oz in 1987 and toured with that company locally and internationally until 1991. He has served on many advisory boards and committees and was recently Deputy Chair of the Dance Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Violin, murundak, dirtsong

Trained at the VCA, Suzanne Simpson spent more than six years working as a musician with Circus Oz. She has played for opera and ballet productions with Orchestra Victoria, and for a number of theatre shows. She has also performed and recorded with musicians including Renee Geyer, Nick Cave, John Butler and Stevie Wonder, and played on the soundtracks for Elizabeth and the soon-to-be-released Rogue. She has recently become a member of the quintet Cosmo Cosmolino.

Erkki Veltheim

Viola, murundak

Finnish-born violist, violinist, improviser and composer Erkki Veltheim has worked with ensembles including the Australian Art Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik and ELISION. He has devised and performed multimedia and experimental music theatre works and exhibited as a mixed media artist. He regularly works as an improviser and performer of experimental music, and also plays in a country punk band, Roadkill Rodeo.

Julien Wilson

Tenor Saxophone, additional musical arrangements

Saxophonist and composer Julien Wilson runs his own trio and quartet, co-leads the bands SNAG and Assumptions, and is a regular member of the Australian Art Orchestra (AAO), Ish Ish, Rumberos, Murphy’s Law, The Bennetts Lane Big Band, The Aaron Choulai Quintet, Los Cabrones and The Agitators. He has worked with a diverse range of artists, featured on numerous Australian jazz recordings, performed at most of Australia’s major festivals and toured extensively overseas. He has received numerous awards and grants. As a member of the AAO, he has recently travelled to south-east Arnhem Land to study Indigenous music and culture. His debut album While You Were Sleeping was released this year.

Artist Photos