Performances in Australia over Christmas and into the New Year
The Sally Cooper Duo, Trio and Bands' performances in Australia over Xmas and New Year 2007/2008:
Dec 1, The Sally Cooper Duo performs at Bretts Wharf, Hamilton, Brisbane. Private Xmas party.
Dec 7, Vocalist Sally Cooper and Guitarist Phillip Stone perform with Jazz pianist Ross Nixon with his "Beyond Beyond" Jazz Trio at Trios restaurant, Noosa.
Dec 14, The Sally Cooper Jazz and Blues Quintet perform for a Xmas party at the Treasury Casino in Brisbane.
(Heres a brief Video from the Treasury Casino function of the band performing an instrumental, featuring Phillip Stone on Guitar, Gus Fenwick on Bass, Max Sportelli on drums and Ross Nixon on keyboards:)
Dec 31 (New Years Eve) The Sally Cooper Duo performs in the high rollers club at The Treasury Casino in Brisbane.
A live Video of my partner "Twangking (AKA Phillip Stone) in "The Sally Cooper Duo" performing "Footprints live 2007" (which was filmed during our Trios' performance live at The Royal Orchid Sheraton in Bangkok September 2007) has been featured on the front page of Bangkok Gig Guide!
Nice for him to get a little recognition like this! He sure deserves it. Quite an amazing guitarist.
Alex Pithie, Editor of The "Bangkok Jungle" publication wrote this about Phillips' performance:"Robben Ford meets Larry Carlton meets Danny Gatton! Awesome chops and fab tone!"
You can see his featured Youtube video window at the bottom right hand corner of the Bangkok gig guide website.
We are performing 6 nights a week in Bangkok at The Royal Orchid Sheraton right now (since June 1 2007 and until Oct 1 2007) with our Jazz/Blues/contemporary Trio.
Our Jazz/Blues/contemporary Trio will be performing 6 nights a week at another venue in Asia as from June 1, 2007.
More details to come at a later date.
In the meantime, here are some photos from our holiday in Cambodia after our contract in Malaysia ended. What an amazing place. The temples of Angkor Wat were incredible to explore. It was like really being IN an ancient civilization. The temple complexes stretch on for miles.
After our holiday, we rented an apartment in Penang, Malaysia, for a few months while we waited for our next contract to start. This is a view from our balcony!
During our break in Malaysia, Phillip bought a jazz guitar, practised all the time (like he always does) and I got busy with my laptop recording studio and recorded him playing some new instrumental jazz standards: "So What" "Impressions" "Angel", "Autumn Leaves" and "Blue Bossa", and you can hear them here.
I also wrote a few new Pop/R&B songs, called "No Shes not me": and "Time" You can hear them Here and Here
The seaside location was a great inspiration for creativity.
We also recorded an ambient guitar/free vocal duo piece that we have dedicated to Global warming called "Heater"
I recorded another similar Free vocal/instrumental piece called "Inside Beauty Lies" with U.S.A based artist Mark Skipper/Damien Project, and it was selected to be on the soundtrack for a documentary in The U.S.A.
Penang is a multicultural island, with Malays, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Chinese co-existing harmoniously. Plenty of beautiful temples for the various faiths and cultures...and the local food is often too good to be true...(we ate it often.... in the name of philosophy...just to confirm it didnt really ever exist ....you see)
Thanks David, age 10, from Scotland who drew us while we were performing at The Ferringhi Jazz bar at The Rasa Sayang Shangri-la 6 star hotel in Penang Malaysia, January 2007.
The "Sally Cooper" Jazz and Blues Trio is performing 6 nights a week in The Ferringhi Jazz Bar at The Rasa Sayang 6 star resort hotel and spa on Penang island, Malaysia from Mid October 2006 to early 2007.
enjoy the pictures.....
Vocalist Sally Cooper and guitarist Phillip Stone from "The Sally Cooper Duo" regularly perform nationally and Internationally with various floating musicians. (Always some of the best in Australia) to form a Trio and up to a 5 Piece Jazz and Blues Band...
For this engagement we are performing with Sydney pianist Michael Davies.
"Sally Cooper and Phillip Stone are joined by Australian Pianist Michael Davies to form "The Sally Cooper Trio" Michael is a well respected Musician who has performed regularly at all the Sydney International 5 star hotels including The Park Hyatt, Regent, Intercontinental, Sheraton, Hilton, Nikko, Ritz Carlton, ANA, and Shangri-la Hotels.
He was the musical director for the New Seekers Australian tour, and also performed in Bo Diddleys band on his national tour of Australia, in Doug Williams band, and with session ace and former Singaporean Rex Goh.
A consummate "Piano man" Michael has an additional skill up his sleeve, as he is also a qualified professional piano tuner, who regularly services 5 star hotels in Sydney. In the wee small hours after the Trios performances ends Michael can sometimes be found tweaking the notes on his piano to pitch perfection.
This world class Australian Trio creates a cosy, inviting, and exciting sound that simply must be heard and enjoyed."
For More details about our Jazz and Blues Group: See our Bands webpage
We have just recorded a New Video from our present Trio gig:
All 3 members in our group came into music from an educational background of Jazz and Blues music, we really shine in that style of music, and we also have the flexibility to play just about any style of music according to audience requests.
We also just received a Lovely front page feature and article in The "PATHWAYS TO EXCELLENCE" journal in The USA.
This article was very complimentary. The guild of independant recording artists is a U.S.A based publication which acknowledges excellence in independantly produced artists. Their standards of criterea for a feature are very high. They chose to feature us as we are good examples of artists who have made our own success without the help of the "mainstream" corporate driven music industry.
Its a big world out there, and there are lots of ways for artists to be successful as recording and performing artists beyond starring on MTV or Australian idol.
Read on in this blog...there are quite a few pages of our travels and performances overseas...its been a lot of fun for us..and it still is!
We are back in Australia now. Chilling out for a while in Beautiful Caloundra. I love the beach in Queensland and Northern NSW in Winter. Long beach walks and bike rides, clear blue skies and ocean and the crisp winter air....(there is no such thing as winter in Queensland....the air just gets a little bit of a bite....but there is still plenty of sunshine to warm you up)....
(These pics were taken the other day at Fingal beach in Northern NSW)
Time to catch up on recording new songs and brushing up on my laptop recording and production skills with my new recording software and USB interface.
I am thinking I may just have to move here to the Sunshine Coast permanently!
We just returned from Japan where were performing and also tying up a deal for licensing & publishing of some of our original material in Tokyo. Thats looking exciting and promising.
Japan is a vibrant colorful place, something to see everywhere you look and I found the streets to be quite safe.
Actually I sort of wish I got a chance while in Japan to busk on the street. Maybe next time, as our contract this time bound us in regards to all performances we did in Japan. The buskers over there seem to do quite well. All the groups we saw had state of the art equipment and if they were any good, they also had loyal fans. Rows of people sitting down in front of them, listening intently, and offering them generous tips. Busking in Japan would be a very worthy pursuit for a musician I would think. Its a very pure, uncomplicated and simple relationship between the musician and listener, with no bullshit attached....its simply listening and performance. Thats why I make music at the end of the day...to simply be heard and enjoyed......
Here are some photos and a press release from our gig in Japan.
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We are presently organising a cd launch in Brisbane of our latest cd. We are going to make a Video of the event. More news on that to come soon.
If you are into myspace....I thought I should mention we both have pages there:
Perfect Universe" Cd Released December 2006 by Australian Vocalist/Songwriter Sally Cooper.
Since Australian singer songwriter Sally Cooper formed her own band, Duo and Trio: "The Sally Cooper Band Duo and Trio" in 1996, they have been doing a continuous run of live performances across Australasia. Initially she performed regularly in all the good music venues in Sydney, and their noteriety began to extend across New South Wales, and Queensland, and as far as The Australian outback. 2000 saw her becoming an international act, she has been performing with her duo and Trio 6 nights a week all year round in Singapore, Bangkok, Bahrain, Dubai, India, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Tahiti since then.
While she was performing in India in 2005, she started to feel a need to return to her Australian roots, and also to where her original love of music came from, which is both perfectly and imperfectly expressed in "Perfect Universe". (Its up to your perception as to wether you can grasp the concept of the perfection of imperfection, which is the albums' theme.) She and her partner, Guitarist Phillip Stone penned most of the original material on this album during their 10 months of performing in India. The end result is true to their original vision to record an an acoustic, distinctly Australian Jazz, Blues and Roots album. It is perfectly imperfect, recorded live, it is jazzy in a rootsy way, and its' real.
Sally made the decision to return to her hometown of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. to record this album. Which in some ways was a very challenging move to make. Very few music artists have acheived much success in their hometown. There were plenty of other international work opportunities available for her at the time and there was also a lot of interest to record the album with world class producers and highly talented musicians of considerable noteriety in Sydney and overseas. But she felt that the choice to record "Perfect Universe" in her hometown with local musicians was in keeping with the albums' concept of "getting back to her roots" and being as real and down to earth in a musical sense as possible.
An additional main reason for her making the choice to record this album in Queensland was that it was Sallys' intention and wish to contribute to the local music community in her home state by offering work and exposure for quality local musicians on her jazz/roots cd project, rather than outsourcing the work for the musicians interstate or internationally.
The project was entirely funded by Sally, and was recorded in Queensland Australia 2006 at Electric Bedland Studios by "The Sally Cooper Band." Self produced. The band features Sally Cooper on vocals, Phillip Stone on Guitar, Legendary drummer Kerry Jacobsen from the rock group "Dragon" on drums, Gus Fenwick on bass, and Ross Nixon on keyboards. Additional vocals by Barry Charles are featured on "Dreaming out Loud"
Driven by a rock solid Jazz Blues groove sensibility in the rhythm section, the album glistens with strokes of brilliance in terms of guitar playing by Phillip Stone, all of which provides a suitable, yet unpretentious musical climate for Sally Cooper to unleash her huge range of vocal expression. She does so ever so sweetly and smoothly at times, and at other times it is simply in your face, and you are reminded that she really does mean it, every word of it.
Where would Sally Cooper most likely be right now as you are reading this? Up on stage somewhere in Asia or Australia singing her heart out, or preparing to. Owning a copy of "Perfect Universe" is like owning a piece of the magic that so many thousands of people have enjoyed in Sally Coopers' international live performances.
Reviews:
Paul Carosi: Musical director of artistlaunch.com re Sallys' recording of "God Bless the child thats got his own" from "Perfect Universe" released December 2006:
"God Bless that child Sally Cooper! Sally gives a marvelous performance showing the great range, depth, power, and emotion in her voice. The band and the arrangement are great. It's her best recording to date. It's a new jazz classic. I'm on my 5th listen today. I'm hooked God Bless Sally"
End of Press Release.
If you just surfed in for the first time, dont forget to scroll right down to the bottom of this page and to the previous pages of this Blog for stories and photos from The Sally Cooper Duos' performances in China, South Korea, Bangkok, Bahrain, Singapore and India. We travel the world performing as musicians.
Please dont forget to drop a comment on the tag board to the right to say Hi. We'd love to hear from you.
The cd features mainly original Jazz and Blues music written by the two members of The Sally Cooper Duo, vocalist Sally Cooper and guitarist Phillip Stone. There are a few classic jazz and Blues standards on the cd too.
More info coming soon. Check our website for upcoming gig listings.
Recent performances in Queensland, Australia, for The Sally Cooper Duo and band:
The annual Ball event on New Years Eve 2005/2006 at Brisbane City Town Hall (1500 people attended)
For the "Jazz under the Stars" Music festival at the Cosmos observatory gardens in Charleville on March 5, 2006. The 5 piece Band also conducted a vocal/instrumental workshop during the day. A special highlight was the woman who runs the observatory shows allowing us to see the planets through the telescope at night after our performance ended, I got a real thrill out of that.
2 Private function performances at Michaels Fine dining restaurant, Riverside, (in the wine room) Brisbane November 4, December 16.
Welcome to The Interactive BLOG for the Internationally performing Sally Cooper Duo.
This is where I put important news, photos, performance and travel pics.
Dont forget to leave your comments here, because if you dont its like dropping in without saying Hi!
The Sally Cooper Duo travels the world, we are full time professional musicians, and we get a tiny bit of time to see some great places in between contracts on our performance engagements.
End of Press Release. 
