BOOK REviewS

This section includes reviews of books on jazz subjects by a number of writers. Reviewers interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. When contributing please include the title of the book and its author, the name of the publisher, the date of publication, the book’s ISBN number, and the number of pages in the book. Please also provide, if possible, a high resolution scan of the book’s cover. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of reviews in this folder.

AUSTRAL JAZZ: THE LOCALIZATION OF A GLOBAL MUSIC FORM IN SYDNEY

by Andrew Robson

Reviewed by Ted Nettelbeck

March 9, 2021

This excellent book forms part of the Translational Studies in Jazz series, founded by two academics at the Birmingham City University, as series editors. The series, which recently published Bruce Johnson’s Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalisation, aims to investigate circumstances that have resulted in jazz as a global music form. Consistent with this broad theme, Robson’s book explores the emergence of a relatively new, local modern jazz form, which he terms “Austral Jazz”, within Sydney’s jazz culture from roughly the early 1970s…

MY JAZZ ODYSSEY: CONFESSIONS OF A LIFETIME ENTHUSIAST

by Ian Muldoon

Reviewed by Ted Nettelbeck

September 29, 2021

This beautifully presented book, comprising 25 well researched, informative essays together with a list of the author’s (current) favourite 50 jazz tracks and the albums from which these were drawn, has been printed on high quality glossy A4 size paper in an attractive, high-contrast type-face. The book is lovely to hold; according to the Tasmanian jazz pianist Viktor Zappner, it weighs 3.24 kg – an impressive tome, indeed! It runs to 661 pages of text, supported by an excellent index of all names referred to in the text. The essays have been selected by the author from among 36, which he submitted to Eric Myers, from July 2018 to February 2021, for publication on Eric’s jazz website (link: https://ericmyersjazz.com/index-for-essays-1)...

BOB BARNARD, GRAEME BELL, BILL HAESLER AND JOHN SANGSTER ON THE AUSTRALIAN JAZZ CONVENTION

Edited by Norman Linehan

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Jazz Magazine, March/April, 1982

This small, 20-page booklet consists of paraphrased interviews of the above-mentioned four men, conducted by Norm Linehan between March and September 1979. All were encouraged to give their thoughts on, and experiences regarding, various Australian Jazz Conventions, so it is an invaluable source document for anyone concerned with this unique event which has been running annually since 1946….