Known to many as either a solo performer or the main man in Thirsty Merc, a Sydney-based rock band which released three successful albums (one platinum, one double-platinum in Australia), RAI THISTLETHWAYTE has become one of the most sought after session musicians in the world. He’s just come off the Best of Both Worlds tour, one of the most anticipated tours in rock history, playing keyboards to the songs of Van Halen with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham.
Rai Thistlethwayte is now back in Australia and on October 21 at the Jazzlab in Brunswick, he presents a show titled Take Two as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
First established in 2018 in Brooklyn, Take Two is an immersive deep-listening experience that features two elements: an uninterrupted, high-quality playback of a seminal album, followed by a live, modern-day reinterpretation by standout local musicians. For Take Two’s Australian premiere, Thirsty Merc frontman and prolific jazz multi-instrumentalist Rai Thistlethwayte takes to The JazzLab stage to reinterpret Stevie Wonder’s landmark album Innervisions.
Ahead of the MIJF’s Take Two concert, Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips caught up with Rai Thistlethwayte over zoom call to chat about the legendary Stevie Wonder album, his thoughts on the upcoming jazz festival show and of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to discuss his experience on the Sammy Hagar Best of Both Worlds tour.
MORE ABOUT TAKE TWO: INNERVISIONS
Regarded as one of Wonder’s greatest works, Innervisions has significantly influenced the sound of commercial soul, earning a place in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and ranking number 34 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” This album has been hand-selected by Thistlethwayte, who has been invited to nominate a seminal record that profoundly influenced his life, then given full creative license to completely re-interpret it live.
“Stevie Wonder’s album ‘Innervisions’ is very close to my heart. I listened to this album a great deal in my late teens, and it changed my understanding of songwriting and deepened my love for production and harmony. It’s an album full of love, emotional honesty and soulfulness.” – Rai Thistlethwayte
Take two Tickets: https://www.melbournejazz.com/events/take-two-rai-thistlethwayte/
Rai’s website: https://raithis.com/