Chiasmus: Joce Moen & Chris Cody

Joce Moen and Chris Cody reconnect as a duo for Sydney audiences at Foundry 616 on October 25^th. Having worked together in France and recorded Moen’s first album La Rouge Qui Bouge together at Studio Piccolo, Paris, they now meet again after Cody’s recent return to Sydney. Both composers and performers in their own right, the intersection of these two forms an exciting cross-over or chiasmus.

The duo will perform songs from La Rouge Qui Bouge and also from Joce Moen’s new album Spirit Level/ Niveau à Bulle, an eclectic solo album that celebrates love, travel and motherhood.

Joce Moen

A troubadour beloved of audiences in Sydney, Berlin, Paris, and Montreal, Joce Moen sings in both French and English. Her songs are hand-crafted stories of chance poetic encounters (sometimes with people, sometimes with garbage trucks), the wonder and sorrow of travelling, and the discovery of love and happiness. Joce’s music defies categorization but draws from jazz, folk and blues traditions.

Joce lived in Paris for several years busking in streets and metro tunnels as well as performing with an international band including jazz pianist Chris Cody, with whom she recorded La Rouge Qui Bouge. Back home in Australia she appeared in festivals such as Peat’s Ridge and in venues across the country. Joce then followed love to Montreal and conceived her solo cabaret show The Red Rover, touring with it also to the Wellington Fringe Festival in 2010.

Now living in the Blue Mountains with her young family, Joce has re-established herself playing in Australian venues such as the Clarendon and the Paragon (Katoomba), The Front (Canberra), The Studio (Melbourne) and The Alley Cat (Hobart). Her mamma-rock duo Runcible Spoon performs original songs about childhood and parenthood, and will be playing this year’s Blue Mountains Winter Magic Festival. Her cabaret duo Threepenny Moon graces arts events and happenings around both Australia and Canada.

“A heady mix of luxuriant French Cabaret and the spice of vibrant, melodic folk" – Richard Schweizer, Eastside Radio, Sydney

“Her presence on stage is one of surprising seduction. Standards appear to be washed, revisited with joyful tenderness. Her own compositions are born spontaneously of life’s daily chances ... All of great musicality… A light, persistent echo of one of those rare moments when fraternity is made without presupposition or project” – Sylvie Clidière, journalist, Paris

www.jocemoen.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTBfYo9t7qs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2A2M2TFTaM

www.facebook.com/pages/Jocelyn-­-Moen

Chris Cody

Chris Cody is one of Australia’s foremost jazz musicians. A finalist in the Roger Woodward Piano Scholarship at the age of 14, he gained a B.Mus from the University of Sydney, and the Licentiate of Trinity College, London. His musical versatility found expression in a wide variety of work situations, and he began to play with some of Australia’s leading jazz musicians such as James Morrison and Don Burrows. After gaining the Diploma in Jazz Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium and the Jazz Action Society Award for Best Jazz Composition in 1989, he left Australia to perform and tour in the USA and throughout Europe with international stars including Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Sunny Murray, Herb Geller, Stephano di Battista, Frank Lacy, Graham Haynes, Rhoda Scott, Marcel Azzola and Yves Robert. Cody recorded with numerous artists before forming his own highly successful group in Paris – the Chris Cody Coalition – and recording his debut album in 1996, released to international acclaim.

Returning to Australia in 1997, he performed at leading jazz venues and festivals including The Basement, Bennett’s Lane, Manly and Wangaratta Jazz Festivals. He formed an Australian version of the Cody Coalition and recorded the CD Oasis on Naxos Jazz, nominated for an ARIA award. Cody was a regular guest on radio programs, including Jazztrack, ABC FM, and 2BL. Chris taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and co-founded and directed the Sydney School of Piano. Chris also wrote music for theatre and cinema and appeared performing in the film Dr Jazz at the Sydney Film Festival. Chris was a featured guest on numerous TV and radio programs including France 2, Bernard Pivot, ABC TV and SBS TV. He also hosted his own jazz radio program in Sydney, Dr. Cody‘s Hip Transplants.

After his return to France in 2000, Cody was commissioned to compose and perform a suite of pieces for the inauguration of the Australian Music Centre in Paris and also composed and recorded the music for the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Moliere’s Don Juan at the Sydney Opera House. He has performed and recorded his own compositions for Radio France, France Culture, France Musique, ABC and SBS TV, and has been a featured guest of national program "Jazz Club" on France Musique. He has also worked as a regular collaborator with the psycho-acoustic research team at IRCAM, Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics and Music. He recorded Midnight Tide (Cristal/Harmonia Mundi), with top American trombonist Glenn Ferris, and followed with Conscript (Nocturne, France), receiving accolades from press around the world.

Chris Cody’s recent work includes performing for festivals in Marciac, Munich with Annie Whitehead, Paris Quarters d'Ete, Derry, and Dar es Salaam. He has co-produced a documentary, "Paris Ville de Musique" for Australian television, as well as creating and performing music for the American Academy of Dance Paris. Chris Cody recently received a US Federal Award to tour Algeria. He has also toured in Ireland, the UK, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. Cody’s music reveals not only his deep love of the jazz and classical traditions, but also the influence of contemporary French and African musicians he has encountered in Paris, and its warmth, sense of space and humour touch a wide and diverse public around the world.