ESSAYS

This section includes essays on various jazz subjects, written by a number of writers. Contributions are welcome. Writers interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. Photographs to illustrate those essays are welcome. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

BOB BERTLES QUINTET PREVIEW

by John Shand

Sydney Morning Herald, November 11, 2005

Do optimism and enthusiasm promote a successful career, or does a successful career beget these qualities? The question leaps to mind when listening to or chatting with the ebullient Bob Bertles. He is part of the musical folklore of Australia, and probably New Zealand and Britain as well. His saxophones have been heard with Johnny O'Keefe, Max Merritt and the Meteors, Nucleus, the Col Nolan Quartet, Ten Part Invention and his own quintet. It is a career that turns 50 next year and Bertles loves playing as much as ever…

BOB BERTLES’ METEOR, NUCLEUS AND TEN PART QUADRUPLE THREAT

by John Shand

www.australianjazz.net, July 8, 2014

When I first saw Bob Bertles on television in New Zealand in the 1960s he was a striking figure: imposing not just of stature, but of hair (an out-sized Afro). His visceral, driving alto and baritone saxophone playing was equally commanding, and this was not in a jazz context, but the chunky r’n’b of Max Merritt and the Meteors. The Afro is ancient history, of course, yet Bertles remains imposing, and perhaps it was always a big man’s absence of timidity – a crash or crash through mentality – that made his playing so compelling…

WAY OUT WEST

by Ian Muldoon

July, 2018

I grew up in Manly, NSW in the 1940s and early 1950s. When we spoke of "way out West” in those days it usually meant Parramatta or, heaven forbid, Penrith. It should be no surprise that the Sea Eagles is the most hated side in the NRL. Musically the phrase “Way out west”, could mean Marty Robbins or Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid, or even the Jay Livingstone song Buttons and Bows from the movie Paleface. But to jazz lovers, it’s Sonny Rollins and that iconic album on Contemporary, and the cover with Sonny sporting a ten gallon hat with a tenor under his left arm and no pistol in the right hand holster...