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
LIFE FORMS
NIRAN DASIKA
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Earshift Music
Three-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, June 7, 2025
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The trio playing on this unusual album was formed by trumpeter Niran Dasika in 2021 when he returned to Melbourne after five years in Japan and Perth. It includes the highly accomplished musicians Helen Svoboda (bass) and Andrea Keller (piano). Seven Dasika compositions are played, which exemplify Dasika’s liking for sound effects, derived from such techniques as “double tonguing, half-valve trills, and alternate valve timbral trills”. Having listened to this album for several weeks, I’m in two minds. Certainly I applaud all attempts to stretch boundaries and arrive at new sounds. On the other hand I wonder if the resultant music has largely failed in its apparent purpose. When the album adheres to familiar, conventional sounds, I warm to them, particularly in the light of Keller’s lovely Erik Satie-like bed of sound, over which the others improvise. But when Svoboda is scraping the bass with her bow, and Dasika is producing mere sound effects through his mouthpiece, I find the music somewhat unconvincing. Still I trust there’s an audience for this sort of innovative jazz.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
GHOSTS BETWEEN STREAMS
TOM AVGENICOS
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Earshift Music
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, June 14, 2025
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This moving album, Sydney trumpeter Tom Avgenicos’s fifth, emanates from his being awarded the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2022, enabling him to create a multi-art form work. It combines his quartet Delay 45, the Ensemble Apex String Quartet, and dance routines by choreographers Reina Takeuchi and Tom Kentta. It features Avgenicos’s majestic trumpet playing, where he carries huge responsibility as the only horn in the ensemble. It’s difficult to think of a modern jazz trumpeter in Australia with a better combination of earnestness, virtuosity and stamina. In creating this ambitious work Avgenicos was inspired by daily walks through Stringybark Creek, a small nature reserve on Cammeraygal country in North Sydney. His 12 compositions explore “the coexistence of nature and urbanisation in community identity”. Delay 45 includes key players Roshan Kumarage (piano & synths), Dave Quinn (bass & synths) & Ashley Stoneham (drums & guitar). This work was performed live and filmed in June 2024 at The Neilson in Walsh Bay, and the entire audiovisual work is available to experience on YouTube.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
MONASTERY
MAX ALDUCA
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Earshift Music
Four-and-a-half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, June 21, 2025
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Max Alduca’s debut album is unusual and highly innovative, not merely orthodox compositions and solos, but rather a thoughtful exploration of sound. With Alduca’s strong musical vision underlying the work, the album’s title is significant, as there’s a feeling in the air that the star-studded quintet of musicians is a genuine community of like-minded souls, specially assembled to play Alduca’s seven compositions. The primary elements in his music are: a realisation that moments of stillness are necessary; an awareness of what’s happening in the avant-garde; and a belief that collective improvisations should include a balanced mixture of written passages, free playing, and melodic beauty. Often the time-feels are gently articulated, enabling ruminative solos to be played, particularly by Luke Sweeting (piano), Michael Avgenicos (tenor saxophone) and Alduca himself (double bass). In the rhythm section guitarist Hilary Geddes, without actually taking a conventional solo, contributes lovely background colours and exotic figures, while virtuosic drummer James Waples completes an impressive line-up.
Eric Myers