Wendy Murray presents her favourite jazz standards with elegance, wit and charm. She has the ability to enchant, to infuse songs with feeling, to tell stories, to make you forget your problems for a while. She has warmth and presence that captivates audiences in an intimate setting, the festival crowds and stadiums....
Her original compositions examine the dark corners of life and illuminate the deepest reaches of the soul. Wendy’s songs are beautiful, mad, hopeful, despairing, joyful and dark … like life. The lyrics are inspired by the complexities of human relations, hidden feelings, denial, revelation, passion and secret tears.
The songs burst into life with Brisbane’s most highly esteemed musicians –
Louise Denson (piano)
John Stefulj (sax)
Clint Allen (trumpet)
Jeremy O’Connor (bass)
Sacha Kloostra (drums)
Songwriting
Wendy’s song writing is unique. Her talents have generated an album comprising her original compositions in collaboration with Brisbane guitarist Jamie Clark which was recorded live in 2004 at the Brisbane Powerhouse in the Visy Theatre.
Her songs are lyrical poems inspired by the complexities of a woman’s experiences of motherhood, human relations, the search for love, freedom of expression and for identity. Although taken from Wendy’s own experience they have the capacity to speak to a broad audience who may also suffer the pressures of modern life, loneliness and the struggle to be heard and understood.
Wendy was nominated as a finalist in the 2006 Q-Song Awards for Angel Wings, the first song she ever wrote in 1993. Wendy’s music has been included on 2 AIR samplers this year in 2006 - one for Lagrimas Negras with Hot Mambo on the World Sampler and Angel Wings on the Jazz Sampler.
Please listen to Angel Wings written by Wendy and performed here together with Brisbane guitarist Jamie Clark.
Wendy’s influences are eclectic and she has always had a deep connection with jazz. She graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2000. In 2001 she undertook a course of study under composer, bandleader, bassist Jose Joaquin Alayo Mulen in Santiago de Cuba to learn the traditional music, songs, dance and culture. Ever broadening her horizons, she is currently studying Shakuhachi (Japanese end blown bamboo flute) and traditional Japanese music.
