Jazz up with family folk duo

ALANNA Egan is thrilled to be bringing back her jazz and folk music to Bendigo.

The singer songwriter is performing two shows at the Old Church on the Hill on Saturday, 17 April and 8 May.

The first show features vintage swing band Alanna and Old Hat, a quintet consisting of Egan on vocals, Steve Grant on cornet, Jen Hawley on guitar, Ian Smith on drums and Elise Winterflood on double bass.

After recently releasing an album and having promotional shows postponed, Egan said the band can’t wait to get on stage.

“It’s really exciting to be able to play again,” she said.

“All the musicians, we’re very grateful and appreciative of opportunities to play and it really has reminded me of how beautiful it is to play together and connect with a live audience.”

Alanna and Old Hat bring the golden era of classic jazz to life with ballads, blues and swing of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

The second show features Egan her performing alongside her twin sister as part of folk duo Alanna and Alicia, also includes crooning troubadour and old-time folksinger William Alexander.

Egan said she and her sister love telling stories in their music, which includes an ode to the pandemic.

“We write all the material, it’s very storytelling music,” she said.

“I actually wrote a new song and released it and recorded it remotely in lockdown, called Sincerely, Covid, and that is a personification and satire of the virus.

“It will be good to have a chance to play that live.

“My own songs with Alicia even though they’re folk songs they do have jazz harmonies and they are inspired a bit by the old repertoire. It’s amazing to harmonise with Alicia.”

She said The Old Church on The Hill is the perfect venue for the shows and she is excited to re-connect with a local audience.

“It’s a very beautiful intimate listening venue,” she said. “It’s actually just down the road from where Alicia and I grew up.

“It’s amazing to be able to play again for Bendigo audiences, the Bendigo music community has always been so supportive of my music and my musical journey.

“There is a sense of returning home to where it all began and that’s always a beautiful thing to do and reconnect with that musical community.”

For tickets to Alanna and Old Hat head to bit.ly/2Q0sNbr and for Alanna and Alicia visit bit.ly/3wBALsd.