DISCHORDS

JazzChord, the newsletter of the jazz co-ordination program based in Sydney, New South Wales, commenced in magazine form with  Edition No 11 (Jan/Feb, 1993). In Edition No 15 (Sep/Oct, 1993) a column called 'DisChords', usually written by Jazz Co-ordinator Eric Myers, was introduced to canvass issues that were currently alive in the jazz community. Generally it was a forum for the editor of JazzChord to air his personal views, and to document the achievements of the jazz co-ordination program. Additional photos, not possible in JazzChord, have been included.

DISCHORDS

A column by Jazz Co-ordinator Eric Myers

JazzChord, Sep/Oct, 1994

The awarding of a Creative Fellowship worth $330,000.00 to Don Burrows by the Australia Council has caused predictable reactions in the jazz world. Some people have greeted the award with cynicism; others have been gratified that, for the first time, a jazz musician has been recognised as being worthy of a ‘Keating’. I don’t know if Don needs the money or not - most people assume he doesn’t - but my congratulations go to him…

DISCHORDS

A column by Jazz Co-ordinator Eric Myers

JazzChord, Summer, 1994/95

The US guitarist John Scofield appeared on Radio National’s The Music Show on January 14, and had some interesting observations to make in his interview with Julie Steiner. On Miles Davis: “He was an inspired musician and a deep thinker, and I’m sure he was very disciplined in order to get to that. But it’s not the same discipline that we all know about. Sometimes he could be pretty lax; but he sure knew a lot about music. The main thing I learned from him was that in this kind of music -jazz - you have to do your own thing…

DISCHORDS

A column by Jazz Co-ordinator Eric Myers

JazzChord, Feb/Mar, 1995

Glancing through a copy of the magazine Vanity Fair, October 1989, in the fish & chips shop recently, I noticed a letter to the editor from Aida E Chapman of New York, referring to an article on Miles Davis (now deceased, of course – he died in 1991) that had appeared in a previous edition of the magazine. Ms Chapman says she was a former director of the National Endowment for the Arts, and was good friends with Miles for over 20 years. But, she says, “Our friendship ended abruptly on March 28, 1981, and in 1984 I obtained a successful settlement of a lawsuit in which I claimed that he beat me, tortured me, and otherwise violated my human rights..."