Welcome Back: Daniel Susnjar's Afro-Peruvian Jazz Group

Who's playing your event? Daniel Susnjar – drums/compositions; Mat Jodrell – trumpet; Tom O'Halloran – piano; and Pete Jeavons – bass.

What gave you the idea for this show? Seeing the Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian sextet play in NYC in May 2010 at Tutuma Social Club, an Afro-Peruvian jazz club founded by my dear friend Santina Bari Matwey. In October 2010 I visited NYC and called Gabriel, telling him that I was coming to check out the band. He told me that he needed a drummer that very night, as his regular drummer had called in sick. Fortunately, I had been learning his repertoire and felt prepared to play the music. Being a University of Miami Doctoral music student, it was at around this time that I began to think about my dissertation topic and decided on taking an in-depth look at applying folkloric Afro-Peruvian rhythms to the drumset in a contemporary jazz setting. I travelled to Peru in January 2011 to undertake fieldwork and learn more about the workings of the music.

What does your gig offer that others don't? This will be a rare chance for the people of WA to come out and hear Afro-Peruvian jazz, a form of music that is still in its infancy in the USA and Peru which combines the rhythms and melodies of Peru with the harmonies and musical interaction of American jazz. It will also be a rare chance for people to hear Mat Jodrell (a great trumpeter from Perth who's been based in NYC for the past four years) and myself perform on home soil.

What's next? I'm finishing up my debut record which will be released later this year. This album features top-shelf musicians from NYC, Miami and Peru and is made up of my original compositions inspired by Afro-Peruvian Jazz music.