Jazz Australia News

    Coming just a little after the end of the exhaustingly large-scale Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the opening night of guitarist Albare’s three week season at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club on May 18th. could have been expected to be a low-key affair to gently usher in his return to public performance after a break of almost 9 years. However, because the artist known as Albare is also... Read more..

My Goodness McGuiness
The Basement – 13 July 2009
By Greg Levine The Argentinian theorist, Nestor Garcia Canclini, asked the question, “How can we understand the presence of indigenous crafts and vanguard art catalogues on the same coffee table?” The answer may be that we make no attempt to understand, we simply accept it and move on. The cultural landscape through which we now travel... Read more..

Bruce Cale Quartet
On Fire – The Sydney Concert (1980)
(Tall Poppies Records)

Rating: ****1/2

It’s 29 years since this concert was recorded by the NSW Jazz Action Society at the Sydney Musicians’ Club. A long time emerging from the archives, it’s an important, historic album and the record company has overcome technical problems to reproduce a live recording... Read more..

Darren Heinrich Trio
New Vintage Tunes for Hammond Organ
(Independent)

Rating: ****

After the popularity of the Hammond organ in the 1950s and 1960s, the instrument mostly receded from jazz until its reappearance in the 1990s. Sydney organist/composer Darren Heinrich keeps the traditional trio format of organ, guitar and drums for his debut album of original compositions.Read more..

James Ryan Trio
Bitter Sweet
(ABC Jazz/Universal)

Rating: ***

Originally from Darwin, now Sydney-based after lengthy periods in Canberra, Brisbane, and London, saxophonist James Ryan has released two previous albums, most recently in 2006 featuring this same trio line-up in a live session.

This latest CD is a studio recording, again performing mostly Ryan’s... Read more..

Barney McAll
Flashbacks
(Extra Celestial Arts) Since moving from Australia to NYC in 1997, pianist/composer Barney McAll has created an impressive resume that includes work with Gary Bartz, Billy Harper, Maceo Parker, Josh Roseman, and David Binney. But it may be his projects outside of jazz, in particular with independent film scoring— Motherland Afghanistan (Aubin Pictures/PBS Independent... Read more..

Greg Coffin Trio
It’s Neither Either Or. It’s Both And.
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: ****1/2 Surprisingly this is the debut recording of a well-established Sydney piano trio led by pianist Greg Coffin. Of many commendable Australian jazz piano trios this one is an outstanding example of the genre, displaying extraordinary rapport and fresh ideas. A variety of moods is covered... Read more..

Roger Manins
Hip Flask
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: **** NZ Saxophonist Manins’ cover notes observe that jazz doesn’t go down well with the neighbours, but he says he has written simple tunes for complicated musicians in the hope they’ll be enjoyed by jazz lovers and their neighbours. The music is certainly more accessible than Mannin’s exploratory work elsewhere. He’s... Read more..

Gerard Masters Trio
Pendulum
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: ***1/2 This third album from Sydney-based pianist Gerard Masters’s trio is his first with drummer Evan Mannell and the second one using sub-structuralist extraordinaire Cameron Undy on bass. Four of the tracks are Masters originals with Stockton Shuffle the most blues oriented, driven along by heavily emphatic drumming.... Read more..

Gerard Masters Trio
Pendulum
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: ***1/2 This third album from Sydney-based pianist Gerard Masters’s trio is his first with drummer Evan Mannell and the second one using sub-structuralist extraordinaire Cameron Undy on bass. Four of the tracks are Masters originals with Stockton Shuffle the most blues oriented, driven along by heavily emphatic drumming.... Read more..

Murphy’s Law
Tanuki’s Revenge
(Sound Vault) Rating: **** Melbourne bassist Tamara Murphy’s high calibre sextet has recorded eight of her originals, four of them live at Bennett’s Lane and four in the ABC studios, with an album title taken from a Japanese folkloric character. Most of these pieces are played at a slow tempo, with one exception: Catalyst Boy opens at an ultra slow... Read more..

West End Composers Collective
Driving Hat
(Pinnacles Music) Rating: ***1/2 This collection of compositions by Rafael Karlen features eleven foremost jazz performers from the highly active Brisbane scene, including the composer on tenor sax and flute. Two vocalists appear on a track each, Hannah Macklin’s voice-as-instrument contribution on Driving Hat, and the brightest new star on... Read more..

My Goodness McGuiness
The Basement – 13 July 2009
By Greg Levine The Argentinian theorist, Nestor Garcia Canclini, asked the question, “How can we understand the presence of indigenous crafts and vanguard art catalogues on the same coffee table?” The answer may be that we make no attempt to understand, we simply accept it and move on. The cultural landscape through which we now travel... Read more..

Bruce Cale Quartet
On Fire – The Sydney Concert (1980)
(Tall Poppies Records)

Rating: ****1/2

It’s 29 years since this concert was recorded by the NSW Jazz Action Society at the Sydney Musicians’ Club. A long time emerging from the archives, it’s an important, historic album and the record company has overcome technical problems to reproduce a live recording... Read more..

Darren Heinrich Trio
New Vintage Tunes for Hammond Organ
(Independent)

Rating: ****

After the popularity of the Hammond organ in the 1950s and 1960s, the instrument mostly receded from jazz until its reappearance in the 1990s. Sydney organist/composer Darren Heinrich keeps the traditional trio format of organ, guitar and drums for his debut album of original compositions.Read more..

James Ryan Trio
Bitter Sweet
(ABC Jazz/Universal)

Rating: ***

Originally from Darwin, now Sydney-based after lengthy periods in Canberra, Brisbane, and London, saxophonist James Ryan has released two previous albums, most recently in 2006 featuring this same trio line-up in a live session.

This latest CD is a studio recording, again performing mostly Ryan’s... Read more..

Barney McAll
Flashbacks
(Extra Celestial Arts) Since moving from Australia to NYC in 1997, pianist/composer Barney McAll has created an impressive resume that includes work with Gary Bartz, Billy Harper, Maceo Parker, Josh Roseman, and David Binney. But it may be his projects outside of jazz, in particular with independent film scoring— Motherland Afghanistan (Aubin Pictures/PBS Independent... Read more..

Greg Coffin Trio
It’s Neither Either Or. It’s Both And.
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: ****1/2 Surprisingly this is the debut recording of a well-established Sydney piano trio led by pianist Greg Coffin. Of many commendable Australian jazz piano trios this one is an outstanding example of the genre, displaying extraordinary rapport and fresh ideas. A variety of moods is covered... Read more..

Roger Manins
Hip Flask
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: **** NZ Saxophonist Manins’ cover notes observe that jazz doesn’t go down well with the neighbours, but he says he has written simple tunes for complicated musicians in the hope they’ll be enjoyed by jazz lovers and their neighbours. The music is certainly more accessible than Mannin’s exploratory work elsewhere. He’s... Read more..

Gerard Masters Trio
Pendulum
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: ***1/2 This third album from Sydney-based pianist Gerard Masters’s trio is his first with drummer Evan Mannell and the second one using sub-structuralist extraordinaire Cameron Undy on bass. Four of the tracks are Masters originals with Stockton Shuffle the most blues oriented, driven along by heavily emphatic drumming.... Read more..

Gerard Masters Trio
Pendulum
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) Rating: ***1/2 This third album from Sydney-based pianist Gerard Masters’s trio is his first with drummer Evan Mannell and the second one using sub-structuralist extraordinaire Cameron Undy on bass. Four of the tracks are Masters originals with Stockton Shuffle the most blues oriented, driven along by heavily emphatic drumming.... Read more..

Murphy’s Law
Tanuki’s Revenge
(Sound Vault) Rating: **** Melbourne bassist Tamara Murphy’s high calibre sextet has recorded eight of her originals, four of them live at Bennett’s Lane and four in the ABC studios, with an album title taken from a Japanese folkloric character. Most of these pieces are played at a slow tempo, with one exception: Catalyst Boy opens at an ultra slow... Read more..

West End Composers Collective
Driving Hat
(Pinnacles Music) Rating: ***1/2 This collection of compositions by Rafael Karlen features eleven foremost jazz performers from the highly active Brisbane scene, including the composer on tenor sax and flute. Two vocalists appear on a track each, Hannah Macklin’s voice-as-instrument contribution on Driving Hat, and the brightest new star on... Read more..

Kidney
(Pinnacles Music) Rating: *** With an unprecedented wave of highly talented Australian recordings currently arriving on the jazz scene, the quality stakes are extremely high. Not that Brisbane quartet Kidney lacks talent. The players, especially guitarist James Sherlock and saxophonist Graeme Norris, have much to offer in performance and composition, but the ensemble’s overall effect... Read more..

    Coming just a little after the end of the exhaustingly large-scale Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the opening night of guitarist Albare’s three week season at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club on May 18th. could have been expected to be a low-key affair to gently usher in his return to public performance after a break of almost 9 years. However, because the artist known as Albare is also... Read more..

Melbourne International Jazz Festival
May 3-13,
Hamer Hall, Crown casino and other venues THE choice offered at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival this year has been extraordinary: half a dozen near-legendary US musicians and band leaders, 50 other players from countries as diverse as Israel, Cuba, Denmark and Brazil, plus 150 Australians. Festival-goers have had the opportunity... Read more..