When it comes to the story behind naming a Sydney folk fusion band after a condiment, there are two theories.
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Chutney band leader and violinist Ben Adler said the Jewish folk outfit covered dozens of genres.
He said it was simple enough when they were thinking of a name.
"Chutney is composed of disparate ingredients - sweet, sour and spicy," he said.
"Outside the jar, the ingredients may not fit well together but in chutney they're happy bedfellows; Mozart and Dixieland shouldn't work together but somehow we make it work!"
Incidentally, Adler said the band members had also been on a deadline to come up with a name and had scrounged together a meal from apples, biscuits and chutney left in a flatmate's fridge.
The six-piece Chutney drew on Eastern European and Middle Eastern heritage to present a hot, spicy and high energy mix of original compositions plus funked up takes on traditional dance tunes.
Comprising violin, clarinet, keyboard, bass, percussion and drums, they irreverently cover genres from folk to funk, jazz to tango, classical to rock, east to west.
Chutney has also collaborated with Lior (ARIA winning singer-songwriter), Ilan Kidron (APRA Award winning, multi-platinum certified lead singer of The Potbelleez), Lara Goodridge (Baby et Lulu, ARIA Award nominee), Nyssa Milligan (Udderly Fabulous, Adelaide Fringe Festival) and Doron Chester (Aladdin, Frozen).
Chutney members have appeared alongside Elton John, Janet Jackson, Jimmy Barnes, Celine Dion, Diana Ross, Human Nature, Monsieur Camembert and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Adler said with an interesting mix of musical backgrounds, the players could straddle myriad genres.
He said bassist Ralph Marshall was easily one of Australia's best funk bassists.
"He brings a couple of keyboards and he can play keyboard with one hand and bass with the other hand," Adler said.
Chutney launched its debut album Ajar on March 7 with a live show at The Great Club in Marrickville.
They will tour Ajar to Victoria in April, performing at Church St Hotel in Wodonga on Wednesday, April 3.
Ajar is a potpourri of Chutney's best 13 tracks, totalling more than an hour of originals and fresh arrangements of classics honed across more than 100 shows during the past four years.
It includes traditional klezmer dance tunes to samba, from the jazz lounge to the concert hall, from Beethoven to Britney Spears, Rimsky-Korsakov to The Godfather, Mozart to Fiddler on the Roof.
The Wodonga show starts at 7pm.
