The Living Room Theatre in partnership with Dulwich Hill Relit presents: Gill & Murphy-Haste + Jim Denley + Peter Farrar Duo / Fate Maps / BELIEVE

A night of fearless improvisation and sonic exploration featuring some of Sydney’s most dynamic musicians. From the intimate interplay of Gill & Murphy-Haste, to the boundary-pushing Denley & Farrar Duo, this lineup celebrates jazz and experimental sound in thrilling new forms. Fate Maps redefines string ensemble improvisation, while BELIEVE delivers raw energy and transcendent beauty.

Experience music that bends time, space, and expectation—an evening of unparalleled creativity.

Sam Gill and Phillippa Murphy-Haste duo

Phillippa and Sam have been dipping into duo moments for almost a decade as members of Microfiche, and they’ve been playing as a duo in their own right since 2023. Their debut was featured in the celebrated 2023 Inner West Jazz Festival, and they have played at a number of artist run series including Jetsets and Monday Night Confessions. Their music casts a wide stylistic net, in freely improvised sets that draw on their shared love of jazz, folk music, contemporary chamber music and meditative minimalism. Expect the stage to be strewn with woodwind instruments large and small, as well as a viola for good measure.

Jim Denley / Peter Farrar Duo

Jim Denley and Peter Farrar are Sydney’s premier improvising alto saxophonists.

Jim has made an unwavering commitment since the 1970s to the development of a personal improvisational approach and vocabulary on flutes and alto saxophone that has no parallel in this country. Peter is also dedicated to exploring the sounds of his instrument in an improvising context, but also makes music with other objects and electronics, along with performing in more jazz related projects. Both extend the range of the saxophone through the use of mutes and other modifications of the instrument.

Jim and Peter have performed together many times in various improvising groups, notably as long- term members of the Splinter Orchestra and recently in the trio Vents with Dale Gorfinkel. This will be one of the few times they have collaborated in an alto saxophone duet and it promises to be an engrossing meeting of two unique personal approaches to a common instrument.

Fate Maps
Fate Maps is an improvising string ensemble convened by Sydney double bassist Clayton Thomas.

The ensemble combines string players from various backgrounds in improvised and classical music to produce unique real time music. Originally the ensemble was concentrated at the lower end of the violin family spectrum, featuring cellists Freya Schack-Arnott and Jack Ward along with double bassists Clayton Thomas and Ben Ward.

This performance will present a new and exciting version of this too little heard ensemble.

Clayton Thomas, double bass
Phillippa Murphy-Haste, viola
Freya Schack-Arnott, cello
Ben Ward, double bass

BELIEVE
BELIEVE have been described as a super-group, a Sydney staple and a local institution. Formed in February 2023, they are the hardest gigging free jazz band on the local scene and their experience of playing together has made them capable of peaks of intensity and beauty that few can match.

Each member brings a different background to create the collectively improvised music that BELIEVE produces. Double bassist Clayton Thomas is committed to free improvisation and the extension of the resources of his instrument and is internationally recognised in the field following his period based in Berlin. Drummer Laurence Pike has worked across the spectrum of jazz, improvised music and pop, including in PVT, Szun Waves, Triosk and Liars, and is now making his mark as a composer.

Pianist Novak Manojlovic has explored a similarly wide range of activities in groups such as Microfiche, Hekka, NoMansLand, BoNo and Bonniesongs. Saxophonist Peter Farrar is a prodigious talent in the local jazz scene, as well as in his mysterious afro-free jazz-parade band Prophets and his explorations into unusual methods of making sound with objects like tiles and beer cans. Each individual also enhances the colour of the ensemble with percussion contributions.

‘This is some of the most honest jazz being made in the world. This is truly music for our times.’ You better BELIEVE it! – MIKE NOCK

Peter Farrar, alto saxophone
Novak Manojlovic, piano
Clayton Thomas, double bass
Laurence Pike, drums

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Dulwich Hill Relit, showcasing genuinely innovative and cutting-edge contemporary music and performance.

With a strong emphasis on the use of unusual and innovative spaces and activations for performances, events and temporary venues within the Dulwich Hill village area.

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