ALBUM REVIEWS IN THE AUSTRALIAN
In September, 2017, Eric Myers commenced reviewing jazz albums in the Review supplement of The Weekend Australian. All reviews in this folder are written by Myers. As from October 21, 2025, the magazine Review was replaced by another magazine entitled Culture. From that date reviews by Eric Myers appeared either online in The Weekend Australian or as Album of The Week in the magazine Culture.
JAZZ
Quartet by Tessie Overmyer
ABC Jazz
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Published online in the Weekend Australian’s Culture magazine on June 20, 2026.
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This is the third album helping to establish Sydney alto saxophonist Tessie Overmyer as one of the most exciting young instrumentalists to emerge in years. The preceding two were Laying Down a Path in Walking from the brilliant quintet Jiem in 2024, and her widely celebrated 2025 debut album as a leader Tidelines. Other than Overmyer, Quartet features two outstanding musicians of her generation, Wilbur Whitta (piano) and George Greenhill (drums) plus the Australian double bassist Kate Pass, brought back from New York, where she now lives, for this session. They play ten of Overmyer’s exceedingly well-written original compositions, which emphasise the immortal swing-feel. There’s no sign of fusion. Other than Overmyer’s blistering solos, and the impeccable sound of her alto, the primary delight of the album is the playing of Whitta, whose solos and comping reveal a rare talent indeed. He stamps his authority on the music throughout. In an era when gender equality is still an issue, it’s interesting that Overmyer refers to “a highly masculine energy” in Australian jazz. “This project”, she writes, “is my response to that gender imbalance.”
★★★★½
Eric Myers