Eric Myers Jazz

ERIC MYERS REVIEWS 1980-87

Eric Myers was the Sydney Morning Herald’s inaugural jazz critic, his first review appearing on February 2, 1980. This folder contains reviews and articles written by Myers up to his resignation in 1982. Text published in the newspaper is reproduced here, with the addition of photographs which may or may not have appeared in the newspaper. In 1983 Myers moved to The Australian, where he was that paper’s jazz critic, until he resigned towards the end of 1987.  His reviews for that newspaper appear also in this folder. Articles which appeared in other publications are included here, if they serve to document the performances of Australian jazz musicians. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of reviews or articles in this folder.

KERRIE BIDDELL: MORE THAN A JAZZ SINGER

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, September 18, 1981

Kerrie Biddell is something of a chameleon. She is regarded as the finest female singer in Australian jazz, yet she has always been more than just a jazz singer. By the same token, she is not only a popular singer. Her voice has the elasticity, responsiveness and range which most popular singers lack, and one finds her improvisational ability only in singers immersed in jazz. That is to say, her musical interests are so wide and her talents so formidable that she is impossible to categorise…

LUKE’S: FINE START FOR EXCITING NEW VENUE

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, September 21, 1981

The opening of Luke's on Friday night as a jazz club provides Sydney with a splendid new venue, with probably the best acoustics for jazz in this city. The evening was a low-key affair, with only a small attendance, but this did not prevent the Ned Sutherland Quintet from turning on some full-blooded, powerful modern jazz. They were followed after midnight by the Keith Stirling Quintet…

THE 1981 MANLY JAZZ CARNIVAL

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 1981

If the accent is on youth at this year's Manly Jazz Carnival — to be held over three days this coming weekend — it is not surprising, given the background of the carnival's producer John Speight. For some years Speight, 46, deputy headmaster at Harbord Public School, has been a zealous advocate of jazz for the young. In 1976, he took over a Falstaff's army of enthusiastic young students of jazz, and moulded them into the Young Northside Big Band. It quickly became a major phenomenon in Australian music, and performed at California's Monterey Jazz Festival in 1979…