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.

ART PEPPER: DRUGS AND JAIL

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, August 22, 1981

“I became a junkie at that moment. That's what I practiced, and that's what I still am. And that's what I will die as - a junkie." The American saxophonist Art Pepper, 55, was speaking in his autobiography, Straight Life, about the first time, in the late 1940s, when he took heroin. On his arrival in Australia yesterday for a concert tour, he endorsed those words, and was willing to discuss his seedy past as a heroin addict, an armed robber, and hardened convict: between 1953 and 1968 he spent more than ten years behind bars, including three-and-a-half years in San Quentin…

THE AUSTRALIAN JAZZ EXPLOSION

by Mike Williams, Photographs by Jane March

Book review by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, August 22, 1981

In Quadrant last year Clement Semmler described the pianist Col Nolan as “the most dynamic keyboard artist in Australian jazz today.” Yet, the last time I saw Nolan, earlier this year, he had just left the group Galapagos Duck, and was working as a courier. While some wits might regard this as an example of upward social mobility, it illustrates how madcap and unpredictable is the world of Australian jazz. What normal, intelligent person would take on a career in such a shaky profession? In The Australian Jazz Explosion, which deals with 32 jazz personalities, Mike Williams, jazz critic for The Australian and the Daily Telegraph, shows that — for the committed - a love of jazz is a powerful force of religious proportions…

MARGRET ROADKNIGHT: LOVING THE US, MISSING THE CYNICS AT HOME

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, August 22, 1981

When Margret Roadknight appears in concert with the pianist Judy Bailey on Friday night at St Stephen's Church, Newtown, it will be a far cry from the lucrative folk-blues circuit in the United States where she made a great impact during her recent visit. In Los Angeles this week, she said she was surprised at how easily she was able to slot into the circuit and be offered work. It sounds like the same old story: quality Australian performer, virtually neglected here, finds acceptance overseas…