_{Cover Image: Catalyst Jazz Orchestra. Image by Josh Wells.}

There’s a particular charge when musical generations meet. On 15 October, one of Brisbane’s most distinctive jazz voices, pianist, composer and educator Dr Jeff Usher, will take his place at the piano alongside WAYJO’s 18-piece Catalyst Jazz Orchestra.

Directed by Tom Salleo, the orchestra will move through soulful standards, blues-inflected repertoire and hard-swinging originals, including music by Usher himself. The program also reaches into the big-band traditions of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thad Jones and Oliver Nelson.

Blind since birth, Usher belongs to a lineage of influential blind pianists that includes Ray Charles and George Shearing. His career has taken him to festivals across Australia and overseas, into numerous recording projects, and into a longstanding teaching role at the Queensland Conservatorium.

Across jazz and blues, his playing is recognised for its rhythmic authority, expressive nuance and deep connection to tradition. Whether leading an ensemble or performing solo, he brings decades of experience to the instrument without losing the curiosity of live exchange.

For WAYJO Artistic Director Gemma Farell, the collaboration is also personal. Usher taught her at the Queensland Conservatorium and, she says, had a profound influence on her development as a young musician.

Farell remembers an inspiring player with an encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz: a musician able to reproduce complete transcriptions from memory, yet equally capable of teaching through the spontaneous act of playing together.

The encounter promises more than a guest appearance. It is a chance for Catalyst’s young musicians to hear how touch, time and phrasing carry a musical history – and to test their own ideas in dialogue with an artist who has spent a lifetime inside the form.

For Salleo, the timing feels ideal. Fresh from a successful regional tour, the Catalyst Jazz Orchestra is preparing an entirely new set for the occasion. He expects Usher’s perspective to make a lasting impression on the band – and the repertoire to demand its best.

For Usher, the trip west also offers a reunion. Fifteen years after Farell played in his student ensemble in Brisbane, teacher and former student will reconnect through the same language that first brought them together: jazz.

Before the performance, Usher will give a short artist talk upstairs at The Ellington. Then, downstairs, the conversation will continue without words – as piano and big band meet in real time.

Jeff Usher with WAYJO’s Catalyst Jazz Orchestra
Thursday 15 October 2026
The Ellington Jazz Club, 193 Beaufort Street, Perth
Doors 6pm; artist talk 6.10–6.30pm; performance 7–9pm
Tickets: $24–$29