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, Apr/May, 1995

I’m disappointed that the sort of mindless hype that characterises pop music promotion seems to be creeping into jazz. As an example I’d quote the press release put out by ABC Music to promote the new Dale Barlow CD entitled Dale Barlow. “Since around 1980 Dale Barlow’s presence on the Australian scene has been one of the keynotes in any discussion of the performing arts in this country”, it reads. Well, that’s something of  an overstatement, but there’s more to come…

DISCHORDS

A column by Jazz Co-ordinator Eric Myers

JazzChord, Jun/Jul, 1995

Listening to Jim McLeod’s excellent ‘tribute to Eric Child’ program on Jazztrack recently, I was interested to hear a composition by the expatriate pianist Bryce Rohde, dedicated to Eric, called Unlimited Child. It featured a beautiful alto saxophone solo by the late Charlie Munro. This was a reminder that Charlie was one of the greatest jazz musicians active in this country… and I agree with Bruce Johnson, who described Charlie in the 1987 Oxford Companion To Australian Jazz as “one of the closest things this country has had to a jazz-based genius”…

DISCHORDS

A column by Jazz Co-ordinator Eric Myers

JazzChord, Aug/Sep 1995

I’m always glad to hear that publicity for a particular jazz artist in JazzChord leads to positive results. Ian Horbury, co-ordinator of the Sunraysia Jazz & Wine Festival in Mildura wrote saying that he was pleased to see our piece on the guitarist Maddy Young in the ‘New Musicians' section of the last JazzChord. He had heard tracks from the CD on Jim McLeod’s Jazztrack and was having trouble tracking it down. That wasn’t the only reaction to the piece…