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/FUNK
IN THE FLOW
MISTER OTT
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Earshift Music
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, May 15, 2021
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When a brilliant Antipodean jazz musician ventures into a related genre - in this case funk - it’s something to look forward to. Sydney saxophonist Matthew Ottignon’s sextet Mister Ott includes trumpeter Ellen Kirkwood, Daniel Pliner (keys), Ben Panucci (guitar), Dave Symes (bass), and drummer Carlos Adura. Other guest players are too numerous to list. This high energy album features superb compositions and writing for the horns, and it’s here that Ottignon truly shines, as only a jazz musician could write such hip, convincing lines. The electronic backgrounds are highly imaginative, and a great rhythm section provides innovative 8-feel grooves, which are presumably designed for dancers. Improvisation, an essential ingredient in jazz, is a low priority here. One has to get to the fifth of seven tracks before a horn solo is heard: Ottignon on baritone sax, and it’s a ripper. I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the publicity blurb: a glorious afro-funk celebration that crosses dub-funk hip-hop and Ethiopian jazz.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
REVISIT
AMANDA SUWONDO
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Independent
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, May 22, 2021
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Arguably instrumental jazz is more a music of the mind than any other genre, with the possible exception of classical music. An energising mind trip is provided here by pianist Amanda Suwondo who, like many other emerging jazz artists today, has issued a highly impressive debut album. In 2010 she arrived from Indonesia to study at the Conservatorium and with leading Sydney teachers, including Judy Bailey. She has also studied in the United States. It’s easy to admire her ability. In seven of her own compositions she breezes through the main time-feels in modern jazz, including difficult time signatures such as 5/4 and 7/4. Striking the piano keyboard with an air of certainty, and producing deft solos, at her best she is capable of really flying. A jazz pianist who has clearly done her homework, she is strongly supported by her remarkable rhythm section, two musicians who get much solo space: a brilliant drummer in Gian Timothy Gho, and a truly outstanding double bassist in Muhamed Mehmedbasic.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
REPARATIONS
STEPHEN BYTH
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Independent
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, May 29, 2021
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Has there ever been an era in Australian jazz when debut albums by emerging artists were more outstanding? Melbourne saxophonist & composer Stephen Byth, who’s been studying in the USA for three years, utilises a septet (trumpet, three reeds and rhythm section) to present a 30-minute suite of eight compositions, inspired by a high moral purpose: to repay what he describes as “the debt owed to Indigenous Australians.” Hence the album title. The gravitas in the music is immediate from the first note. The album’s strength lies in the rich orchestral sound Byth achieves with a relatively small ensemble punching well above its weight. The American support musicians, some of them Byth’s colleagues at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, are outstanding. While there are no obvious antecedents to this beautiful contemporary jazz, I detect in Byth’s grand themes a nod here and there to the seminal works of great American composers & orchestrators such as Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. The music here is rich enough to be considered in those terms.
Eric Myers