Hustas-Keller




The music of Andrea Keller (piano) and Anita Hustas (double bass) blends the improvisational concepts of contemporary jazz with the language of 20th century classical music, enriching both forms with its sophistication, sensitivity and poise.

Since their debut at the 1997 Melbourne Women's Jazz Festival, they have been kept busy with regular live radio and performances for the Melbourne Jazz Co-op and Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Keller and Hustas supported Mulgrew Miller and Niels-Henning ÿrsted Pedersen in Melbourne on their Bang and Olufsen sponsored 2000 tour.

The exceptional performance delivered by Hustas-Keller convinced Bang and Olufsen that they should sponsor the duo's first album Icedreaming (Newmarket) which was recorded in May 2000 and released in February 2001.

Hustas-Keller launched the album at Chapel off Chapel at the end of February 2001, followed by an highly successful tour to Sydney (SIMA) and Brisbane (Pinnacles Music Festival) in April 2001.

'the album is primarily a series of intimate musical conversations...the result is a CD that is a wonderful example of truly beautiful contemporary Australian jazz'
Peter Kenyon, jazzreview

'The pianist's lustrous touch and the bassist's rich tone and unerring intonation are not exactly commonplace on the Australian jazz scene'
Adrian Jackson, The Bulletin

'The music casts a spell from Keller's first demure piano notes on her partner's title track. The amazing thing is the way that the spell is sustained, as the prevailing mood shifts modestly from tranquil beauty to an infectious lightness of spirit and an emotional intensity that somehow never weighs the music down'
John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald



Andrea Keller graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1995 and has lectured there since 1996. She has worked with Dale Barlow, Brian Brown, Allan Browne, Barry Duggan, Morgana and Sandy Evans. A finalist at the 1999 National Jazz Piano Awards, she has performed with her own quintet for the 2000 Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival, Sydney Improvised Music Association and Melbourne Jazz Coop, and was comissioned to present a new Octet for the 2000 Melbourne Women's Jazz Festival.

Anita Hustas graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1993 then spent a year in Paris at the Institute FranÁois Rabbath. She has performed solo for the Port Fairy and Woodford Folk Festivals, the Boite Winter Music Festival and the Planet Cafe. Anita has worked in duo settings with Paul Grabowsky, Tony Gould and Phil Bywater. She has also performed with Jex Saarelaht, Bob Sedergreen, Alan Lee, Ted Vining, Adam Simmons, Gai Bryant, Sandy Evans, Niko Schauble, Will Guthrie, Helen Matthews, Sue Bluck, Kenny Drew Jr (USA), Jane Peters, Peter Waters and the Won Family (Masters of Traditional Korean Music).

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