SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR OUTSTANDING YOUNG FEMALE JAZZ MUSICIANS
The Jann Rutherford Memorial Award was founded in 2005 to assist in the professional development of an outstanding young female jazz musician. The Award is named in honour of the late jazz pianist Jann Rutherford, and is funded by private donations in partnership with the Mietta Foundation, Melbourne International Women's Jazz Festival (MIWJF), Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA) and ABC Jazz.
JANN RUTHERFORD
Jann Rutherford, the jazz pianist, composer, teacher and poet who had been a prominent and unique musical force in Australia and New Zealand, died of cancer at the age of 38. Her fight with the cancer diagnosed on her tongue and lymph gland was the final chapter in a life studded with a bravery that bordered on heroism, although Rutherford herself would have been quick to dismiss such an assertion.
Blind from birth, she pursued the zero-security, artistically high-risk career of the jazz musician, moved by herself from New Zealand to Sydney to further this career, eked out a living and confronted her cancer and its treatment with typical optimism and courage.
2019 AWARD WINNER
Guitarist Hilary Geddes was awarded the 2019 Jann Rutherford Memorial Award and is proving to be an exceptionally strong recipient. Hilary is an alumna of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, graduating in 2018 with First Class Honours. While there, she also completed a two- semester exchange at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen in Bremen, Germany. She is a member of the Sydney Women’s Jazz Collective, lead guitarist in Bonnie Kay and the Bonafides and plays in 90s garage outfit The Buoys. Hilary spent two weeks in Tasmania as part of the Australian Art Orchestra Creative Music Intensive in 2018. Her improvising ability is highlighted in creative projects such as SCAPES: Soundmapping Woollahra Precinct, the duo project Underwards with trumpeter Ellen Kirkwood and her trio Space Safe.
Please Click here for a Video to hear Hilary talk about her experience of winning the JRMA Award
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Trombonist: Alex Silver, Guitarist: Jess Green, Drummer: Ali Foster, Bassist: Hannah James, Saxophonist: Harriet Harding & bassist: Jessica Dunn*(The JRMA award facilitated the creation of Sirens Big Band), Trumpeter: Ellen Kirkwood, Drummer :Jodie Michael Pianist :Emma Grace Stephenson, Guitarist: Hilary Geddes
