contributions

Jazz writers are invited to contribute to this section of the website. All interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. Photographs are welcome and should be attached. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

BARNEY McALL: JAZZ OF JUXTAPOSITION

by Garry Lee

Seesaw magazine, May 12, 2022

Barney McAll has been one of Australia’s most significant jazz musicians since winning the inaugural piano competition (later called the National Jazz Awards) at the 1990 Wangaratta Jazz Festival. A move to New York City later in the 1990s, where he played in groups led by Gary Bartz and Billy Harper, provided a two-decade opportunity to assimilate all that the New York jazz scene offers – from playing gospel organ in church each Sunday to exposure to the Afro-Cuban styles of artists such as pianist Chucho Valdés. All this plus the bop/post-bop crucible that New York offers has informed McAll both as a pianist and composer. His 2015 album Mooroolbark was awarded an ARIA. Friday evening’s concert provided McAll with a retrospective – a chance to showcase his repertoire of compositions over a three-decade period with WAAPA jazz students…

EBUN DARAMOLA FAREWELLED BY HARDBOP COWBOY AND AN ENTHUSIASTIC ELLINGTON AUDIENCE 

by Garry Lee*

July 11, 2023

Tuesday July 11, 2023 marked the farewell concert by highly talented young drummer Ebun Daramola as he joined forces with Adrian Hicks [trumpet], Alistair McEvoy [saxes], Ookii Effendi [piano, keyboards] and Jonathon Chen [double bass, electric bass]. The band is called Hardbop Cowboy. Most appropriately the venue was Perth’s leading jazz venue, The Ellington. The acoustics and ambience of this world-class jazz venue provided the perfect setting for a night of extremely well-crafted jazz in the sub-genre of hard bop. So who is Ebun Daramola and why the farewell?

JAZZ IN THE THEATRE WITH PAUL GRABOWSKY

Reviewed by Garry Lee

Geoff Gibbs Theatre, Edith Cowan University, May 3, 2024

Each year a concert takes place at WAAPA where a leading jazz artist comes to Perth and works for several days with students from the jazz program before public concerts on the Friday and Saturday night at WAAPA’s HQ on the ECU campus. In 2022 Barney McAll was featured; last year it was Frank Gambale; this year Paul Grabowsky AO…