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.

YOU DIG ME? IT’S JAZZ THAT TELLS A STORY

by Ian Muldoon

July 13, 2020

Music is a mystery, true, but its skill in telling a story may be more powerful, more resonant, than any other art form, and perhaps the greatest storyteller is “jazz”. Its origins from the African diaspora in sub-Saharan Africa, revealed how language and music are intermingled. On the one hand there is the variation in pitch of the voice to indicate meaning; on the other there is African drumming which uses patterns and pitch variations to “speak”. In African Botswana music is so ingrained in their life that there is no word for “performance”…

OH TROMBONE, TROMBONE, WHEREFORE ART THOU TROMBONE?

by Ian Muldoon

July 24, 2020

Although a much loved instrument the trombone seems to be forever in the shadows and somewhat ignored, compared to the saxophone and trumpet, even though the evidence shows how central to jazz the instrument has been and remains today. Its best days may be yet to come. In the beginning of my particular jazz journey, the trombone was central to my experience which began with the 1940s hit parade. In common with much of the Western world, there was much music flooding the airwaves on our home radio, a central source of entertainment in the 1940s…

MIROSLAV BUKOVSKY

Interviewed by John Sharpe

Reproduced from John Sharpe’s book “I Wanted To Be A Jazz Musician” (2008)

Miroslav Bukovsky came to Australia from Czechoslovakia in 1968 and was immediately involved in the Sydney jazz scene, centred on Kings Cross. He has played with leading Australian jazz bands, including the Daly-Wilson Big Band, Bob Bertles Moontrane, Mark Simmonds Freeboppers and The Bruce Cale Orchestra. He is a foundation member of the current Ten Part Invention, started by John Pochée in 1986, and leads his own, very contemporary group, Wanderlust. Both bands have toured overseas and, as a composer, he contributes significantly to their repertoires. Bukovsky has also had considerable experience working with rock and pop bands, including those of Marcia Hines, Renee Geyer, Jimmy Barnes, Australian Crawl, and the Eurogliders…