The Umbrellas (jazz ensemble)

The Umbrellas are an Australian jazz ensemble formed in 1985 to play Peter Dasent's compositions. The group has published five full-length albums. All are still available, the first four as rereleases.[1]

Sydney, Australia based, the group's style has been described as unpredictable, quirky, surreal, and influenced by Italian film music.[2] The band members improvise in order to flesh out the characters in each composition's "play".[3]

The Italian connection is reinforced by the Bravo Nino Rota tribute album and by founder Dasent himself. As he states in a Jazz Australia interview, "In 1976 my local cinema, in a moment of inspired programming unusual in Wellington, New Zealand, at the time, took to screening Fellini films on Sunday nights. I would watch these amazing creations, and then find myself singing the theme music all the way home. When I moved to Sydney in 1981 I heard Hal Wilner’s wonderful tribute album Amarcord Nino Rota, with the sublime piano solos by Jaki Byard, Bill Frisell’s interpretation of “Juliet Of The Spirits” (actually his first recordings) and of course Carla Bley’s arrangement of 8 1/2. By then I’d realised I was listening to music that I would live with for the rest of my life."[4]