Way Out West

The Effects of Weather now available on iTunes



WAY OUT WEST



Winner 2009 Bell Award, ‘Best Australian Jazz Ensemble’

Nominated for 2008 APRA ‘Jazz Work of the Year’

1 on jazz charts in Montreal July 2008

Included in “Top 10 CDs of 2007” Sunday Herald Sun

Included in Jazz Australia’s Top CDs of 2007 Critics’ Poll

* * * * * ABC Limelight Magazine

* * * * * Adelaide Advertiser

* * * * ½ The Australian

* * * * The Age

* * * * Voir Magazine (Montreal)

The eclectic trumpeter/composer Peter Knight, and Vietnamese traditional music virtuoso Dung Nguyen (dan bau, dan tranh, dan nguyet modified electric guitar) are at the heart of this remarkable collaboration.

Inspired by the cultural vitality and diversity of Melbourne, Way Out West creates something miraculous:a truly new sound. The supple seamless vibes they create easily transcend any glib notions of multicultural kitsch. Their second album Old Grooves for New Streets (released on Jazzhead in Australia and in Canada on Effendi) received five star reviews in Australia as well as some very favourable international attention: “Certainly a candidate for Best Release of the Year - I hope lots of ears hear this

one!” Laurence Donahue-Greene Editor All About Jazz New York.



The band’s new album The Effects of Weather (released in June 2010 on Jazzhead) delivers an intriguing collection of jazz inflected melodies infused with sounds from Vietnam and grooves from West Africa, and also draws in a diverse range of other influences from the minimalism of Steve Reich to the dirty blues of the Mississippi Delta. It also delves deeper into the multi-instrumental talents of Dung Nguyen featuring him

playing dan nguyet (Vietnamese mandolin) as well as his regular instruments, dan tranh (Vietnamese zither) and modified electric guitar.

In addition to Peter and Dung, Way Out West also features world-renowned West African percussion specialist, Ray Pereira, along with other Melbourne music luminaries, explosive saxophonist Paul Williamson, earthy acoustic bassist Howard Cairns, and young firebrand drummer Rajiv Jayaweera. Way Out West’s sound has been described as “utterly unique” and features the hauntingly beautiful

timbres of traditional Vietnamese instruments the dan tranh (16-string zither), and the dan bau (single string zither), played by Dung Nguyen. Dung learnt music from his grandfather while growing up in Vietnam, continuing a tradition of many generations. He came to Australia when he was 16 and continued his studies at university where he developed a love of jazz and won prizes for his guitar

studies. Dung’s fluency in both Vietnamese music and jazz ensures that collaboration with the rest of the band really is collaboration: the creation of a new sound rather than a pastiche of pre-existing sounds. In fact, many reviews of Way Out West’s first album, Footscray Station, note the unified approach the band achieves: “That these exotic sounds blend so well with jazz is a mysterious Melbourne alchemy” (Sydney

Morning Herald).



Buy Footscray Station from iTunes



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