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.

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ

by Eric Myers

Pacific, Vol II No 1, Issue No 39, 1982

There has been much talk in the media about the "boom" in Australian jazz. Mike Williams, jazz writer with the tabloid Daily Telegraph, has just published his first book, applauded by critics and significantly entitled, The Australian Jazz Explosion. The resurgence in Australian jazz — which has been gathering momentum throughout the 1970s — is very much a Sydney phenomenon. Elsewhere in Australia, jazz movements are small…

SYDNEY HILTON BATTLE OF THE HORNS: CONTRASTING STYLES

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, February 18, 1982

The Sydney Hilton's Battle of the Horns on Tuesday night, attended by some 800 people throughout the night in the opulent Marble Bar, showed once again that combining top instrumentalists, who never normally play together on the same stage, produces inspired jazz. It was not so much a competition between the four trumpeter/bandleaders as a fascinating contrast in styles…

SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE McGHEE: ROMANTIC FIGURES

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, February 23, 1982

On their many visits to Australia, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee have always been regarded as romantic figures, representing the primitive blues tradition of the American South which feeds into both jazz and rock and roll. Terry, now 70, still has the extraordinary ability to answer his own vocal phrases with weeping blues harmonica, at such a withering speed that, at times, it is difficult to believe that one man can perform both arts simultaneously. McGhee, 66, still has one of the warmest voices in the blues idiom…