The Sun Songbook led by Australian jazz trumpeter Phil Slater, is a modern jazz ensemble performing adaptations and interpretations of the music of Peter Sculthorpe, one of Australiaʼs pre-eminent composers. Sculthorpe was declared an Australian National Living Treasure in 1998, and for his work as a composer holds both the Order of Australia and of the British Empire.

Sculthorpe’s music draws upon influences ranging from Australian Aboriginal song, Japanese gagaku, Javanese gamelan and Western liturgical music. His music evokes contemporary Australian life, and both the timeless beauty of the Australian landscape and its destructive power — a kind of Australian gothic. The lasting metaphor for Sculthorpe is the sun, and his Sun Music series draws upon the dual nature of the sun as the giver of life and the bringer of death.

The Sun Songbook is the latest project of multi-award-winning trumpeter and composer Phil Slater. He has performed and recorded with Nigel Kennedy, Lou Reed, Sandy Evans, James Morrison, Mike Nock, Terumasa Hino, DIG, Martha Wainwright, Missy Higgins, Vince Jones, Bernie McGann, Archie Roach, Katie Noonan, Jim Black and the Australian Art Orchestra.

This ensemble performing with Phil Slater features pianist Matt McMahon (both Slater and McMahon are former students of Sculthorpe), guitarist Carl Dewhurst, bassist Brett Hirst, drummer Simon Barker and Erkki Veltheim on viola.

‘Slater’s trumpet playing is clearly out of the Miles Davis school. This is original music of real depth, worth listening to again and again.’
Adrian Jackson, Artistic Director, Wangaratta International Festival of Jazz