Monique DiMattina’s head was geared for adventure when, at twenty weeks pregnant, she flew halfway across the world to record new album ‘Nola’s Ark’.

The illustrious jazz singer/ songwriter/ pianist pilgrimaged to NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana), partner Giovanni in tow and second bub on the way, to record her fifth album at Mark Bingham’s famed ‘Peity Studios’.

“If you’ve seen HBO’s ‘Treme’ then you’ve seen Mark. A lot of the scenes are at his studio and he’s featured as himself there. Most of the time it didn’t feel like he was producing. He was more like a benevolent Santa Claus figure. He wore an apron most of the time and walked in and out while cooking gumbo.”

It was a long time coming for the Melburnian, who spent nine years living in New York but only visited ‘The Big Easy’ once in all that time.

“I just never found the window to go. I should have done, because my whole life is around the kind of jazz music that comes out of New Orleans. It was very much a late thing to get around to.”

Monique DiMattina performs at The Box Sunday August 11.