Take Two: Rai Thistlethwayte

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.

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

Presented in partnership with Pique-nique.