Briana Cowlishaw

Gifted jazz singer Briana Cowlishaw has been doing rather well since graduating from the Australian Institute of Music a couple of years ago. Having headed for New York City to record her debut album, she became friends with respected drummer Gregory Hutchinson, who helped her put together last year's When Fiction Comes to Life. After touring Australia to promote it, Cowlishaw returned to NYC, where she is now working on album No.2 ''with a completely new band and with quite a different approach'', she says. ''I am trying to find a halfway point between the jazz and pop genres, in the hope that I will be able to create music that can connect with a wider audience of people.'' With influences ranging from Joni Mitchell and James Taylor to painters Rothko and Picasso, Cowlishaw's new sound is bound to be a heady brew. ''I believe as long as you are stepping into the unknown and trying to create something new then you will always be learning and growing as an artist,'' she says.
- The Sydney Morning Herald