Trumpeter and bandleader Ibrahim Maalouf transforms 170 Russell into a wedding celebration, using that theatrical premise to frame his first Australian performance at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. It suits the exuberant energy of his 10-piece ensemble. Maalouf, born in Lebanon and raised in France, has explored this theme before, including on the track Layla’s Wedding.

For his first Australian appearance, Maalouf presents the band’s music as the stages of a wedding celebration. He begins with The Proposal, then Love Entering When They Kissed, followed by When They Make the Promise. He continues the theme through to the last number, Au Revoir, which he says signified the end of the wedding.

Ibrahim Maalouf and band, Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Phtoto © Will Hamilton

With six trumpets in the band, including Maalouf’s, the music is similar in some ways to Balkan styles, particularly that of Serbia’s Goran Bregović – the sense of revelry and high energy.

Racing dance rhythms, piercing upper-register trumpet notes and dense ensemble writing drive much of the evening at a...