ALLY Afro-Peruvian Jazz Ensemble
Global Jazz at its best – unique, exciting, and bristling with invention.
ALLY’s music is drawn from Afro-Peruvian, Cuban and Caribbean traditional rhythms paired with a modern jazz aesthetic. It encapsulates a cross-pollination of cultures, ideas, and sounds grounded by the distinctive resonance of the Peruvian cajón. Whilst inspired by the past this music has vitality, energy and a sense of space. There is an organic balance of air pushed through trombone and saxophones with skin on wood.
Musicians include saxophonist/composer Gai Bryant (Elio Villafranca, Jim McNeely), Peruvian Australian percussionists Giorgio Rojas (Burn the Floor, Ursula Yovich) and Julio Candela (El Orqueston, Felix Valdelomar), sensational trombonist James Greening (Lou Reed, Maria Schneider), pianist Daniel Pliner (Watussi, Monsieur Camembert), bassist Harry Birch (Holopeak) or Cesar Marin (Son Veneno, Sonido) and second-time winner of Australia’s National Grand Poetry Slam, Brazilian Australian poet Dai Moret.
Gai Bryant’s ALLY never quite lets your expectations settle.
John Shand
SMH
Gai Bryant
Saxophone, Flute
Danny Pliner
Piano
James Greening
Trombone
Julio Candela
Percussion
Giorgio Rojas
Percussion
Harry Birch
Double Bass
What's coming up for ALLY
Plans are afoot for ALLY to collaborate with ambassadors of Dominican Jazz: pianist Josean Jacobo and drummer Otoniel Nicolás in early 2025. In March they intend to start MultiKulture Music Camps in regional NSW with day camps in Bathurst and Dubbo alongside Taikoz. In April/May ALLY will be heading to Germany to record and perform with musicians from Myanmar Jazz Club and Enjoy Jazz.
ALLY is a fascinating amalgam of styles and cultures. Peruvian, Brazilian, Cuban and Andalusian rhythmic traditions lie at the heart of Bryant’s compositions, lending the tunes an undercurrent of irresistible buoyancy.
Jessica Nicholas
The Age
ALLY Live at BOOM Festival of Percussion
ALLY began as vehicle to explore and blend Latin American and Caribbean traditional music styles with modern jazz harmony and Spanish and Andean influenced melodies to create our version of Global Jazz. Our aim is to pay respect to traditional rhythmic practices and jazz language while heading into new territory.
Our ARIA-nominated debut album Drum Junk is a celebration of traditional music practices from South America and Caribbean seen through a new lens.
Presenting sensitively arranged versions of “In a Monk’s Dream” and “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” nestled amongst triumphant originals, ALLY’s Drum Junk is an important work in moulding and propagating crucial rhythmic traditions to help ensure their relevance for generations to come.
Josh Underhill
Dingo Magazine Vol. 4
ALLY's Drum Junk balances hot Afro-Peruvian festejo dance rhythm and Brazilian experimentalism with the coolnessof Latinised Thelonious Monk and Mingus compositions, notably ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat', and the sway of a Northeastern Brazilian maracatu.
Tony Hillier
Rhythms Magazine
Cajón Basics Giorgio Rojas
We are thrilled to announce Cajón Basics by Giorgio Rojas, one of our most versatile and creative percussionists, will be available on Spare Parts as an eBook soon.
‘Cajón Basics’ is aimed at beginners with no experience.
