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.
John Pochée
TEN PART INVENTION: THE CHIEFS MANAGE TO GET ALONG FAMOUSLY
by Eric Myers
The Australian, May 13, 1986
When the group Ten Part Invention gave its premiere performances during the recent Adelaide Festival of Arts, a number of people in the jazz world wondered whether such a star-studded group could survive. Of the ten musicians involved, there were seven, after all, who were distinguished bandleaders in their own right. How could so many chiefs function as sidemen under the leadership of John Pochée? This concert, the first by Ten Part Invention in Sydney, showed that, so far, such fears are groundless. The group, obviously a very professional unit, gave a powerful performance at The Basement that could only be regarded as highly successful…
Eric Myers writes: I resigned as jazz critic with The Australian in late 1987 for the following reason. I was then the CEO of a jazz organisation, the Jazz Co-ordination Association of NSW (JCANSW), funded by Federal and State governments, and held the full-time position of National Jazz Co-ordinator from 1986. Running an organisation dedicated to supporting jazz musicians, I felt increasingly that there was a conflict of interest in simultaneously being active as a reviewer and/or critic. My last article for The Australian was the one on the previous page, “The AJO: A Bicentennial Boon for the Nation”, published in The Australian on December 11, 1987. For more information please refer to my article, “My Jazz Odyssey”, published in the February, 2021 edition of the magazine of the Australian Jazz Museum, AJAZZ 88, available on this website at this link https://ericmyersjazz.com/miscellaneous-postings-6