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.
RECORD REVIEWS: BRUCE CALE ORCHESTRA; BILLIE HOLIDAY
by Eric Myers
Australian Penthouse, November, 1981
The LP A Century Of Steps (Larrikin), by the Bruce Cale Orchestra should appeal most to that esoteric minority of music lovers willing to open their ears to new and unconventional sounds. Although Australian bassist Bruce Cale is a product of the jazz idiom, this LP is in the area of classical/jazz fusion, described by Gunther Schuller as "third stream" music. To perform these six works Cale uses two separate 10-piece orchestras: one composed of seasoned, professional studio musicians; and the other including the young players who have occasionally performed this music in public…
Billy Field
BILLY FIELD IN CONCERT: A SENSE OF FUN AGAIN
by Eric Myers
Encore magazine, November, 1981
Billy Field performs in a black dinner suit, white dress shirt and black bow tie. He sings with a casual air, his left hand in his pocket, while his right hand prods the air gently. He could be a throwback to an earlier era: perhaps a young Fred Astaire in those 1930s musicals, or a young Frank Sinatra in the bobbysox era. The Bad Habits Band includes nine musicians wearing white dinner jackets and black bow ties, and two funky singers in the shape of Shauna Jensen and Sheryl Black. At their Sydney concert on October 19, the whole entourage might have achieved an Ellingtonian tilt at sophisticated decadence, had it not been for the vaudevillean antics of some of the musicians in the band…
Paul Furniss
ED GASTON QUARTET: HOT JAZZ FOR BRUNCH
by Eric Myers
The Sydney Morning Herald, November 3, 1981
Hearing the Ed Gaston Quartet on Sunday taught me a few things about life and jazz. So far as the first is concerned, I had forgotten how nice it is to sleep late, check the Sunday newspapers, take a shower, and go on to "brunch" where there is live music. One can do this sort of thing in New York (indeed the Sunday brunch is an institution in that great city) but Plato's is the first jazz venue in Sydney, as far as I know, where this highly civilised pursuit has been inaugurated. On the question of jazz, I realised once again that this particular form of music — spontaneous and improvised — is a tonic at lunch, especially when it is played with the warmth and brilliance of players like Ed Gaston…