MUSICIAN

JEN HflWLEYBY NICK C H f l R L E S

To survive as a full-time musicianthese days you need to be versatile,studied and pro-active. Jen Hawley isa classic example. She's a fine playeracross many styles and has a greatnew partnership with Alex Burns,so far producing a wonderful EP. Wechatted about influences and theroad ahead.

The jazz influence and studyseems to be the backbone ofyour playing. Tell me about

that journey and perhaps someother less obvious influences.

I started playing guitar when I was16, studied classical and played inrock bands in Sydney in my earlyyears. The jazz journey began inthe late '905. I fell in love with themusic of Django and found the finestplayer of that style in Melbourne toteach me, Martin Elepans (Hot Cafe,Blue Drag). It was the beginning ofa great musical relationship. I wasMartin's rhythm guitarist from 1999to 2010 in The Great Chefs Of Europe.In 2000 I decided to fill in the gapsin my jazz playing and develop my impro-visational skills and studied with the greatBruce Clarke. I tend to listen to what I wantto play, so on my playlist at the momentis Django, Charlie Christian and KennyBurrell. Other players I listen to are BarneyKessel, Luiz Bonfa, Charlie Byrd, through toblues and rock players like Santana, JimmyPage and Robben Ford.

I've seen you playing the Maccaferristyle guitar and the Gibson 345.

What's the story behind these andmaybe some other little treasures in

your cupboard?

I keep my guitar collection down to whatI can play, so I have four guitars at themoment. The Gibson 345 is a 1969 modeland will be with me forever, though I dohave my eye on a Fender Strat. CurrentlyI'm playing through a Trace Elliot Velocettevalve combo. I like to use a small amp anddrive it. Pedals, I use my favourite '905Digitech RPs or sometimes an Ibanez Tube-screamer and a Boss Octaver. On solo gigs Iuse a Roland RCso loop station. My acous-tics are the Saga Gitane 0)320 and a MatonMini Diesel Special. My classical guitar (myvery first guitar) is a K Yairi ¥440.

How would you describe yourplaying and its function with Alex

Burns? Did you have to modify yourregular approach?

Alex and I focus on early blues and earlyjazz and the crossroads where those meet.With Alex I take a 'comping' style approachand play fills while he holds down therhythm and sings. When he solos, I switchto that role. I try to be true when I playthe blues and not put too many notes in.With the jazz tunes, I'm looking for melodiclines and tension and release in my play-ing. When Alex is playing Memphis styleblues, I step back and add rhythmic drivewithout getting in the way. I like to keep mysolos improvised and will usually focus ona theme just before I start soloing.

You manage to survive well in thefairly tough music scene now. Whatare some of the other things you doand how important is versatility for

a full-time professional?

It is a pretty tough scene to make a livingin. To be a full-time muso I diversify likeyou wouldn't believe! I lead my own bandsand sing in French, Spanish and Portu-

guese. I've spent a lot of time devel-oping relationships with agents forcorporate music gigs, weddings andall kinds of events. I'm part of a com-munity of musicians in Melbourneand we mix and match to suit theclient, from Gypsy to Jewish to jazz tocovers. My husband is a clown andhas taught me a few tricks. We dochildren's shows, stilt walking andrun circus workshops at festivals.Across all of this, I'm usually work-ing three to four gigs a week all yearround.

What's coming up in the NewYear?

Alex and I have decided to do gigswith bass (Kane Borlase) and drums(Les Oldman) whenever we can, anddoing local gigs as much as possible.We're starting to write together andhopefully this will create some radioairplay and put us on the festivalcircuit. On a personal front, I plan towork on a recording of my originalsand interpretations of jazz and Latinstandards that are part of my rep-ertoire. I'm also planning new col-

laborations, like looking into the classicalside of Django. He and Stephane Grappellidid a lot of recordings playing Manouche-influenced classical works and I love thefreshness of the sound as it's not played todeath like some of the Hotclub numbers.So this is the year to come out of the corpo-rate closet and work on what interests meas a guitarist, rather than making a livingand being driven by the next gig.

Tell me about the EP you've justreleased and are there plans to go

in to the studio for more tracks?

We've got a four-track EP out at themoment, which we sell at gigs and use as apromotional tool. I find when you first startrecording with someone new it can take afew tracks to work out recording styles andmaterial, so this is a taster. When we getback in the studio a little later this year,we'll continue down this vein and then seeif it all sits together. We might find we havea whole CD of new material. Or we couldrelease three of these four tracks and thendo a Best Of at the end... or is this cheat-ing?!

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