Local jazz lovers got a glimpse of Jamie Oehlers' towering talent on tenor saxophone when he performed at the Tanks Arts Centre in February as part of the Megan Washington-Paul Grabowsky band.

The West Australian whiz will reveal more playing chops, plus his compositional and leadership skills, on his return to the atmospheric venue this weekend.

Last year’s Australian Jazz Musician of the Year showed his credentials in a wider realm in 2003 when he won the World Saxophone Competition, held during the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival.

Oehlers will tour Europe again this year, in between performing duties as the new Director of Jazz at the WA Academy of Performing Arts in Perth.

Since the release of their award-winning album The Assemblers, the Jamie Oehlers Quartet has played a string of jazz festivals home and overseas.

They also have held down a week-long residency at the world-renowned Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.

Oehlers reveals that a lot of improvisation occurs at live performances, although he stresses it’s centred on song structures.

"A lot of the stuff we do is based on drum and bass fills, or Latin feels as well as the jazz repertoire.

"The music’s inspired by everyone from Charles Lloyd and Wayne Shorter to Miles Davis and John Coltrane."

Mood and atmosphere are foremost in all of Oehlers’ pieces, which range in style and tempo from free ballad to bolero and beyond.

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