Hetty Kate

I think the moment the fire for improvised music, specifically jazz music, was lit in my belly was in my early 20s. I was living in Melbourne, Australia - being a young person: parties, working, friends, adventures. I met a lovely guy who wanted to take me out on a date, and he chose to take me to Bennett's Lane, the most famous jazz club in Australia at the time. (It's now closed, but the owner Michael Tortoni has opened a fabulous new club in Melbourne called The Jazzlab.) Bennett's Lane had two rooms. The front room was intimate and elegant, dimly lit with cabaret-style seating and a stage at the end. For a first date it was definitely a very sophisticated location! That night it was Allan Browne's trio: Allan Browne on drums, Tamara Murphy on bass, and Andrea Keller on piano. I didn't know these musicians at the time and I'd never seen an instrumental jazz gig before, but as I'd been playing music since I was a young child I was (and am) always up for seeing a gig! So we sat down, ordered a glass of wine, and the band began to play. It was one of the most extraordinary moments for me. Of course I'd listened to jazz: lots of big band music, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald as well as enjoying world music, rock music, pop. But I'd never been in a room with a jazz instrumental trio listening live. What struck me, and I'll never forget it, was how they were speaking to each other - watching each other, interacting, smiling. As someone who had learned classical music from reading notation, it was a revelation. I didn't understand what they were doing, or HOW they were doing it, but I could see the communication as well as hear it. I was blown away. Completely gobsmacked and amazed. I don't think I paid any attention to that guy. I don't think I looked at him once. I was completely riveted to what was happening on stage! From that moment on, I spent every single night at jazz clubs - watching, listening, learning, buying every record I could, asking questions. I became completely obsessed and that was the first defining moment of what would become my career as a jazz singer (although I didn't know it or have that goal at the time). The wonderful part of that story is that I actually got to sing with Allan Browne, who sadly is no longer with us but was a greatly influential and much-loved figure in the Australian music scene and beyond. I also worked a lot with Tamara Murphy and recorded with her. And of course, many years later when I developed as an artist, I got to play many times at Bennett's Lane myself! It's a very special, very wonderful memory for me, and of course I've said thank you many times to that guy who took me on that date, as that one evening has given me decades of joy and education in a music genre that I love.