Jazz pianist Jann Rutherford was a pioneer and role model for many. But her accomplishments were often overshadowed by the fact she was blind from birth.<\/p>\n
“She was a very skilled musician who could play anything in any key in any style,” says Jordie Howell, a soprano and braille music transcriber who was one of Rutherford’s students.<\/p>\n
Rutherford was one of a handful of women who won the prestigious National Jazz Award at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, and the only female instrumentalist to do so in the festival’s history.<\/p>\n
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She was a passionate supporter of the broader Australian jazz community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saxophonist Sandy Evans remembers how Rutherford “was always at everybody’s gigs.”<\/p>\n
When she died at the age of 38 in 2003, Rutherford had recorded several albums in collaboration with longtime colleagues in Sydney, including many of her own original compositions.<\/p>\n
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Jann Rutherford established herself in Sydney when she was 25. (Supplied: Paul Cutlan)<\/p>\n
Rutherford’s legacy is still shaping the Australian jazz world.<\/p>\n
The Jann Rutherford Memorial Award, set up by Evans and others, supports young female and gender diverse jazz instrumentalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year, the awards celebrate 20 years of championing these artists.<\/p>\n
A pioneer musician and role model<\/p>\n
Rutherford grew up in Dunedin, a small town in New Zealand. She was 25 when she moved to Sydney in 1989.<\/p>\n
“She was very cool, but she suffered no fools.”<\/p>\n
“She had really high standards about being a professional musician,” Howell says.<\/p>\n
Howell first met Rutherford at the National Braille Music Camp, an annual week-long program where older blind musicians teach braille music and mentor school-aged students.<\/p>\n
“Jann was a very accomplished classical pianist,” Howell says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“You can tell that her jazz compositions have roots in classical music.”<\/p>\n
Rutherford composed and arranged music with ease.<\/p>\n
Howell remembers the buzz she felt as a 16-year-old when Rutherford set one of her poems to music.<\/p>\n
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Rutherford was equally at home with classical music and jazz. (Supplied: Paul Cutlan)<\/p>\n
“She liked the jazz lifestyle of coffee, alcohol and cigarettes, but she would also sing arias by J.S. Bach and Gabriel Faur\u00e9,” Howell says.<\/p>\n
Rutherford was a pioneer in using technology to compose.<\/p>\n
As well as traditional cassette tapes, she used Cakewalk, an early digital music software to write down her compositions and arrangements.<\/p>\n
“She would write out the music for her sighted peers,” Howell says.<\/p>\n
Those peers include some of the leading jazz musicians in Australia, many of whom are still active today.<\/p>\n
Thriving in Sydney’s ’90s jazz world<\/p>\n
One of Rutherford’s longtime friends and bandmates was bassist Craig Scott, Chair of the Jazz Studies Unit at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 2005 to 2016.<\/p>\n
Scott played many of Rutherford’s original compositions.<\/p>\n
“Jann walked into a situation where there was quite a lot happening, particularly around the middle of the city,” Scott says.<\/p>\n
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Jann Rutherford frequented Sydney’s ’90s jazz clubs, either performing or supporting friends. (Supplied: Paul Cutlan)<\/p>\n
Sydney was home to several dedicated jazz clubs within walking distance of each other in the 1990s, according to Scott.<\/p>\n
Rutherford frequently played at venues including the Strawberry Hills Hotel, the Side On Caf\u00e9, the Soup Jazz Club, the Basement and others.<\/p>\n
Rutherford also undertook further studies at the Sydney Conservatorium, where her teachers included Mike Nock and Roger Frampton. She also met legendary pianist Judy Bailey.<\/p>\n
“[Historically], the Con was regarded as being a boys club,” Scott says. But Rutherford thrived.<\/p>\n
“Jann was part of a [quintet] of young female players called Any Woman’s Blues,” Evans says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The group, led by vocalist Kate Swadling, became one of Rutherford’s sources for support.<\/p>\n
At the time, Evans says, “it was very common to be the only woman in a band.”<\/p>\n
Rutherford was also involved with several other leading Sydney-based bands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She recorded the album Pentatonic in New York with the Graeme Norris Quintet in 1995.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two years later, she recorded Ed Street with the Ed Hughes Quintet.<\/p>\n
Jann Rutherford meets Julian Lee<\/a><\/p>\n Enjoy highlights from the ABC Jazz archive with this special piano duet from New Zealanders Jann Rutherford and Julian Lee.<\/p>\n Rutherford also collaborated with blind multi-instrumentalist and braille music reader Julian Lee, who also came from Dunedin.<\/p>\n Their tribute album to pianist and composer Fats Waller was recently discovered in the archives of ABC Jazz.<\/p>\n In 1998, Rutherford released her solo piano album Discovery, containing 15 original compositions.<\/p>\n “I use tapes to write music, and I ‘discovered’ this tune a long time after I had written it,” Rutherford explained about the titular track.<\/p>\n Recording The Scented Garden<\/p>\n Rutherford was planning to record a new album in 2002, The Scented Garden, when she was diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n Despite her illness, the recording went ahead.<\/p>\n The Scented Garden was Rutherford’s last album, inspired by her mother’s garden. (Tall Poppy Records)<\/p>\n Scott vividly recalls going into the studio with Rutherford and longtime collaborators saxophonists Paul Cutlan and Roger Manins and drummer Rease Cameron [formerly performing as Dave Goodman].<\/p>\n “We tried to get everything down in one take because Jann was really unwell,” Scott says. “She had very little petrol in the tank by then.”<\/p>\n “I remember how wonderful she was on the session and how desperately keen we were to do our very best for her,” Scott shares.<\/p>\n Shortly after recording The Scented Garden, Rutherford returned to New Zealand to be with her family.<\/p>\n Before Rutherford left Australia, Scott and other friends organised a tribute concert for her featuring music from the album.<\/p>\n “There was a huge outpouring of affection for Jann,” Scott says. “Matt McMahon played the piano because by then Jann was too sick.”<\/p>\n “When we finished, I gave her a kiss on the cheek and I left. She went back to New Zealand and she passed away.”<\/p>\n The Scented Garden was released posthumously.<\/p>\n Paving the way for other young women in jazz<\/p>\n Rutherford’s death left a huge hole in the Sydney jazz community, where she was well-loved and respected.<\/p>\n “She had the musical credentials to be at the vanguard of jazz,” Scott reflects.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n