“...dazzling in his harmonic adventurousness, melodic resourcefulness, switchback rhythmic ideas and non-bombastic sense of drama.” — Sydney Morning Herald Dr Steve Barry is a multi-award winning pianist, composer, improviser, and lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Born & raised in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland and now living and creating on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia, Barry works across the music industry as a performer, accompanist, educator and consultant. Hailed by Loudmouth Magazine as “one of Australia’s most inventive and accomplished composer/improvisers”, Barry’s work oscillates frequently between contemporary jazz, musical theatre, free improvisation and contemporary chamber & art music. His latest album, In the Waves, will release on the 31st March 2023 on Earshift Music and features luminary drummer Eric Harland (USA) and saxophonist Will Vinson (USA/UK). Barry’s “impressive multidimensional musical output” (JazzLife Japan) juxtaposes a lyrical melodicism with distinctly modern harmonic sensibility informed by his doctoral investigation of set theory as a resource for jazz composition and improvisation. His 2018 quartet release Blueprints & Vignettes typifies this juggling act, described as “…gripping…a dialogue between the concrete and the abstract…” (Sydney Morning Herald), and evoking “a sense of searching for a new beauty that much of the best 20th century classical music possesses” (AustralianJazz.net).