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
WOMEN OF JAZZ ’24
VARIOUS ARTISTS
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ABC Jazz
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, March 23, 2024
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Following its third annual Women of Jazz Fest, ABC Jazz has now released an impressive digital album that highlights the current depth of talent in leading Australian female composers and performers. There are many gems among its 10 tracks, taken from recordings made and/or released by ABC Jazz over the past 18 months. The opening and closing tracks, recorded live at the 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival, feature vocalist Michelle Nicolle’s outstanding quartet. In a consummate display of scat singing, Nicolle adroitly demonstrates how to take the music far out, without falling off a cliff. Jenna Cave’s soft-funk composition Chloe’s Song is sung beautifully by the great Kristin Berardi, in a version featuring a stellar back-up band and a brilliant guitar solo by Yutaro Okuda. Other highlights include Alex Siegers singing the rarely-heard lyrics to Bernie McGann’s well-known composition Spirit Song; a lovely ballad Canopy from double bassist Hannah James; and a moving track Care Is The Cure from Katie Noonan’s recent Elixir album, which celebrates the poetry of Michael Leunig.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
OLD COUNTRY NEW COUNTRY
PAUL WILLIAMSON, PEGGY LEE, DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF
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Independent
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, April 6, 2024
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Paul Williamson is one of the truly great jazz trumpeters in Australia. At his best, he can capture the spirit of the age. Old Country New Country is a departure for him where he’s in a context that challenges this hardened reviewer. Two brilliant Canadian musicians — Peggy Lee (cello) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums/percussion) — are on hand, and the trio plays eight compositions, five by Williamson, and three by Lee. In a nutshell, the music explores the intersections between composition and free improvisation. I hear the written sections sympathetically, but when it comes to passages of free improvisation, I find that many of the musical elements which make jazz interesting for me – pulse and harmonic changes, for instance – are absent, and my empathy for the music quickly flags. This is not to say that the music is deficient, far from it; but it is to say that I don’t personally warm to it. If this genre is your cup of tea, however, I believe this album has much to offer.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
GHOST FREQUENCY II: RESONANCE
CAMERON UNDY
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Independent
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, April 20, 2024
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This is a follow-up to Cameron Undy’s celebrated 2022 album Ghost Frequency. There he began his intriguing exploration of rhythms found in various contemporary musics, but which have evolved over time via the African diaspora, the result of African slaves being transported to Latin America and North America. The second album is more of the same, revealing once again the musings of Undy’s fertile musical mind. He’s playing acoustic guitar, which was his first musical instrument before gravitating to the bass, his primary instrument. Perhaps only a musicologist could clearly decipher what Undy has achieved on Ghost Frequency II, but there’s no doubting the virtuosic skill with which he has created nine viable compositions to demonstrate the nuanced rhythmic forms he has arrived at through his research. I believe the key to Undy’s artistry is his interest in the inner geometry found in the ancient rhythms of the African diaspora. He has hinted at this himself, having said on ABC Radio National’s Music Show recently that he’s inspired by “the mathematical beauty of music”.
Eric Myers