Members: David Reaston (composer/g); Aaron Flower (g); Ben Hauptmann (g); Carl Dewhurst (g); David de Vries (g); Jeremy Sawkins (g); Jess Green (g); Julian Curwin (g); Sam Rollings (g); Tim Rollinson (g); Jamie Cameron (d).

David Reaston - Composer/Guitar

http://www.davidreaston.com

David Reaston is a Sydney based guitarist who composes and improvises 21st Century Art Music.  When he is not leading the ‘10 Guitar Project’, he can be found playing with experimental trio ‘Song Fwaa’ or songstress Max Sharam.  David has released two albums as a leader - 10 Guitar Project (2010) and After Now (2004), one as a co-leader - The Reaston-Kay Effect (2008), in addition to being a featured soloist on other albums.   He has a Master of Music degree in Composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a Bachelor of Jazz Studies from the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music.  David teaches guitar and improvisation at the Australian Institute of Music and composition at the Conservatorium High-school in Sydney.

Aaron Flower - Guitar

http://www.myspace.com/aaronflowerguitar

Aaron plays the guitar and writes music! He was the 2007 Jazz Guitar award winner. Bands he plays with are; "BAZ", The MFW, Sidecar, Amphibious, Luke Escombe and The Corporation, Vince Jones, The Swinging Blades, Elana Stone, The Alcohotlicks, Zoe and the Buttercups, The 10 Guitar Project. 

Ben Hauptmann - Guitar

http://benhauptmann.com

Ben Hauptmann is nationally recognized jazz guitarist. Winner of the 2010 Freedman Jazz Fellowship and finishing 2nd in the National Jazz Awards at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz 2007.

He also plays the Mandolin, Banjo and Pipa (Chinese Lute) as well as the Tiple and Charango (traditional instruments from South America).

Ben is the current guitarist for Katie Noonan and the Captains and Lior.

Carl Dewhurst - Guitar

www.carldewhurst.com

Carl is recognized as one of Australia’s most creative and versatile contemporary guitarists whose talents in demand both at home and abroad. He is a leading figure on the experimental scene and is considered one of the best improvisers in Australia. His use of extended guitar techniques and electronics have resulted in some of the most original sounds and textures being produced today.

He equally at home playing within traditional confines and continues to perform professionally in a multitude genres.

“one of the best improvisers in the country”  Scott Tinkler

“ (one of the) three primary (jazz) guitarists..”  John Shand

“..endlessly versatile..”  John Shand

“In this age of convergent politics and convergent art it's refreshing to know

anarchy still has a champion, and his name is Carl Dewhurst. …he is such a pure, intuitive improviser… Like a liquid, Dewhurst fills any context, but never blandly so.” SMH October 2007

“Dewhurst is an exceptional guitarist. He reinvents himself and his sound for different contexts, always playing with commitment, imagination and heart.”  - SMH 2005

“..one of the warmest and most versatile jazz musicians to emerge here in the past decade” SMH 2004

“ (Dewhurst)… is the hallmark of contemporary creativity.” Drum Media 2006

David de Vries - Guitar

David de Vries was born in 1982 and took up the guitar at the age of fourteen. He enrolled at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2004 and was awarded the Patricia Bell grant for achieving the highest audition mark. David graduated in 2008 with first class honours completing his final thesis on the compositional development of early avant-guarde jazz pioneer Jimmy Giuffre. He has performed with James Morrison, The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Craig Scott, Judy Bailey, Jonathon Zwartz and Virna Sanzone. David was a finalist in the prestigious Wangaratta jazz competition. He currently composes for The Acronym Orchestra.

Jeremy Sawkins - Guitar

http://www.jeremysawkins.com

Sydney-based guitarist Jeremy Sawkins has been an active member of the Australian jazz fraternity since the early 1980’s. As well as being a composer/bandleader,Jeremy has shared the stage and recording studios with many fine artists. As well as performing all around Australia,he has performed in Europe and Asia.

Jeremy has led many of his own groups. He currently fronts the “Jeremy Sawkins trio” and  “Jazz Organism”,the latter having had many performance opportunities in Sydney (and Ireland)  since 2003. Jazz Organism ‘Live in Dublin” was released in August 2010.

Jeremy is also known for his contribution to  the A.R.I.A. award winning jazz/world music group “Wanderlust” (2011 sees Wanderlust continuing into it’s 20th year).

Jess Green - Guitar

http://www.myspace.com/jessgreenmus

Jess Green is a vibrant performer/composer who is equally comfortable leading her own groups (including “Jess Green’s Bright Sparks”, and “The New Dynamites”) as well as performing regularly with Australia’s top Jazz and Blues musicians. She tours often throughout Australia with greats such as “Jim Conway’s Big Wheel” and “The 10 Guitar Project” and has performed recently with and Australian Jazz legends “The catholics” as well as “Angela Little’s Celtic Fire”

Jess has recently been asked to be part of the “re-ignition” of The 70’s Aussie Iconic band “The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band”, as well as joining Zimbabwean musician; Chris Gudu. Jess is also a sort after music educator, working regularly for The Australian Institute of Music, SIMA, Musica Viva and The University of Western Sydney.

Julian Curwin - Guitar

http://www.myspace.com/manwiththebongos

Julian Curwin has been performing and composing music his whole life, playing a wide range of instruments, and traversing nearly every style imaginable. He leads The Tango Saloon, a project which blends tango with spaghetti western (among other things) - the band has released three albums, the self-titled debut via US label Ipecac Recordings, followed by Transylvania and then the spinoff project/album The Mango Balloon. He was a founding member of the ARIA-winning gypsy band Monsieur Camembert, and can also be seen playing around town with such projects as The Fantastic Terrific Munkle, Darth Vegas, Gl;tch Jukebox and the 10 Guitar Project. Julian has also scored short films, done theatre and circus shows, and had his music used in various films and documentaries.

Sam Rollings - Guitar

Sam Rollings (MA.Mus/Perf.) is a graduate of the A.N.U, C.S.M Masters program.  He has taught at many of Australia’s leading music institutions, including S.C.U (Guitar Dept Head), A.I.M, etc. building over 20 years teaching experience, covering many levels and styles.  

Currently he is in demand as a regular performer with many of the countries best musicians and entertainers eg. James Morrison, Dan Barnett etc, as well as developing educational resources. 

Tim Rollinson - Guitar

Tim Rollinson is best known as guitarist/composer and founder member of Dig (Directions in Groove), but has also been a member of the Vince Jones Band and The Black-Eyed Susans. He has performed with many of Sydney's great vocalists and instrumentalists. Tim is currently also playing with The Greasy Chicken Orchestra and the 10 Guitar Project. 

Tim has just released his second solo album You Tunes, a guitar trio album with Jonathan Zwartz on bassand Hamish Stuart on drums. Tim also has an electronica project The Modern Congress and is currently producingthe as yet untitled new Dig album, set to be released in the second half of 2011.

'Drawing on material from the impressive You Tunes album,they (the trio) moved between brooding ambience, fairly straight-ahead jazz, extended journeys and howling climaxes... one of the best guitar sounds in Australian jazz' - John Shand, live review, SMH.

"With his experience in rock and in the more avant reaches of jazz (as well as the mainstream) Rollinson has many distortion and colouristic effects at his disposal. He can play hard and gritty as well as lyrically". - John Clare

Tim Rollinson proves himself to be a thorough modernist, taking bits and pieces from the styles of Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Jerry Garcia, and a lot of others, then synthesizing them 

into an expansive and easy-going approach that’s pretty much a pleasure to listen to. - Stuart Kremsky, Cadence (USA) 

Jamie Cameron - drum kit

Jamie studied with Gordon Rytmeister, Andrew Dickeson, and Simon Barker. He currently plays with 20th Century Dog, Amphibious, Tim Stocker, The Felas, Lily Dior, Dereb the Ambassador, Adam Ponting, the 10 Guitar Project, and songwriters Joe West, Joe Kelly and Luke Escombe.

“I love the fluidity , the intensity and the musicality of the compositions and playing on this cd (10 Guitar Project). ” - Lionel Loueke 2010

“Too many jazz guitarists employ a similarly anaemic sound, while too many rock guitarists turn it up to 11 and blanket the surrounding suburb in distortion.  So assembling 10 electric guitarists who cross between the two idioms could have been a recipe for very loud similitude.  Mercifully, that is nothing like the outcome of David Reaston’s 10 Guitar Project, thanks to shrewd arranging and an impeccably collegial spirit.  

Joining Reaston is a stellar line-up of local guitarists: Aaron Flower, Ben Hauptmann, Carl Dewhurst, David de Vries, Jeremy Sawkins, Jess Green, Julian Curwin, Sam Rollings and Tim Rollinson, with drummer Jamie Cameron.  The sharp soloing over strong grooves is no surprise.  Of greater note is that these are short, pithy affairs and only two guitarists solo on each composition.

The real fascination lies in the arranging and textures when all or many of the guitarists play at once.  There is a harp-like delicacy, for instance, to the finger-picking that divides the brief punches of a heavy riff in 81-89.  The collective improvising on Brew is programmatic , depicting the making of a cup of tea: water tumbling into the pot; the tea drawing; the liquid being poured.  The intensity of the communal listening during the painting of this aural picture is a marvel.  Guitarstrophe has a similar openness behind a wandering melody.  A perfect act for festivals.” - John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald, 2010.

“Sydney’s finest and only guitar dectet... The orchestration of the leader David Reaston encompasses moments of metal chaos, lucid telepathy and fluid swing” - Peter Wockner, Limelight Magazine, 2010

“Love the ‘10 guitar project’ CD. It’s so innovative and has both old and new school guitarist qualities. The concept is unique, the playing is ‘10 fold’ (no pun intended) and the compositions are exquisite…” - Art Phillips – composer / guitarist (Immediate past President of the ‘Australian Guild of Screen Composers’, Councillor for the Music Council of Australia – representing ‘music in television and film) 2010

“What’s the collective noun for 10 electric guitarists? The unkind might suggest a 60-string racket, or even a catastrophe. Most people would be polarised into finding the idea either hellish or heavenly. The madman/prophet making it happen was David Reaston, who assembled the largest cast of notable Sydney guitarists seen in one place at one time… His compositions and arrangements embraced many options, ranging from a smattering of collective free improvisation to stonking unisons and onto the predictable employment of bass riffs, chords and solos…” - John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald, 2008.