Eric Myers Jazz

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JAZZ 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.

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JAZZ

ALBARE PLAYS JOBIM

ALBARE

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Alfire Records

Four-and-a-half stars

Published in the Weekend Australian, March 14, 2020

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Only a brave musician would take on the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim + strings, an idiom inhabited previously by distinguished German arranger Claus Ogerman with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Diana Krall. Still Melbourne electric guitarist Albare’s instrumental album is highly competitive in this idiom. His style is marked by understatement and good taste and, like the best jazz guitarists, he doesn’t wish to make the instrument scream, but there are subtle ignitions in his playing which enable the guitar to sing. The rhythm section includes the immaculate Mexican-American drummer Antonio Sanchez and Puerto Rican bassist Ricardo Rodriquez. However the ace here is Melbourne’s Joe Chindamo, whose string arrangements attempt much more than Ogerman’s, and whose piano incursions and solos give the album real distinction. Chindamo’s creative brilliance ensures that this album is not merely an exercise in “easy listening”.

Eric Myers

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JAZZ

STOCK

JULIEN WILSON

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Lionsharecords

Four stars

Published in the Weekend Australian, March 21, 2020

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On first hearing this album, I recalled what legendary Melbourne musician Ade Monsbourgh once said: “Jazz is a cry of anguish from the heart”. Father Ade was of course a traditionalist, while the members of Stock are modernists, on a mission to stretch the boundaries of the music. What unites them all, however, is expressiveness, sometimes of the darker sides of life. Melbourne saxophonist Julien Wilson’s composition Too Soon is sadness incarnate, dedicated to two friends who died prematurely, shortly before this session. Three of seven tracks are orthodox compositions from Wilson, while the other four are beautiful exercises in what appears to be free improvisation from the quartet, including Craig Fermanis (electric guitar), Christopher Hale (bass guitar) and Hugh Harvey (drums & percussion). Free jazz makes most sense when one can identify an organising principle, and here it is cohesion, a joy to behold.

Eric Myers

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JAZZ

A TRIBUTE 1972-1979

NEW HARLEM JAZZ BAND

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Australian Jazz Museum

Three-and-a-half stars

Published in the Weekend Australian, March 28, 2020

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This two-CD album is testimony to the vision of Melbourne trombonist Chris Ludowyk, who began with the seven-piece New Harlem Jazz Band in 1972 and served throughout its existence. 47 tracks over two-and-a-half hours take the listener to 1979. Ludowyk, the band’s arranger, devised an innovative way of teaching the ensemble passages to non-reading musicians in the group. The result is unusually tight arrangements, somewhat unlike the rough-and-ready playing often found in trad bands. This is not to underestimate the role of trumpeter/vocalist Ian Smith who is absent from the last 12 tracks on this album. Smith, the band's creator and leader, played a crucial role in selecting the band’s personnel and material, as well as in promotion, until he left before the 1979 sessions. While New Harlem knocks out creditable versions of well-known classics such as Ellington’s Black And Tan Fantasy, and Hoagy Carmichael’s Rockin’ Chair, their repertoire also runs to novelty tunes and vaudevillean vocals which some trad purists may consider corny. The band always included banjo and tuba (the latter played by another long-term stalwart Bill Morris) so the rhythm section rarely achieves real buoyancy. Still, this approach obviously worked well for a band committed primarily to light entertainment.

Eric Myers