Barney is a special piano player with that certain heart and touch, so he has great possibilities.
He’s a genuine musician, not just a skilled artist. There’s a certain touch that I’m talking about.
It’s hard to explain, but he has that
-BILLY HARPER
Pianist, keyboardist, composer and arranger Barney McAll moved to New York City in 1997 after being invited to join the Gary Bartz Quartet . He continues to tour internationally with Bartz as well as with Fred Wesley and The JB’s, Josh Roseman, The Groove Collective and recently vocalists Daniel Merriweather and Sia Furler.
Barney leads numerous ensembles including; Sylent Running and M.O.D.A.S and his new ensemble Graft which features 16 piece Invenio Choir, two pianos , Vibraphone and laptop.
Barney has scored some award winning films including ;
Pushing The Elephant (PBS) Liberia: An Uncivil War (DISCOVERY/ NY TIMES) Motherland Afghanistan (PBS)
We All Fall Down: The American Mortgage Crisis (PBS)
He was nominated for a Grammy award in 2007 and also awarded the prestigious fellowship from the Australian Council for the Arts for 2007-2008 . He has performed or toured with ; Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dewey Redman, Maceo Parker, Doug Devries, Vince Jones, Kenny Garrett, Vernel Fornier, Badal Roy, Stefon Harris, Jimmy Cobb, Eddie Henderson, Gary Costello, Ben Monder, Mark Turner, Peter Apfelbaum, Bernie Worrell, Alan Browne, Billy Harper, Jim Black, Steve Turre and Roy Ayers.
COMPOSING AND ARRANGING
-Gospel Choir piece “Vanishing Point” collaboration with video artist Janet Biggs for Claire Oliver Gallery NYC
-New compostions for Guitar, Vibraphone and Piano and Voice premiered at The Stone NYC June 2008
-Sturgio Leone for Three Trombones and piano / Josh Roseman’s Water Surgeons
-New Works for Tabla, Cello and Kaval “Motherland Afghanistan”
-Various arrangements for The CNR Gospel Choir
-Overture for the Opera; ‘Two Lives In Flux and Vice Versa’ with Slave Pianos Collective
-Vincent Herring’s “Lady Liberty Big Band” performance Carnegie Hall
Featuring; Seamus Blake, Tom Harrell, Richie Goods, Steve Turre, Greg Hutcherson, Pamela Luss
-Renee Geyer and Octet Melbourne International Festival
-Slave Piano Collaboration with artists Danius Kesminas and Michael Stevenson for Lombard Freid Gallery Soho New York
Widely regarded as Australia’s premier Jazz Club, Bennetts Lane is open 7 nights a week and features the best of local, interstate and international musicians.
Contact Person: Michael Tortoni
22 June 1937 – 17 September 2013
was an alto saxophonist. He began his career in the late 1950s and remained active as a performer, composer and recording artist until near the end of his life.
From Sydney, McGann first came to prominence as part of a loose alliance of modern jazz musicians who performed at the El Rocco Jazz Cellar, Sydney in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
He led the Bernie McGann Trio and Bernie McGann Quartet through his career. The most well-known lineup of the Trio was McGann (alto sax), John Pochee (drums), Lloyd Swanton (bass), with the addition of Warwick Alder (trumpet) in the quartet. However in his latter years, his regular quartet featured Andrew Dickeson (drums), Brendan Clarke (bass) and Warwick Alder (trumpet).
Read Bernie’s obituary from The Australian
Career highlights
• 1974 – Founding member of The Last Straw (jazz group).
• 1980–82 – Played support to US jazz artists, including Freddie Hubbard, Lester Bowie, and Dave Liebman.
• 1981 – Played and recorded with US saxophonist Sonny Stitt.
• 1983 – Studied in New York on a grant from The Australia Council.
• 1986 – Bernie McGann Trio toured Australia with US saxophonist Dewey Redman.
• 1987 – Toured with The Last Straw to Tasmania. Recorded two albums, one trio and one quartet, for Emanem which received critical acclaim internationally
• 1988 – Toured Australia and USA with the Australian Jazz Orchestra, a special Bicentennial project. Feature artist in award-winning documentary film Beyond El Rocco.[4] The Last Straw tour of New Zealand jazz festivals with an Australia Council international touring grant. Bernie McGann Trio played at London’s famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, before touring jazz festivals in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, India and Malaysia.
• 1989 – Solo artist at Auckland’s Jazz & Blues Festival. Appeared with The Last Straw at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada. Performed with Nat Adderley
• 1990 – Toured USSR with The Last Straw, performing to enthusiastic audiences at jazz festivals including Leningrad
• 1992 – ARIA award for Bernie McGann Trio CD ‘Ugly Beauty’, Spiral Scratch MO Award for Bernie McGann Trio in Jazz Group of the Year[3]
• 1993 – Toured Canadian Jazz Festivals
• 1994 – Australian Mo Awards for Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year.
• 1995 – ARIA award for Bernie McGann Trio CD ‘McGann McGann’ on Rufus Records, which featured McGann originals
• 1996 – Toured Canada and Europe including Northsea Jazz Festival and Munchener Klaviersummer.
• 1997 – Bernie McGann Trio appeared at the Chicago Jazz Festival. ARIA award for Bernie McGann Trio CD Playground (Rufus Records).
• 1998 – Wins the Don Banks Music Award, the first time it has been awarded to a non-classical musician/composer.[5] Launch of biography Bernie McGann: A Life in Jazz by Geoff Page (Kardooraire Press)
