The Sydney Improvised Music Association Inc. (SIMA) is a non-profit, incorporated association with a management committee of ten, elected for a term of one year at the association’s Annual General Meeting.
Membership of SIMA is open to the public and any member of SIMA who is financial can stand for election to the committee.
SIMA receives support from the Australia Council and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.
Our mission
Sydney Improvised Music Association Inc (SIMA) is committed to facilitating the performance of contemporary jazz and improvised music. We aim to be recognised as the leading national contemporary jazz organisation, through our ability to program music of excellence for existing and new audiences, and our support of a vibrant jazz culture in Sydney and Australia.
SIMA’s objectives
Our key goals for 2009-2011 (as per our three year business plan) are to:
- Support Australian musicians by continuing to provide well-publicised performance opportunities in first class facilities but with competitive fees.
- Bring jazz performances to a wider audience.
- Ensure that more people experience and value contemporary jazz and improvised music.
- Widen the scope of activities we offer to enhance our audience development strategy.
- Ensure SIMA’s ongoing sustainability.
- Secure adequate staffing to sustain SIMA activities.
SIMA’s Programmes and Funding
In 2007 SIMA received funding which totalled $119,500 for the following activities:
- The main performance programme at the Sound Lounge and the JazzNOW Festival supported by both the Australia Council and the NSW Ministry ($102,000) and the City of Sydney ($10,000).
- The jazz workshops for young women musicians directed by Sandy Evans was supported by the Australia Council and the NSW Ministry for the Arts ($7,500).
SIMA’s Committee
- Executive Committee
- Mick Paddon – President
- Peter Rechniewski – Vice President / Artistic Director
- Iona Silver – Secretary
- Hugh Boyd – Treasurer
- General Committee
- Tim Dunn
- Phillip Johnston
- Robin Nahum
- John Pochee
- Judit Baranyai
- Stella Calomeris
- Administrator – Peter Lothian
- Music Coordinator/Publicist – Gordana Raketic
Our history
SIMA was established in 1984 as a non-profit association with a view to addressing the lack of performance opportunities for contemporary jazz and improvised music artists in Sydney. Today we are the largest organisation in Australia dedicated solely to jazz and improvised music and we also receive the highest level of funding in the contemporary jazz arena.
Since inception SIMA has used several performance spaces, including Strawberry Hills Hotel and the Side-On Café. Currently musicians perform at the Seymour Theatre’s Sound Lounge; under the present relationship with the Seymour Centre this appears to be a stable performance space for SIMA; the SIMA office is also onsite.
From a fairly modest beginning, SIMA has attained a unique place in the Australian jazz scene where music is developed and artists can find their own voice; leading to recording contracts and invitations to take part in international jazz festivals where many have gained worldwide recognition.
Major milestones for SIMA include:
- January 1985 – First autonomous production, States of the Art, a 4-concert series featuring 60 local musicians presented under the auspices of the Festival of Sydney and widely considered to have been the festival’s most successful fringe event, drawing capacity crowds
- 1986-89 Second States of the Art series, free improvised music festivals Explicit Music and Music on the Edge, short residencies at several venues, piano series and inaugural performances by The Necks.
- 1989 Establishement of longstanding jazz venue – Strawberry Hillls Hotel (1989-1997)
- Establishment of Side On Café as principal jazz venue (1999-2004)
- 2003 – First of the Young Women’s Jazz Improvisation Workshops led by Sandy Evans – interest and participation in these workshops continues to grow each year.
- 2004 – SIMA established the first annual Jazz:NOW jazz festival in collaboration with Jazzgroove and the Sydney Opera House. This boutique jazz festival showcasing innovative jazz and now in its 5th year, continues to attract an ever increasing audience and media coverage annually.
Artists regularly performing for SIMA read like a “Who’s Who” of Australian jazz for example:
- Sandy Evans: recognised as one of the leading saxophonists and composers in contemporary jazz in Australia as a soloist and as part of ensembles such as Ten Part Invention, The catholics, the Australian Art Orchestra and austraLYSIS, Sandy has won numerous awards including multiple ARIA, APRA and Mo awards and the inaugural Bell Award for Australian Jazz Artist of the Year in 2003. She also leads the SIMA Women’s Jazz workshops.
- Mike Nock: New Zealand born pianist/composer is one of the acknowledged masters of jazz in Australasia. He spent 25yrs working in the US with many of the world’s top jazz musicians.. Featured on over 80 recordings worldwide with works commissioned and performed by Cleveland Chamber Symphony (USA), Australian Chamber Orchestra, Synergy, Melbourne Windpower, Ensemble 24, and Umo Jazz Orchestra (Finland) he works with upcoming local artists.
- Bernie McGann: Among many achievements here and abroad, McGann is long regarded as the most original alto saxophonist in Australian jazz. In 2008, he won the 2008 Graeme Bell Hall of Fame Award. His highly individual style has earned him recognition worldwide. His trio has toured extensively in Europe and North America and played at the famous Ronnie Scott’s club in London and at the Chicago Jazz Festival. Bernie McGann Trio have won four ARIA awards, two Mo Awards and in 1998 Bernie won the Don Banks Music Award, the first time it was been awarded to a non-classical musician/composer.
- Dale Barlow: One of Australia’s most accomplished and internationally recognised jazz artists, Dale Barlow is an inspiring, virtuosic and original tenor saxophonist/ composer Dale has toured and recorded with many greats in jazz, including Chet Baker, Curtis Fuller, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt and has won numerous awards including 4 Mo awards and an ARIA.
- Lloyd Swanton: Bassist, composer, producer, bandleader and radio presenter, Lloyd Swanton is one of the most respected and in-demand musicians in the country. Apart from leading his own band, The catholics, and co-leading The Necks, he has performed with many of the cornerstones of Australian music: Clarion Fracture Zone, the Bernie McGann Trio, Vince Jones and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Lloyd appears on over 60 albums, has produced four ARIA Award winners with Bernie McGann, and has toured extensively overseas and in Australia
Many award winning musicians other than those mentioned above have contributed to SIMA’s reputation as a “centre of excellence” including these:
- James Muller – guitar. Freedman Jazz Fellowship 2004; acclaimed album KABOOM! Recorded in New York in 2007.
- Ten Part Invention – “The Bentley of Australian jazz” Sydney Morning Herald. Several recordings, invited to perform at The Chicago Jazz Festival (2004). Bandleader John Pochee won the 2007 APRA Long-Term Contribution to the Advancement of Australian Music.
- Alister Spence – piano. Outstandingly successful tour of clubs and festivals in the UK and Canada in June/July 2006.
- Mike Bukovsky and his sextet Wanderlust – Best Jazz Album.
- Andrea Keller – Best Australian Jazz Album 2008 Little Claps. Inaugural winner of the MCA/Freedman Foundation Jazz Fellowship. Winner of the 2003 Bell Award for Best Australian Contemporary Jazz Album and the 2003 ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album.
- Jamie Oehlers – Winner of the 2003 World Saxophone Competition at Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland; 2007 Bell Awards for Australian Jazz Musician of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz CD Release for You R Here Vol 1 & 2.
- Andrew Robson – Winner Freedman Jazz Awards. His Trio performed at the prestigious Berlin Jazz Festival in 2004.
- Past winners of the prestigious National Jazz Awards including, pianists Jackson Harrison and Matt McMahon, saxophonists Julien Wilson and Roger Manins, trumpeters Scott Tinkler and Phil Slater (also winner of the 2008 Best Australian Jazz Ensemble of the Year); singer Elana Stone and bassist Brendan Clarke have all performed on the SIMA stage.
- The most highly prized award for jazz in Australia is the Freedman Fellowship Awards, we are proud to say that every one of the winners from 2001 had already performed in the SIMA program – Andrea Keller (2001), Phil Slater (2002), Andrew Robson (2003), James Muller (2004), Matt McMahon (2005), Julien Wilson (2006) who also won the 2008 Renault Australian Jazz Artist of the Year and last year’s winner Kristin Berardi who the year before also won the Shure Montreaux Jazz International Voice Competition.