“Nimble piano strokes and comps lift, dip, and flutter like angels, sending echoes bouncing off the walls. It’s a lonely feeling. It’s the opposite of, say, having a group of pianists play at the same time. Here, you take the playing of one, set it against itself, and watch as it spider-cracks outward like ice on the lake. Cold, crisp, and clinical; that’s how I like my context. Liow and Tarnawsky bend the corners of time effortlessly, turning a good idea into a great recording.”
~ Grant Purdum, Tiny Mixed Tapes
An award winning pianist, composer and producer from Melbourne, Australia, Nathan Liow is known for his daring piano and installation works featured in gallery spaces, in film and in his solo and trio projects.
During Melbourne’s lockdowns, he was commissioned by the City of Melbourne to broadcast a series of concerts from Brunswick’s Tempo Rubato. Liow’s latest installation work, “Air(borne)” premiered via Diversity Arts Australia in tandem with works by other eminent Asian-Australian artists, and exhibited at Sydney’s 4A Gallery for Contemporary Asian Art, and at RMIT in Melbourne.
His other gallery installation works include his cross-pacific collaboration with social practice artist Carmen Papallia, “Music For Eyes” as a part of Incinerator Gallery's exhibition “With Seeing Hands”. Liow's hybrid installation work, “Artifacts”, was exhibited at West Space Gallery as a part of Next Wave Festival, in remote-collaboration with Brooklyn-based noise-artist Angus Tarnawsky.
His compositions are featured on a diverse array of projects including original soundtrack for the MIFF Official Selection film “Creswick” and award-winning film “Burrow”, both by acclaimed filmmaker Natalie James. More recently he performed along side Andrea Keller and Sam Keevers as a part of Andrea Keller’s Piano club at Melbourne’s Jazzlab.
Participating in the prestigious Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in 2014 afforded Liow the opportunity to study under the mentorship of Grammy-nominated, Downbeat and NPR acclaimed New York pianist and composer Vijay Iyer. Liow is also an alumnus of New York School for Improvised Music where he studied under the tutelage of Fred Hersch, and a multiple scholarship recipient during his time studying at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.
He has performed internationally in NYC, Canada, Japan and Shanghai where he resided in 2009-2010, as well as for Australian Prime Ministers, Anthony Albanese and Tony Abbott. His music has been featured on ABC Radio, Radio National, Triple J, RRR, PBS and 3MBS.
Read Grant Purdum's review of "Artifacts" on Tiny Mixed Tapes.
Upcoming Performances
22 MARCH
PARIS CAT JAZZ CLUB
w/ Richard Pavlidis
TICKETS19 APRIL
PARIS CAT JAZZ CLUB
w/ LIZ VIOLI
TICKETS16 MAY
PARIS CAT JAZZ CLUB
w/ BLUE NOTE 60
TICKETS25 MAY
MOONEE VALLEY FESTIVAL
NATHAN LIOW TRIO14 JUNE
PARIS CAT JAZZ CLUB
w/ LIZ VIOLI16 JUNE
JAZZ LAB
MELB JAZZ CO-OP w/ VOYAGE23 JUNE
PARIS CAT
BARITONE SAX SUMMIT