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.
JAZZ
LOVE IS A TEMPORARY MADNESS
VANESSA PERICA ORCHESTRA
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Independent
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, May 9, 2020
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Composer/arranger Vanessa Perica’s new album, recorded in Melbourne, underlines the hegemonic status many WA musicians now enjoy in Australian jazz. They include Carl Mackey, Jamie Oehlers, Mat Jodrell, Jordan Murray, Will Pethick, Sam Anning, Ben Vanderwal, Grant Windsor and Perica herself. Featuring seven Perica compositions, this is an ambitious album of great depth, with every track a major undertaking. The 17-piece jazz big band is a formidable force here, and there is an unusual expansiveness in Perica’s writing. Perica shows that sounds redolent of the big band tradition can be used creatively while at the same time she invents innovative time-feels which are made to work brilliantly by drummer Vanderwal. Two highlights of the album are the beautiful title track Love Is A Temporary Madness, featuring saxophonist Mackey, and Scar For Charlie, the latter a blues featuring unforgettable solos from saxophonist Oehlers and pianist Andrea Keller.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
QUIRKS
STEVE ARIÉ
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Independent
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, May 16, 2020
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This is an unusual and charming album. Known for 30 years as a bass player, Steve Arié emerges here as an alto saxophonist. His quartet features two front-line instruments only: himself and Paul Cutlan who, despite his virtuosic command of the whole saxophone/clarinet family, plays only bass clarinet. A rhythm section of double bass (Abel Cross) and drums (Nic Cecire), functions without a chordal instrument. This is modern jazz pared back to its essentials. Still, Arié’s 12 compositions are full of attractive musical ideas, and interactions between the alto and bass clarinet, often in collective improvisation, are beautiful to hear. The improvisations are a delight, and the excellent rhythm section grooves, even at an energy level of subtle chamber music. This highly enjoyable album, full of melodic beauty, invokes the feeling that all is well.
Eric Myers
JAZZ/POP
THE SWEETEST TABOO
KATIE NOONAN
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ABC Classics
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, May 30, 2020
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Following Kate Ceberano’s 2019 opus with jazz pianist Paul Grabowsky, another Australian music icon Katie Noonan avoids the overkill of pop music, opting instead for an exquisite jazz setting. While Noonan is not a jazz singer here – she doesn’t improvise, and rarely ventures past judicious variations of the melody – the strong presence of four superb jazz musicians supporting her pop artistry, results in an unusually powerful album. The 12 tracks here are big hits from the mid-80s, when a prepubescent Noonan was in her rumpus room in suburban Brisbane, having her “seven-year-old brain blown by the magic of pop music”. Bravely taking on popular hits long ensconced in the collective memory, Noonan does not produce mere covers; essentially her versions are redefinitions. I Wanna Dance With Somebody, for example, becomes a gentle ballad revealing, perhaps for the first time, the beauty in the lyrics disguised in Whitney Houston’s frenetic version. The song, we discover, is about loneliness, not dancing. With risk-taking chutzpah Noonan sings Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors with the minimal accompaniment of Phil Stack’s double bass. Her moving rendition is enlivened by his outstanding bass solo. Similarly the Crowded House anthem Don’t Dream It’s Over begins with bass only under Noonan’s vocal, with Sam Keevers’ piano creeping in on the second stanza, joined later by drummer Evan Mannell, preparing the way for a lovely solo from Keevers. The Billy Joel masterpiece Just The Way You Are, taken as a gentle bossa nova, is treated with similar minimalism, with Noonan accompanied by drums for the first 16 bars, with the entry of the other musicians delayed. As on other tracks, saxophonist Zac Hurren plays a beautiful obbligato line under Noonan’s vocal, before his extensive tenor improvisation, a timely reminder of the classic Phil Woods solo on the original version. And so on, through tracks including the great Garry Frost tune If I Could, Terence Trent D’Arby’s Sign Your Name, the difficult Vince Jones song Blue, a rocking version of The Eurythmics’ When Tomorrow Comes, and others too numerous to list. Not least of the album’s delights are the tasteful double-tracked vocal backings which occur sparingly, but invariably provide sweetness in the music just at the right moment.
Eric Myers