Jeff Usher, composer, pianist, singer/songwriter, arranger and music educator, is in many ways Australian music’s best kept secret. Yet he was once described by Australian jazz legend, Paul Grabovsky, as “one of Brisbane’s living treasures”.

Blind since birth, Jeff stands in a long line of blind pianists such as George Shearing, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Julian Lee.

A jazz specialist, Jeff also excels in a wide variety of other genres, including traditional blues, folk, rock, country, and world music. He has performed in France, Indonesia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, and across Australia during a career spanning over forty years.

Jeff has performed with notable American jazz musicians such as Richie Cole, Tom Mason, David Murray, and Australian jazz greats including James Morrison, Bernie McGann, Andrew Firth, Bob Barnard and Dale Barlow. He has released seven albums, played a number of live-streamed concerts, and recorded more than fifty of his own compositions.

Jeff has been a tutor with the jazz faculty at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University since 1998, and received his PhD in music composition from University of Queensland in 2019.

Jeff Usher first formed the Love Supreme Super Band in 2005 as a seven-piece group, later increasing to nine and sometimes ten members. In 2015, this band released its signature album, ‘Bird Wings: Jeff Usher and A Love Supreme Super Band Live at Brisbane Jazz Club’, featuring Jeff’s compositions written as part of his PhD in music composition at University of Queensland. Jeff's quartet will perform tunes from the Bird Wings album, plus some of Jeff’s earlier pieces.

Jeff Usher - Piano

Ashley Hutton - Tenor Saxophone

Nicholas Maskell - Bass

Dominic Machen - Drums and Cymbals

Queen Street Mall stage
Saturday 12 October at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm

Free entry