UPDATE (Tuesday, July 14, 2015): Due to low ticket sales, the July 18 performance by Les Paul Trio at Edmond Town Hall has been cancelled.

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For Megan Trainor it may be "all about that bass," but when you scan the musical landscape for luminary female bass players, that field appears pretty sparse.

Sure, you have Connecticut's own Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads; Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon; Cathy Valentine, formerly of The Go-Go's; certainly Smashing Pumpkins' D'arcy Wretzky; The Pixies' Kim Deal; and Jeff Beck's long, tall and wickedly talented Tal Wilkenfeld.

Switch to jazz and the notable number of bassists narrows considerably.

And what about singing female bassists? Now we're down to a proportional handful.

There's pop, rock, jazz crossover artists Meshell Ndegeocello and Crystal Taliefero, along with the stellar Esperanza Spalding. After that you have to go into the Wikipedia weeds to develop a broader roster.

While she is by no means a newcomer to the jazz world, or an unfamiliar name in Japan or her native Australia, Brookfield's Nicki Parrott was not well known in America until 2000, when she was discovered by the late, great band leader Les Paul, who recruited her into his own ensemble.

Don't let this Brookfield via Sydney bassist, vocalist, songwriter and arranger with a sparkling smile and warm Aussie accent fool you. Standing beside her string bass, belting torch songs and beloved standards, Ms Parrot is a talent transitioning into the greater American jazz-loving mainstream.

Newtown is poised to host its Brookfield neighbor as she teams with Les Paul's Trio in an intimate Alexandria Room showcase at Edmond Town Hall on Saturday, July 18, in a 8 pm set.

Part of the "Town Hall Music" series, Ms Parrott promises a show filled with tight arrangements and familiar favorites performed by herself and bandmates, longtime Les Paul protege Lou Pallo on guitar and John Colianni on piano.

Born in Newcastle, Australia, Ms Parrott started her musical training at age 4 with the piano, followed by the flute, and switching to double bass at age 15. 

According to her official bio, after graduating high school she moved to Sydney to study jazz at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music where she began to play, study and tour with an amazing and diverse league of Australian musicians. 

She won full scholarship to Pan Pacific Music Camps at the age of 16, and took first place in the 1992 Jazz Action Society’s Annual Song Competition for her composition “Come and Get It,” which became the opening track of Awabakal Suite — Nicki and her sister Lisa’s debut CD.

In 1994, the Arts Council of Australia endowed Ms Parrott to come to New York to study with Rufus Reid. And in June 2000, she began performing on Monday nights at the Iridium with recording and guitar design pioneer, musician and band leader Les Paul.

As part of the Les Paul Trio, she had opportunities to jam side-by-side with guitar greats from Paul McCartney, Slash and Steve Miller and fellow Aussie, Tommy Emmanuel, to name just a few.

Ms Parrott has also performed in several Broadway shows, such as Avenue Q, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Jekyll and Hyde, Summer of ’42 and Imaginary Friends, and has made several television and documentary appearances, including The Gossip Girls, Chasing Sound and Thank You Les on PBS.

She also has multiple albums and collections, and is currently recording on Japan's Venus label. During an exclusive, wide-ranging Q&A with The Bee, Ms Parrott talked about her diverse influences, and what ticket holders can expect in her July 18 Newtown show.

Newtown Bee: How experienced were you in composing when you created your award-winning song "Come and Get It" that became the first track on you and your sister's first album?  

Nicki Parrott: I've been on and off composing my entire life, but that was one of my earliest efforts. I was still living in Sydney. And it actually ended up on the album. My sister was also a jazz performer.

Bee: Was it easier for you to get noticed among all the pop and rock performers in Sydney at the time because you were doing jazz and that was such a unique arena for a young woman musician?

Parrott: Absolutely! Just being a musician was doing something different than most of my peers — but I did have some friends and we were going to the [New South Wales] conservatory together. We were just very into playing music — that was all we thought about and all we wanted to do. So, we started gigging around Sydney straight away.

Bee: When you're looking across the range of Australian female music artists of that period, I suppose a jazz duo would certainly pop out of the mix?

Parrott: Exactly. There weren't many women in jazz in the late 80s in general. We did kind of stand out. I was the first female bass player in the conservatorium. But we didn't really pay much attention because we were so busy playing gigs. You know, you're in another world just playing music as much as possible.

Bee: Were there any women you could turn to for leadership or mentoring?

Parrott: There was only one other woman I knew of at the conservatory that was playing bass, but there was also another woman who was a great saxophone player. She had her own group and was playing all the time all around town. She was an inspiration for me.

Bee: Did you ever play in a group, besides with your sister, that featured predominantly or exclusively women musicians?

Parrott: When I moved to New York in the early 90s I was in a band that was all women. Most of my career has been spent playing with men, especially over the past 20 years. But I don't even think of it as a male/female thing ever. I just end up playing with musicians who dig the way I play. In New York I did seek out other women musicians to be part of that community. Recently, however, I played in an all women band for a one-off Mother's day fundraiser in Switzerland who were very, very good. 

Bee: Are you working on new music yourself outside the Les Paul's Trio or supporting a new release of your own?

Parrott: My latest release is Nicki Parrot: The Best of Venus. I have 16 albums on the Venus label. I found it was difficult to get copies of my older albums, especially in the states. And there are a lot of these CDS that came out in Japan. So I picked out a bunch of tracks that we're calling The Best of Venus, Volume 1. With the Les Paul's Trio, I will be singing some of the songs I sang with Les Paul, but also some I know that will fit in the set that I recorded.

Bee: When you are composing, do you tend to come up with vocals first, or the arrangement?

Parrott: I tend to come up with the music first, and then lyrics. It has come the other way as well, but I generally like to come up with the melody line and then the words tend to come after that. 

Bee: What is it like having to switch gears from something like the intimate Les Paul Trio to a job performing with dozens of others in a Broadway pit orchestra?

Parrott: Yes, it's a different kettle of fish altogether. You're reading more, so you have to have good reading chops for the pit. You have to follow the conductor really well. It's so different than being on your own on stage when you're playing and singing. You're in the driver seat more. Even when you're following like, a front line of horn players. But I do find when you're a musician, and you're open-minded and you're able to play different styles, I say, why not? If you're going to do it well, do it all! I'm really glad I had the Broadway experience, it was really good for me to do it, but I've gone back to primarily jazz at least for the past eight years or so.

Bee: Your bio points to a stint you had in a wildly diverse ensemble called Kitchen House Blend. What was that like playing with musicians drawing from literally dozens of different influences?

Parrott: Wow, that was some time ago. That was a very creative situation. These musicians were very proficient in jazz and classical improvisation. So it was like being immersed in a group of musicians who were trying to do it all. It was a lot of fun. I believe in playing the gig that's in front of you in the best possible way. If you're a versatile musician and you're interested in a lot of different music, you just have to do it authentically.

Bee: What do you consider the most important thing Les Paul did for you as a musician?

Parrott: Les Paul got me singing. He brought me out of my shell so much more. I was pretty much just playing bass and liked being in the back of the band until that point. Then he asked me to try singing and he liked it, and he decided to leave it in the act. He also would talk to you when you were on stage. A lot of front men are happy to be in the spotlight and to leave the backing band behind them. But Les was different. He involved you in a way I had never experienced before. I had to sing a lot more, but it delivered an entertaining show. He knew a lot about show biz, he knew a lot about playing guitar, there were so many things I learned from Les.

Bee: Did you find you had a hidden propensity for singing and playing bass — that is somewhat rare?

Parrott: I always liked to sing but I never really tested it out. But once I started, I was testing it out all the time, learning what songs suited me and suited my voice. Then I started recording vocals and I started recording for Venus in Japan a lot. I absolutely love it — I really dove into it because I enjoyed it so much and I was given the chance to do it so many gigs. Les also made me more aware of sound. One of the things he did all his life was being first to sound check — I mean even when the guy was going on 90 he was the first at sound check. And I remember he would call me up around midnight on Mondays or early Tuesdays and we'd talk about what sounded good, or how he wanted to try putting a different pickup on the bass to get a different sound from it the next week. He knew exactly what he wanted and I think that's key to being such a success in this business — knowing how you sound.

Bee: It certainly helps when you're trying to communicate sometimes with a different sound crew every night, right?

Parrott: It helps you with the sound crew, you can get the right equipment to help make you sound the way you want. Les made me more aware of what an adventure it is to find the right sound, and how much fun it is to always be looking for a good sound, you know? And we didn't have charts. We learned all these songs and Les's arrangements from memory. Lou Pallo, who was with Les for 28 years and who is on the Edmond Town Hall show with me in Newtown, helped me learn how Les wanted the arrangements played — they were really fun to play and really had that Les Paul signature.

Bee: How about your piano man, John Colianni?

Parrott: John has been with the trio about eight years on Monday nights, but before that he was with Mel Torme and Lionel Hampton. He's a very accomplished piano player with great chops — he has a lot of technique that he developed from a very young age. You know Les would have been 100 this year, and we'll be giving away a Les Paul guitar at the show to celebrate. We'll also be appearing with Bucky Pizzarelli at the Litchfield Jazz Festival August 9.

Click here to see Ms Parrott performing Jack Lawrence's "Beyond the Sea" with guitar virtuosos Olli Soikkeli and Vinny Raniolo at The Falcon, Marlboro, N.Y., on May 24, 2013.

Or check out Ms Parrott celebrating Les Paul's 90th birthday at the Iridium with the master himself.

This video showcases the Les Paul's Trio, appearing July 18 at Edmond Town Hall's Alexandria Room.

Tickets for the Town Hall Music Les Paul's Trio show July 18 are $37.52 if purchased online.