Daryl Aberhart's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

High 5

An accomplished vocalist, keyboard player, composer and arranger, Daryl Aberhart became interested in music from an early age, studying classical piano and voice to 7th grade level. He graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1993 aged 18, majoring in the jazz vocal course.

Forming the folk/pop/rock trio Tribe of New with Tim Campbell & Joe Accaria they played original compositions and in 1994 won a Mushroom recording prize plus the Yamaha M-Rock competition which resulted in the production of a video single.

Following Daryl’s inclusion in the 1998 Wangaratta Festival of Jazz competition top 10 finalists, he worked regularly with soul/funk outfit “Temple of Groove” playing Earth Wind & Fire and Tower of Power classics.

Over the years Daryl has appreciated many different music styles from Bach to metal, punk to jazz, and names Steely Dan as some of his favourite music.

Vocally his influences include Carmen McCrae, Sarah Vaughan, Donald Fagan, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Jeffrey Osborne, Michael Jackson and Bon Scott, with his own mellifluous style incorporating a wide variety including pop, rock, soul, cabaret and jazz.

His debut CD “The Cat Within” – a trans-Atlantic collaboration with legendary jazz guitarist and composer John Scofield, released in 2006, and has been critically acclaimed as a one-off masterpiece.

Daryl has performed “The Cat Within” songs at both the Thredbo and Manly jazz festivals.

For his 2009 release “Aussie Gold Vol.1” Daryl has chosen well-known hits from over two decades ago and reworked them with his own Daz-style imprint.

1. JOHN SCOFIELD – The Basement Sydney 1993.

It was something like 1993 or thereabouts when John Scofield brought the Hand Jive tour to the Basement in Sydney. My friends and I had a table right up front, and we were transfixed from the first note. While the album had blown my mind, (and still does when it gets a spin), seeing Sco and Co rip the tunes up live was a revelation. Bill Stewart, Larry Goldings and Dennis Irwin were playing with a sublime synergy that I have never really experienced at any other gig (except for the next night when I went and saw them play it all again!) I was already a Sco fan, but this gig cemented him as one of my favourite composers and improvising performers of all time.

2. SONNY ROLLINS – Sydney Opera House Concert Hall 2008.

I had never had the pleasure of seeing Sonny Rollins live before, so this was indeed a thrill.

While I wasn’t super blown away by the group as a whole (bass solos during a ballad anyone?), that inimitable tone so full of the joy of being will stick with me all my days.

It inspired me to go back and check out some recordings of Sonny’s that I hadn’t really explored before, which was a very rewarding experience.

3. JOHN SCOFIELD, JOE LOVANO - Sydney Opera House Concert Hall 2008.

I am a huge fan of the album ‘Time on my hands’ which features these two artists, and my high expectations were well met on this night. These two have a true musical understanding it would seem, and combined with a fresh and fiery young rhythm section they put on an invigorating show. I was buzzing for the whole drive back to Newcastle with my head full of music.

4. JOHN SCOFIELD – 3 ways. Melbourne Jazz Festival 2006.

At least I think it was 2006…anyway, it was not long after I had completed the recording of my album of John Scofield tunes which I had written some lyrics to (The Cat Within available at cdbaby.com), and John’s wife Susan had most kindly arranged for some complimentary passes to all John’s gigs in Melbourne for the festival. So off went my good friend and colleague drummer Nic Cecire for a weekend of fine food and music in Melbourne.

The first gig was at the Forum, trio with Steve Swallow on bass, Bill Stewart drumming and Sco, and while it was a fun gig, the sound was sub-par and really kind of let the gig down for me…

Second gig was a workshop with my friend Brett Hirst on bass and a drummer whose name escapes me. This was pretty relaxed, and despite a few silly questions, gave a nice insight into John’s approach to music in general and some of his influences.

Third gig was at the big auditorium venue on the river, and this time no sound problems at all. You could really hear the interplay between Steve Swallow, Sco and Stewart and they ripped through a fiery set of originals and standards, including a super burning version of one of my favourite standards ‘Gone with the Wind’. This was an awesome way to end our stay in marvelous Melbourne.

5. STEELY DAN – Sydney Entertainment Centre, Heavy Rollers tour, 200?

Okay, so the venue was crap (Sydney Entertainment Centre), the sound extremely unbalanced and irritating, but the thrill of seeing my all time songwriting idol and vocalist Donald Fagan was undeniable. They meandered through a set of classic Dan numbers with Keith Carlock on drums keeping them all in line nicely…just a shame that the kick drum was the most prevalent item in the sound mix from my perspective…

A real gig highlight despite the detracting factors, and quite possibly the only time I will have the pleasure of seeing them play live.