I am constantly searching the web for new voices in jazz. Often the search will take me to areas of the globe where I discover that jazz is not only flourishing, but exploding with creativity and life. This time, the music found me. I received an email (November ’06) from a grad student from the University of Miami, Troy Roberts, telling me a bit about his group from Australia.. Void. As is the custom, I returned with the proper mail address and an invitation to submit their music for airplay on www.radioIOJAZZ.com. Hearing their cd changed our playlist until this day. After I began play of their music, my email box was full of inquiry from listeners. In January, I had the privilege to hear Void live at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference (IAJE) in New York City. Absolutely amazing.
Void is a powerful quartet grounded by Andrew Fisenden on Drums and Dane Alderson on Bass. Tom O’Halloran plays the keyboards while Troy Roberts tops the mix with the Tenor Saxophone. Each member is individually gifted in their own right, but it is the combination of these talents that produces the incredible ‘voice’ .. the sound of Void… Together, they meld into a composite sound that is uniquely cohesive. Void delivers incredible fusion and funk with tireless attention to rhythm and melody. Complete with surprising meter and tempo changes, the music never sits complacently. Jazz fans who can truly ‘hear’ are treated to a festival of delights. Besides being strong players themselves, each member of Void contributes their compositional skills to the collection of tracks on their new self-titled release.
Michael Matheny lives in the US and is RadioIOJAZZ Program Director.
The full review can be read on his MySpace page.
