Prepare for a journey ‘deep into the jazz-hood’ when Kate Ceberano performs with the Western Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra at Perth Zoo on February 13.
With songs like My One and Only Love, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore and Every Time We Say Goodbye from her collaborative album Bittersweet and a few Nancy Wilson numbers for good measure, she says she looks forward to stirring things up with the WAYJO musicians.
‘They’re up and coming jazz musicians and often jazz has an implication of being kind of really mellow and traditional and staid but actually that’s not how musicians are born and bred,’ Ceberano said.
‘I hope to get them to reveal their inner light. It is not just this ensemble, I want a group of individuals going hard and having a blisteringly good night.
‘It’s more about trying to make a connection and give them permission to really characterize the show.’
Ceberano plans to go ‘a bit mad’ by bringing a sense of humour to her dynamic and interactive stage show.
‘On the night, are we going to be performing for the animals? Probably not but we will definitely be inspired by them because I am sure if they want to give up some notes here and there then we can definitely improvise with that,’ she joked.
Ceberano is no stranger to Western Australia, having only just been in Perth to perform at the Carols by Candlelight at the Supreme Court Gardens on December 20.
‘WA is like heaven on a stick for us eastern coasters for many different reasons,’ she said.
‘It’s more the social element that I just love.
‘I think people in Perth are much more unreserved and less guarded and they tend to get involved right from the head of the concert as opposed to having to warm them to it or have any kind of preconceived ideas.
‘They are just like “we are here and we are committed and we are just going to partyâ€.’
Having spent 25 years building up her own career in Australia, Ceberano is a big advocate of supporting young WA musicians.
‘I think it’s everything that our society today is actually neglecting, which is the patronage,’ she said.
‘I mean, we don’t have in the arts allocated funds or we don’t seem to culturally rely on the benefits of music as we used to.
‘Even studying 15 years ago, people understood the value of art in a culture and I think what has happened since then is that we get driven materially towards so many other things that we forget that music is the a part of life, it is the language of life.
‘And even though we get inspired by sport and play out the competition element with sport what is going to exercise the aesthetic bone? Well that’s what we do and as musicians, I hope, we have an agreed vision to create dreams and help people remove themselves from the material and imagine something different.
‘This is why I support and promote any local artist wherever I must.’
Ceberano is a big fan of WA musicians and former WAYJO performers Dane and Andrew Fisenden, who she describes as “geniuses in jazz and funkâ€, as well as Little Birdy.
She even admitted to having a crush on Irish ex-boyband member Ronan Keating, who she recently recorded some songs with on her Christmas album.
‘He’s got a real sparkle in his eye and he’s a really good bloke, you know to sit around and have a beer, talk about music and perform and to sing, he’s just really casual,’ Ceberano said.
‘I have always been of the mind that anyone from boy bands are like, you know, for me I see them as whole packet of half sucked lozenges and they are not the full candy bar. But they are not like that at all.’
Don’t worry hubby, Ceberano plans to bring husband Lee Rogers to WA for his first visit and his first taste of Margaret River’s surf for the Valentine’s Day weekend – ahhhhh.
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