Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse ‘Live At The Ellington’ To Be Released on July 2

Shane | 29 April 2026 | Reply

Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse ‘Live At The Ellington’ To Be Released on July 2

‘GINA WILLIAMS & GUY GHOUSE LIVE AT THE ELLINGTON’ DOUBLE VINYL LIVE ALBUM TO BE RELEASED ON JULY 2

After 15 years of performing around the world, recording studio albums and unveiling two opera works, Gina Williams Ghouse and Guy Ghouse will release a live album, Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse – Live At The Ellington on July 2.

It’s an especially emotional release as it follows the passing of Guy Ghouse AM in November 2025, following a courageous two-year battle with cancer. He had been made a member of the Order of Australia only months before.

The album release is all part of Gina’s ongoing commitment to what she created over the years with her husband and musical partner, Guy. Across four albums and countless performances, the multi-award winning duo shone a light on traditional Noongar language, sharing and teaching it through song and warm audience interaction, and very much keeping it alive.

During 2024 Gina and Guy were keen to expand their song presentation into a full-band setting, with a view to creating more performance opportunities at festivals across Australia and the world. They hand-picked WA musicians Russell Holmes (piano/keyboard), Dr Nick Abbey (bass), Dr Daniel Susnjar (drums) and Rupert John (harmonica).

“What Guy and I did together ultimately stood up, but we were really just trying to see if there were other opportunities to do different things and one of those was with the band,” Gina says. “We’d get together occasionally and they’re such lovely, incredible musicians, the idea that we could work with them more often… that was a real cookie.

“Guy articulated it really, really well – ‘It’s not just about your capacity and ability to play music, it’s also your heart’. We needed people that actually understood not just what we did, but why we did it, what motivated us, what pressed our buttons. We really loved it. We didn’t just have what we did; we believed in it. I still do.”

Having been known for years as a duo, a gig was booked by manager Paul Bodlovich at Ellington Jazz Club in July 2024 as a means to document the full band experience on video to later showcase to festival promoters. In a prescient move the gig was also captured on a 16-track recording, which gives us the gift of this live album today.

“Everyone was on, and Guy was at his absolute best,” Gina says. “I feel like it actually was meant to be. It was like this perfect storm that got captured.”

Live At The Ellington features album and gig favourites such as Bindi Bindi, Koolbardi wer Wardong, Bilya-k, Koorlangka, Djidi Djidi, Koondarm, Meenak Bilya (Moon River) and Ngarda Djinda Kedalak (Under The Milky Way), plus some previously unheard gems.

“There’s a couple of songs that we haven’t recorded,” Gina explains. “The first song is called Ngalang Moort Kalyakoorl, which is Our People Forever. It’s a hybrid English Noongar song, and we get the audience to sing with us. I listen to it, and audience is really there, and they’re with us. Guy and I wrote that song in Bali together a couple of years back. It was one of the songs that we would get around to recording, but we never had, we never got to do that… and now it’s there.

“Another one is Noonang Koort Warra, which is Your Wicked Heart. It’s out of our first opera called Koolbardi wer Wardong. It’s the big opera song, and I’ve never heard myself sing it, if that makes sense. The band actually play it when they tour with the opera, so they know it really intimately. I listen back to it and just go, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that we wrote that’. It just sounds extraordinary.”

Live At The Ellington is being released on double vinyl…

“… and vinyl only,” Gina notes. “Guy and I grew up in an era of vinyl and so for me, I’ve always wanted to have a record. A proper record. So to have a double album there’s something really beautiful about that. It feels like there’s lots of full circles happening that we get to release something in a medium that we grew up with.”

For Gina the release of Live At The Ellington is an emotionally complex mix of both grief and gratitude. The album itself honours an ongoing legacy as well as the memory and musicality of the late Guy Ghouse.

“There’s all these beautiful little moments where Guy does something a bit cheeky, and I’ll giggle at him,” Gina says, fondly. “The audience is calling out and saying things, and I love that banter.

“It’s really special, but the highlights are any time you hear Guy playing, because it brings him into the room, and if you shut your eyes, he’s really there.”

Proudly supported by the WA Government, Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse: Live At The Ellington is released through Aural Sets Sounds on July 2 and will be launched at the Ellington Jazz Club on July 5. Gina and band will be joined onstage by special guests including Daniel Drieberg, Lucky Oceans, Luci Poy and Rupert John.

Album pre-orders available here

Tickets to the album launch are available here

Check out the Facebook event page here