Powerful, dynamic and highly energetic; Mount Kujo is a Melbourne based, internationally formed act blending Funk and Jazz influenced by Latin and Afro-beat. A collective of jazz musicians from all around the world deeply rooted in Melbourne’s music scene, playing original arrangements rich of colourful harmonic changes, syncopated rhythms with explosive horn sections and extensive solo parts.

Mount Kujo have an extensive touring record in Australia, having played festivals (Dragon Dreaming, Castlemaine Jazz, Renaissance Festival) as well as some of Melbourne’s finest night clubs (Night Cat, 24 Moons, Toff in Town, The Gaso), they are probably best known for their intimate residency shows in some of those beautiful hidden bars in the side streets of Melbourne’s underground music scene.

Mount Kujo I available on vinyl and all streaming platfroms including bandcamp.
Jazz survives gracefully into our modern age because of its flexibility as an art form. It flows through cultures and adapts with each new reinvention, thriving within or without structure. That’s a perfect metaphor to introduce the sound of Mount Kujo’s first self-titled studio album, the follow up to Live at Bar Oussou.

If the nucleus of the band was documented on that live recording from 2020, Mount Kujo’s 2022 effort bears the fruit of hard work, introspection and musical growth. Their compositions have matured far beyond the monothematic “afrobeat orchestra” ideas that bandleader Max Myland brought to Melbourne’s warmer cityscape from Berlin and now include elements of latin-rock, spiritual jazz and even drum ‘n bass. The group has embraced the true spirit of being a musical collective: a living, breathing unit that adapts to its surroundings quickly, and boasts a confident studio prowess that has benefitted from their unconfined stage style.