$25.00 – $30.00

Part One of the Esto-Cubist Jazz Festival 2025:

Auto-didact pianist/composer Jex Saarelaht and perennial of the Melbourne musical landscape is joined by three outstanding musicians – trumpeter and electronics improvisor Niran Dasika, master-bassist Sam Anning, and winner of the 2016 Freedman Jazz Fellowship, drummer James McLean; continuing to present his own distinctive compositions, along with less-travelled pieces by jazz composers Geri Allen, Jason Moran, Scott LaFaro, Stanley Cowell, Kristjan Randalu and Kurt Rosenwinkel.

‘Jazz is alive and growing in Australia and James McLean is new-generation proof.’ – Dr. Richard Letts AM, Australian musician, author and advocate

‘Even more memorable was Anning’s solo… It’s thrilling to witness someone searching like that: gamely, playfully, and openly… the meaning is in the way they search. That’s what stays with you…’
– Ben Bartholomew, review of Transients, live at the Perth International Jazz Festival

‘I’d never heard playing like it. His music is totally transfixing… Dasika comes in and blows the whole sound into another stratosphere…’
– Mandy Stefanakis, Loudmouth, on Niran Dasika

‘All three bring such ebullience to bear that the music never treads water, but rather is always picking you up and taking you off on another exhilarating joyride…’
– John Shand, review of Jex Saarelaht Trio’s CD, ‘Liminal’, The Sydney Morning Herald