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.

LESTER BOWIE: AN EXPERIENCE OF US BLACK CULTURE

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, January 17, 1981

Last night Sydney had a rare opportunity to hear the authentic classical music which reflects the experience of African-American culture in the United States. The music was not so much ‘jazz’ - an inadequate term which Lester Bowie and his colleagues decidedly reject - but a sensitive exploration of many forms of black music which defy literal categorisation…

WOODY SHAW QUINTET: SUPERB

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, January 21, 1981

With the visit of the Woody Shaw Quintet, the jazz activist Greg Quigley has once again enabled Sydney to hear an outstanding African-American group which is at the apex of the art form. At The St James on Monday night, Woody Shaw sounded very much like the complete modern jazz trumpeter, with a gorgeous tone on the instrument, a willingness to use vibrato, an incisive technique when he chose to use it, and a consummate ability to produce stunning improvised lines.

RANDY BRECKER QUINTET: MASTERY

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, January 22, 1981

The second evening of Greg Quigley's Summer Jazz Week at the St James Tavern on Tuesday night once again drew a capacity audience, this time primarily to hear the great American trumpeter Randy Brecker. As one of the founder members of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, and one of the Brecker Brothers, along with his tenor saxophonist brother Michael, Randy Brecker is noted mainly for his contribution to jazz/rock fusion music. This concert, however, showed that Brecker has a mastery also of what we might call, for want of a better description, straight-ahead acoustic modern jazz…