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.

CHICK COREA INTERVIEW

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, February 24, 1982

Despite all the talk about jazz becoming increasingly popular over the last ten years or so, the music has produced few superstars with a genuine mass following. One of those few, however, is the American composer and pianist Chick Corea, who will perform two concerts with his quintet tonight at the Regent Theatre…

CHICK COREA: AN EXPLORATION OF HIS SPANISH HEART

by Eric Myers

Sydney Morning Herald, February 27, 1982

Closing the Peter Stuyvesant International Music Festival on a high note on Wednesday, the 40-year-old American Chick Corea gave the audience a generous serving of his rich Latin-oriented compositions. Featuring, along with Corea, Steve Kujala (flute and saxophones), Carlos Benavent (electric bass), Tom Brecktlein (drums) and Don Alias (percussion), the evening was an extended exploration of Corea's LP My Spanish Heart - just one aspect of this extraordinary musician's many-faceted talents…

KEITH JARRETT & ALL THAT JAZZ

by Eric Myers

24 Hours, March, 1982

In late 1978, at a press conference in Sydney, American singer Ella Fitzgerald was asked what she thought of Keith Jarrett, who was also in Australia at that time. Ella, a delightful, bespectacled grandmother in her sixties, was genuinely bewildered. “Who's Keith Jarrett?” she replied. It was somehow ironic that Ella, one of the great names in jazz herself, had never heard of the young pianist, who, by his early thirties, had gained a following which rivalled, and possibly surpassed, the jazz audience she had built up over a lifetime. Well, who is Keith Jarrett?...