News

News

Final 3 concerts in this NZ Tour

It’s a rainy cool day in Wellington and Mike and I are rehearsing with fabulously talented double bassist, Nick Tipping. It’s sounding great! So we’re all polished up with my new material and ready for 3 more shows to wrap up this current tour. Hope you can join us Friday night 1st March in Levin, […]

Boogieing Back to NZ

We’re packing our bags and are super excited to be part of the SMALL HALL Concert Series, held in beautiful Heritage Halls in NZ’s Hawkes Bay. These concerts are caringly presented by HB resident Jamie MacPhail, so be prepared for a unique experience of music in an unforgettable environment with delicious food and, of course, […]

Wrapping Up 2023

Our last shows for 2023 are this SAT NOV 4th in Dungog at the Royal Hotel @ 7.30pm, and Newcastle on SAT NOV 11th @ 3.30pm. Both venues have fabulous grand pianos, so it’s a great way to end the year. Whew! I’ve got through 2023 with my fingers and arms still attached and still […]

Life of a Musician

Sometimes in my musical career there are several things going on at once, and this month has been a prime example. Firstly my Film Composing workshop at the University of Newcastle which was meant to be restricted to 20 participants but, as you can see, a few extras were squeezed in. They were a fabulous […]

Sydney on a Saturday Night

We were rehearsing yesterday for our last Sydney show this coming Saturday night, and the band is sounding brilliant! It’s a great joy for me to be playing with (apart from loyal husband Mike Pullman on percussion) fabulous double bassist Craig Renneberg and sensational violinist George Washingmachine. George is well-known and respected in the jazz […]

Alex Steinbach joins the club!

I’m truly grateful for the donation of a new piano for the LEICHHARDT BOWLING CLUB in time for SAT SEP 16th when I will happily perform my new barrelhouse and boogie material on it. This ALEX STEINBACH piano is valuable, and I and the Club are super thankful to Lois Harris, my friend who has made […]

The King of Tetris!

I am emerging into the light of the concert stage of Melbourne’s Lomond Hotel in Brunswick on Sep 9 and the Leichhardt Bowlo in Sydney on Sep 16. Both are Saturday nights one week apart. The fabulous Thirroul Hall last weekend was our warm-up show, with huge thanks to the Illawarra Folk Club for presenting […]

On the Rails!

It will be a huge change to play a concert at the Thirroul Railway Institute Hall at 2.30 pm next Sunday 13th August! After these past 4 months of recording in my studio, I’m in trepidation that I will still remember how to do that. i.e. play and sing songs one after the other in […]

Leaving Pianoland

When 101 Music approached me to compose and perform 12 piano tracks in the boogie, blues, ragtime and barrelhouse style, my creative journey was wide open. My daily routine consisted of the gym, then breakfast, after which my musical brain went into overdrive as I worked away all day. Much coffee was drunk, and many grooves […]

Moving into Pianoland!

I’m coming off the road for the longest time in a while and moving seriously and with great intent into a space I call PIANOLAND. This is my precious private time when my grand piano and I spend all day (and sometimes all night) together discovering each other again. It’s like a new and intense […]

The Biggest Boogie!

What a wonderful time we had at the National Folk Festival over Easter! It really is a fabulous event, and huge thanks to Festival Director Graham MacDonald for giving us this opportunity and such a prominent billing amongst over 200 artists.  Our Saturday concert to over 1000 people on the Budawang Stage will remain a […]

Back to the South Island

Huge thanks to all who came along to our show at the Leichhardt Bowling Club last Saturday. Such a large and buzzy audience really got us going! Mike and I absolutely loved playing with Franz Batmilk on double bass (what a performer) and the hugely talented fiddle player George Washingmachine. It went off, as they […]

Jan’s Showcase Concerts

After a long and blissful time at home in Sydney, Mike and I are looking forward to getting on the road to play 7 concerts in NZ; Auckland, Dargaville, Whangarei, Bay of Islands Jazz/Blues Festival, Takapuna and finally Wellington.  These concerts will contain my favourite songs and instrumentals in a “Showcase” performance.  Over the past […]

Jump Music, Jive Talk and a Grand Piano

I am working on a special collaborative show with actor/writer/comedian ALAN GLOVER called JUMP MUSIC and JIVE TALK. Alan is a master wordsmith, hilarious comedian, who also sings and blows a mean harmonica. We are feverously rehearsing, too many ideas springing forth, (it’s like that hanging out with Alan) discovering elements of piano music, poetry, […]

Benefit for Ukraine

On Sunday 5th June, we held a special event in Sydney – a Benefit Concert event for Ukraine. We put on a show as a fund-raiser, with many local businesses making generous donations of their goods and services for auction.  Mic Conway did his exceptional best as Compere Extraordinaire, as well as performing his Captain Matchbox […]

The BBC needs me!

All suspicious looking emails are not scams! I received one recently from a guy claiming to be an entertainment producer at the BBC wanting to use my piano composition “Trout Blues” as title music for his new BBC London Evening radio show. I was so close to pressing delete, but something made me read on. […]

Victoria Calling….

We are so looking forward to travelling down to Victoria at last, renewing my contact with the MBAS (Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society) and the wonderful Phil Manning. Phil is not only one of my absolute favourite players and songwriters, but also a good mate. There’s a little known fact (as he keeps reminding me) that […]

The Longest Grand Piano in the World!

We’re continuing on this amazing South Island tour and in Dunedin I was thrilled to go to the Alexander Pianos Workshop which houses the longest grand piano in the world. Utterly extraordinary that Adrian Mann started making this instrument when he was 16 years old, and completed it in four and a half years. A […]

Finding a Piano…..

So here we are having played one week of our South Island Tour. Huge thanks to the kind and hearty people of Motueka, Picton, Nelson and Murchison for being such amazing audiences. All those things that are said of South Islanders (friendly generous stoic etc) really are true. And I found a piano! On the […]

Taking Winnie to Brizzie!

Hello Boogie friends, Mike and I beat a hasty retreat from Sydney in the nick of time several weeks ago which means our upcoming concert in Brisbane is not cancelled (like all those in NSW) and will go ahead on SAT JULY 24TH @ 6pm at the DONALD SIMPSON CENTRE in Cleveland. And even more […]

MayDay in Sydney!

Hello boogie friends, We’re very excited to be launching the new CD “Piano Boogie Woman” next Sat night May 1st at the Leichhardt Bowling Club in Sydney’s inner west. The club has a lovely concert/stage area with a great sound system and an old lady friend in the form of an English Grand piano I […]

Sydney at last… and the South Coast!

Hello boogie friends, Mike and I are finally emerging to play a special concert in our hometown on May 1st at the Leichhardt Bowling Club. This is the long awaited Sydney launch of my new CD “Piano Boogie Woman” and I so hope you can make it along to hear the new material (and some […]

New Film Clip and Live Shows!

We are revving up for 2021 at last! There’s a totally fabulous new film clip for “The Boogie Woman” as well as concerts coming up on the Gold Coast and in Canberra. We shot the clip at a studio in Auckland last year. Big thanks to the young cinematographer Jared Jones who filmed it under […]

2020 Boogie Christmas

We wish you a lucky and loving Christmas and New Year with your friends and whanau in Australia and NZ, with fingers crossed outbreaks are contained and that the Trans-Tasman travel bubble opens soon. My last professional outing for 2020 was with director Robynne Murphy at a sold out screening last week at the Events […]

Home to my Piano

After 4 months in NZ recording and touring we are home in Sydney and playing our last concerts of 2020 in NSW this weekend. For Mike and I to be able to hop in a cab from the airport and come home without needing to quarantine was a huge bonus. My beloved grand piano was […]

Touring, Touring…

  Hello boogie friends, We’re having fabulous concerts and audiences so far on our tour and carry on this week to Mike’s hometown of Kaitaia on Friday night, followed by Whangarei on Saturday and The PumpHouse on Sunday afternoon. Please note the PumpHouse concert starts at 4pm, not 3pm as some advertising suggested. (Doors will […]

One more day

Hello boogie friends, Mike and I are on our last day of hotel isolation at Auckland Airport’s Novotel Hotel. 2 weeks have moved quickly until the last few days (with the end in sight) which have dragged. If someone had the vaguest thought of escape from behind the razor wire, they’d think again. Security are […]

Quaama and Beyond!

What an exotic place name! Believe it or not it’s the little town of Quaama on the NSW south coast. The ABC is broadcasting a special radio program on bushfire affected areas this Thursday morning, 20th February. And we’ll be there playing live on Simon Lauder’s program, sausage sizzle and audience in attendance. We are SO […]

Boogie Your Blues Away

Rain, rain, rain, what a wonderful thing it is! Of course there are degrees of extreme that are harrowing, but considering no rain was forecast until March it’s great to have this soaking in many of the fire affected areas.We are driving through it to the Australian Blues Music Festival in Goulburn tomorrow for 2 […]

Home for Christmas

Hello Boogie Friends, Huge thanks to all who came out through cold, heat, terrorist events, general elections and more to attend our concerts throughout Australia and NZ this year. We barely touched base in Sydney through 2019, so are delighted to be finally spending Christmas at home. Today we are frantically purchasing for the whanau, […]

Tasmania at Last!

Finally we are returning to Tasmania! It’s been too long! My great-grandmother lived there, so I always feel a special connection. Evidently she was heavily pregnant whilst emigrating, so was put off the ship to NZ at Launceston, as it was felt she wouldn’t make it before the birth. And there she stayed in Tassie […]

Films, boats, cars and another piano….

Hello boogie friends, Having apparently driven to the stage in a 1909 Riley Sportsman at the Halswell Estate in Chrisctchurch, and added a painted piano to our show in Hanmer, we finished our current series of NZ concerts to a packed house in my beloved hometown of Greymouth this afternoon. We now return to Australia […]

South Island, Borders and a Damehood

Hello Boogie friends, Thanks so much to everyone who came out to our show at the Frankston Arts Centre and also the Lomond Hotel in Melbourne. Both concerts were fabulous. I’m still on a high from the special musical moments with Nick Charles, he’s amazing to play with! We go to NZ tomorrow for 2 […]

Winnie, and Wine in Victoria

Hello boogie friends, Are you finding it as impossible as I am to stop consuming chocolate this Easter? Honestly I’ve had so much my jeans are bursting! Here’s a short reminder of next Sunday’s show at the Frankston Arts Centre, Wonderful Winnie Atwell in which I recount her fascinating life’s story and perform her boogie […]

Thank You NZ, now for Queensland and Melbourne

Hello Boogie Friends, We have emerged from our NZ tour tired, ecstatic and slightly crazy as you can see in the selfie of the band on our last night. About 1000 people overall turned up to our concerts throughout the North and South Islands, and my heartfelt thanks to the wonderful audiences who have supported […]

Australian Festival and an NZ Tour

Hello Boogie Friends and welcome to this Year of the Pig! I hope you had a welcome break over the Christmas hols, alas all too soon forgotten as we charge into 2019, during which Mike and I will test out our fast disappearing Kiwi accents on an extensive tour of NZ. We’ll be there for […]

The Expanding Boogie Circus…….

Hello Boogie Friends, I have an exciting upcoming collaboration with the wonderful Sydney soul singer Sally King, and guitarist Shane Pacey from iconic blues band the Bondi Cigars. Hope you can make it along to Petersham Bowling Club on Sunday Oct 21st, my special Boogie Circus show complete with saxophone and a short tribute to Aretha […]

Boogie from Hamburg to Sydney

Hello boogie friends, Big news this month is the release of a tutoring book called SHE PLAYS Boogie-woogie and Blues Piano which I co-wrote with my German friend Ulrike Gaate. This book is particularly helpful for women or girls with small hands, and takes the reader through many boogie left hand grooves from simple to more advanced, as […]

North to the Sun!

Hello Boogie Friends, Winter has snuck up on us here in Sydney, and we are (wisely) touring north for 2 concerts in Northern NSW, before ending up at the fabulous “Blues on Broadbeach” festival on the Gold Coast. Our concerts in NZ this month were brilliant. Tauranga Jazz Festival outdoor stage was magical, Waihi Beach […]

February, March and Easter happenings!

Hello boogie friends, What a blast it was to attend the Australian Blues Festival in Goulburn this past weekend! Not only playing our own concerts, but also to hear the wealth of fantastic blues musicians and songwriters from throughout Australia, many of whom I hadn’t heard before (Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel, Bonnie Kay) as well […]