McHenry/O’Farrill/Rowe/Schwing/Anderson– Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2026

Led by Australian bassist Ross McHenry and featuring New York trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, this bold new collaboration unites two of the most inventive musical voices working today. Celebrated as both forward-thinking composers and formidable improvisers, McHenry and O’Farrill share a restless creative curiosity, drawing on jazz, chamber music and experimental traditions to create music that is at once structured and spontaneous. McHenry’s music has been praised by The Australian for its “brilliance and overpowering musicality” while O’Farrill’s work as both a bandleader and collaborator with artists including Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Tyshawn Sorey and Hiromi has earned widespread acclaim. The New York Times has described him as “among the leading trumpet players in jazz – and perhaps the music’s next major improviser” a sentiment that has been echoed in Downbeat’s latest poll, where O’Farrill was recognised as Rising Star Artist, Trumpeter and Arranger of the Year. McHenry and O’Farrill are joined by drummer Kyrie Anderson, a founding member of the acclaimed quartet Aura; guitarist Django Rowe, one of Australia’s most compelling improvisers; and Julius Schwing, the Bruny Island-based guitarist and composer whose work has been described as “radiant and airy, gnarled and knotty, meditative and hypnotic” Together, these five artists create music that is adventurous, conversational and alive with possibility.