Chris Abrahams is a Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

-based pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, best known for his jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 work.

Abrahams has been a member of the Benders

Benders

The Benders were a Sydney jazz band who existed from 1983 to 1985. The band comprised Chris Abrahams , Dale Barlow , Jason Morphett , Lloyd Swanton and Andrew Gander ....

, the Laughing Clowns, The Sparklers and The Necks

The Necks

The Necks are an experimental jazz trio from Sydney, Australia, comprising Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass...

. He has recorded several solo albums, as well as collaborations with Melanie Oxley

Melanie Oxley

-Biography:Melanie Oxley is the sister of Jeremy Oxley and Peter Oxley, who were founder members of popular Australian pop-rock band The Sunnyboys and younger brother Tim Oxley a musician in his own right....

 from the Sparklers. Abrahams has also been a session musician on albums for artists such as The Church

The Church (band)

The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...

, The Whitlams

The Whitlams

The discography of The Whitlams consists of six studio albums, two live albums, one compilation album, and eighteen singles.-Studio albums:-Live albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Videos:-Music videos:-Awards:...

, Midnight Oil

Midnight Oil

Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...

, Wendy Matthews

Wendy Matthews

Wendy Joan Matthews is an Australian adult alternative pop singer originally from Canada who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist...

, Skunkhour

Skunkhour

Skunkhour were a Sydney-based Australian band that was active in the 1990s, before disbanding in 2001.Formed in 1991, the band is named after a poem by Robert Lowell entitled "Skunk Hour"...

 and Silverchair

Silverchair

Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...

.

Chris Abrahams produced and arranged the music for the Australian film "The Tender Hook" which was released in 2008. In 2008, Chris Abraham's work on the film's soundtrack was nominated for the "Best Original Music Score" AFI Award.

Some of Abrahams music is experimental in nature—The Necks are an improvisational trio, and Abraham's performance at the Room40 Tenth Anniversary in London was labeled "ambient", "free-jazz" and "industrial noise" by (UK) Financial Times reviewer, Mike Hobart. Chris Reid from RealTime Arts Magazine wrote of his Germ Studies collaboration with Clare Cooper, an organizer of the NOWnow Festival who played the Chinese zither on the album, ". . . it represents an extensive investigation into the endless range of sounds that can be created by combining the venerable DX7 synthesiser and the even more venerable Chinese zither, the guzheng. . . a deep exploration of musical language".

Solo discography

• Piano (Hot HTLP1014, 1985)
• Walk (Hot HTLP1025, 1986)
• Glow (Vegetable/Vitamin VEGE001, 2001)
• Streaming (Vegetable Records VEGE002, 2003)
• Thrown (Room40 RM409, 2005)
• The Tender Hook Soundtrack (Vitamin Records, 2008)
• Play Scar (Room40, 2010)

Discography with Melanie Oxley

• Resisting Calm (Spiral Scratch, 1990)
• Welcome To Violet (Remote/MDS, 1992)
• Coal (Remote/MDS, 1994)
• Jerusalem Bay (Remote, 1998)
• Blood Oranges (Vitamin, 2003)

Other collaborations

• Pedal (Staubgold STAUBGOLD83, 2008) with Simon James Phillips
• Oceanic Feeling Like (Room40 RM420, 2008) with Mike Cooper
• Germ Studies (Split Records, Splitrec CD19, 2009) with Clare Cooper