Surprise Chef: cinematic 70s funk-jazz from Melbourne, live.

An early evening live music show at National Sawdust, opening with Ben Hackett and headlined by Surprise Chef. Surprise Chef, a four-piece band from just outside Melbourne, make instrumental music that evokes mood, drawing on 70s film scores, the funkier side of jazz and hip hop samples to build cinematic, soulful soundscapes. The band released their fourth album, Superb, in 2025, and have been championed by Gilles Peterson, BBC 6 Music, KEXP and KCRW, with their music heard in a Pepsi Super Bowl campaign, the NBA 2K24 soundtrack and beyond. Support act Ben Hackett is a multi-instrumentalist from Athens, GA whose first solo record, Songs For Sleeping Dogs, blends woodwinds, acoustic instruments and electronics, and who also produces and records for artists like Rich Ruth and Will Johnson.