Band - Michelle Nicolle

Michelle Nicolle - Australia's first lady of Jazz
Michelle Nicolle (voc), Christian von der Goltz (p), Marc Muellbauer (b), Ronny Ferella (dr)

Australia's first lady of Jazz - Winner: 2001, 2003 and 2004 - Australian Jazz Vocalist of the Year MO Award - Melbourne based jazz vocalist and band leader Michelle Nicolle is Australia's first lady of jazz. With her full ranging, marvellous voice, Michelle's profile has risen high and she has become Australia's finest jazz singer of truly world class. Michelle has released 6 beautiful albums, all of which have been received with high acclaim. Her 6th CD 'The Loveliest Night' was released on ABC Records and nominated for the Australian ARIA (record industry association) jazz award . In 1998 at the Wangaratta International Jazz Festival, Michelle won the prestigious National Jazz Award and the judges included the legendary bebop singer Sheila Jordan (USA), and the Blue Note vocal star Kurt Elling (USA). Michelle Nicolle has toured Australia several times as well in Asia and Europe at International Jazz Festivals around the world. Late June 2012, she will represent Australia at the AP Music Festival in Russia, perform in Berlin in September and early November joins the judging panel for the national jazz vocal competition at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, Australia's premier jazz event.

'Australian jazz singing doesn't come any better than this' - The Weekend Australian

www.michellenicolle.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESqSq5yokyc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es-vaHbi8Ew&feature=related


Ronny Ferella (drums)
Ferella’s own band IshIsh, for which he composes most of the material, has made quite an impact on the Australian scene - releasing four CDs. In July 2001 IshIsh performed at the prestigious Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, and Pori Festival (Finland).
Ferella leads other original improvised-based bands including Mandala and in 2009 launched a CD label and website, Downstream Music www.downstreammusic.com.au which promotes improvised music made in Melbourne. In 1997 he was a finalist in National Jazz Award Drum Competition. He co- founded and directed Half Bent Festival - a musician-based organisation involved in presenting concerts and he teaches music at The Song Room.


Christian von der Goltz
Lessons in classical piano from the age of six.
Jazz piano beginning at the age of thirteen; self-taught from records.
1980-1985 – fine arts education at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin;
private jazz piano lessons with Prof. Walter Norris, among others.
1995 – three-month sojourn in New York with a musician’s grant from the
Berlin Council on Cultural Affairs; private lessons with Kenny Werner and others. 2001/2002 – Christian von der Goltz Trio tour throughout Turkey, Israel, and Russia, organized by the Goethe Institute (concerts at festivals in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Riga, Helsinki, Tallinn and St. Petersburg).
June 2003 – concert organized by the Goethe Institute in Toronto, Canada
for the Toronto Jazz Festival, together with Ed Schuller and Eliot Zigmund.
Teaching jobs in jazz piano and co-repetition at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin; at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar and at the Musikschule “Johann Sebastian Bach” in Potsdam.

Discography (selection):
2005
Complicated stories (with no end), Christian von der Goltz Trio
with Paul Imm – b; Heinrich Köbberling – d; Konnex Records
New compositions, recorded at Audio Cue Berlin
2002
Dreaming, Christian von der Goltz Trio
with Ed Schuller – b; Eliot Zigmund – d; yvp-records
New compositions, recorded at Acoustic Recording Studio, Brooklyn, New York
1999
Sophie Said, Christian von der Goltz Trio
with Stefan Weeke – b; Michael Griener – d; MONS-Records
Primarily new compositions, recorded at Hrolfur Vagnsson Studio in Hanover

Played with, among others:
Till Brönner, Jocelyn B. Smith, Eliot Zigmund, Frank Möbus, Heinrich Köbberling, Ed Schuller, Jan Roder, Martin Klingeberg, Giorgio Crobu, John Schröder, Carlos Bica, Rudi Mahall, Johan Leijonhufvud, Danny Gottlieb, Pepe Berns, Jan von Klewitz, Henrik Walsdorf, Oliver Steidle, Stanley Sulzmann, Dejan Terzic, Thomas Alkier, Felix Wahnschaffe, Spike Robinson, Björn Lücker, Paul Imm, Sebastian Merk, Stefan Weeke, Michael Griener and others.