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.

NANCY STUART: STANDARDS WITH STYLE

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, August 7, 1981

Nancy Stuart, now in her sixties, looks more like a little old lady than a conventional jazz singer. But she proves, beyond doubt, that grandmothers can swing. At the Musicians' Club on Tuesday night she showed that she is very much in the tradition of singers like Rosemary Clooney — those singers of the big band era who were also popular entertainers. In her repertoire of great standards, she ensures that her tempos are relaxed, so that she swings easily with carefully paced phrasing, easing her held notes into a pleasant vibrato...

LACHIE JAMIESON QUINTET: BEBOP BOUNCES BACK

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, August 15, 1981

One of the most vital aspects of Sydney jazz at present is the resurgence of bebop music. Bebop was that movement of the early 1940s, led by the alto saxophonist. Charlie Parker and the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, which was a radical reaction to the blandness of the swing era. Later referred to as just bop, it brought into jazz the melodic and harmonic complexities, the rhythmic subtleties, and the dissonance which are the basis of modern jazz. Partly owing to the jazz studies course at the NSW Conservatorium, many young musicians have discovered the Parker/Gillespie repertoire…

JOE HENDERSON: SOME NEW YORK JAZZ HEAT

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, August 18, 1981

“A little bit of the New York heat,” was one comment I heard on Sunday night at The Basement. It aptly summed up the explosive performance which opened the Australian tour of the American tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. The American included three tunes in his first set: Invitation, Good Morning Heartache and Blue Bossa. He played long solos — perhaps the longest we have heard from an American musician for some time — and his elongated thought patterns, and his extended dialogue with the chord structures, were always riveting…