A profile of drummer Jodie Michael in Changing the Face of Jazz

Jodi Michael

Drummer Jodie Michael (pictured) is the focus of the second feature in the series, Changing the Face of Jazz, which profiles young Australian women who have been making their names as jazz instrumentalists in the past few years. Jodie took up the drums in her early teens but within a couple of years was studying and performing intensively, including attending the annual Young Women’s Jazz Workshops which Sandy Evans initiated and ran for many years in collaboration with the Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA). She was drawn to jazz by hearing the great Elvin Jones playing on some of John Coltrane’s classic recordings. Jodie won the Jann Rutherford Memorial in 2013 which gave her the opportunity to lead her trio in performances at Foundry 616. In this profile, available here as a podcast, we hear Jodie’s own live recordings of her trio at the Foundry. The profile was first broadcast on Monday 23 January as part of the weekly show, Jazz Made in Australia which is being presented by Mick Paddon until the end of March this year. Changing the Face of Jazz was devised and produced by Mick.