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. As from October 21, 2025, the magazine Review was replaced by another magazine entitled Culture. From that date reviews by Eric Myers appeared either online in The Weekend Australian or as Album of The Week in the magazine Culture.
JAZZ
Time Passes by Jones Robertson Gould
ABC Jazz
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Published online in the Weekend Australian’s Culture magazine on March 21, 2026
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Time Passes is only 41 minutes long, but it’s a gem from three giants of Australian music: pianist Tony Gould, bassist Ben Robertson and percussionist David Jones. Its ten tracks are mostly spontaneous compositions in the studio. Sometimes they feature all musicians together, or duos in various combinations, or solos. Highlights include two written pieces: The Rambler, a lovely original from Colin Hopkins; and Charlie Chaplin’s Smile, where Gould begins in two different keys, an idea beloved by American composer Charles Ives, to whom the piece is dedicated. Gould’s intensely beautiful Divination, which he created on the spot, takes spontaneous creation to high art. This trio has a distinctive approach to the free improvisation genre without undermining those elements we know and love in the piano trio tradition, such as harmony, lyricism and delicacy. On the contrary, those qualities are spectacularly enhanced. Jones’s choice of brushes throughout is masterly, and on Murmuration he plays the African kalimba beautifully. This trio has been playing together since time immemorial, so it’s no surprise that the music reeks of empathy between these three superb musicians.
★★★★½
Eric Myers
JAZZ
Curves of the Brave by Lauren Kate Henderson
ABC Jazz
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Published online in the Weekend Australian’s Culture magazine on April 4, 2026
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There’s a lot going for this highly ambitious album, which is imbued with gravitas throughout. It’s described aptly in the marketing as “an exploration of resilience, introspection, gratitude, love, family, relationships, vulnerability and motherhood.” Henderson writes two exceedingly touching compositions for her sons Casper and Hank, which are deeply intimate. An excellent singer who won the National Jazz Awards competition at Wangaratta in 2020, she transforms two tunes — the well-known standard You Don’t Know What Love Is, and Billy Joel’s great work Just the Way You Are — into much more dramatic ballads than they were in previous versions. A key accompanist is the talented Adelaide pianist Alexander Wignall, who provides a moving instrumental entitled Melody of Love, said to be inspired by heartbreak. Other musicians are Melburnians Sam Anning (bass) and Kyrie Anderson (drums), whose solos give the album real distinction. Strong arrangements for string quartet, written by Adelaide’s Thomas Voss, are remarkably effective. The opening track Little Person, composed by American singer/songwriter Jon Brion, establishes from the outset an exquisite mood which is retained throughout the rest of the album.
★★★★
Eric Myers
JAZZ
Beneath The Sun by Francesca Prihasti
Independent
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Published online in the Weekend Australian’s Culture magazine on April 11, 2026
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This is the fourth album from the Indonesian pianist Francesca Prihasti, a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium, who once performed regularly at Sydney venue Colbourne Avenue. She married the Australian guitarist Nic Vardanega, who’s played on all her albums, and they now live in New York, where this album was recorded in 2025. Other than Vardanega, her quartet includes Americans Drew Gress (bass), Mark Ferber (drums), with Nick Brust (alto and soprano saxophones) on two tracks. They’re excellent musicians, playing with typical New York intensity. This is a concise album by today’s standards, only 36 minutes, featuring seven of Prihasti’s compositions, utilising fusion time-feels. She mostly plays acoustic piano, but moves to Fender Rhodes on two tracks, including the title track, dedicated to her two children Marie and Maximilian. The compositions are very clever and well-written, while the essential character of the music comes from Ferber, a dynamic and conversational drummer. To her credit, Prihasti is not overawed, and retains her poise throughout, showing that she’s a brilliant pianist, well able to stay on top of a powerful rhythm section.
★★★½
Eric Myers