Steve Arié

After spending over 25 years as one of the most sought after double bass players in Australia, jazz musician Steve Arié is launching his first album since transitioning from the double bass to the saxophone. Steve’s newest release Quirks features 12 original jazz compositions with each highlighting the musician’s skill on his new-found love – the saxophone. Steve has played alongside some of Australia’s greatest jazz performers including Dale Barlow, Bernie McGann, D.I.G. and Ten Part Invention as well as being an acclaimed musician in his own right.

On Sunday March 8 at Johnston Street Jazz, Steve will host the Quirks CD launch alongside his band, The Arié Awards. Set to be a relaxed afternoon in the sun, the CD launch will feature a live performance of the album by Steve Arié and the band followed by a talk on the album by Steve himself.

“The CD launch is just a concert, really,” said Steve. “We’re going to play the songs from the CD with the band and then talk a bit about the songs. There’ll be afternoon tea – it’ll be a really lovely get together. The venue is really lovely too.”

Steve spoke with City Hub about the transition he experienced as a musician as he moved from playing double bass to saxophone.

“I just found myself having more and more feeling for the saxophone. I started to fall out of love with the bass,” said Steve before going on to say, “I started feeling more and more like a saxophone player trapped in a bass player’s body.”

Steve feels intrinsically connected to his music and says he still thinks about the double bass often joking, “It’s sort of like being married, playing an instrument. I sometimes feel guilty leaving the bass, like I left my wife of 30 years or something. Maybe I should have tried to make it work!”

His new CD Quirks has been the direct result of Steve’s new found love for the saxophone, with Steve saying, “It was only when I started playing saxophone that I started writing music more regularly… part of that transition was just thinking ‘what can I do with this?’ and thought maybe I needed to do a CD and record my original tunes.”

Steve is looking forward to the upcoming CD launch and is excited to share his passion for the saxophone with fellow jazz enthusiasts.

“A Sunday afternoon feels like the right vibe for my music… it’s happy music. I don’t play serious jazz, I play jovial jazz. It’s just going to be a lovely afternoon I think.”

Mar 8. Johnston Street Jazz, 81 Johnston St, Annandale. $10-$20+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.stevearie.com.au

By Madison Behringer