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.

MIROSLAV BUKOVSKY: A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD

by Eric Myers

APRA Yearbook, 1993

Miroslav Bukovsky is probably best-known to the public as a trumpeter who plays in brass sections behind various pop stars. Since the mid-1970s he has worked with many big names, including Marcia Hines, Renee Geyer, Max Merritt, Australian Crawl, Eurogliders, Jimmy Barnes, Wendy Matthews and Jenny Morris. A more important parallel career has been his quiet activity as a composer. In 1985 his composition Plain Talk won the Jazz Action Society of NSW Original Composition Competition. From that inauspicious beginning, he has gone on to write for two of the most important ensembles that are prominent in the current renaissance of contemporary jazz: Ten Part Invention, of which he was a founder member in 1986, and is co-musical director with Roger Frampton; and his own group Wanderlust, which has just released a CD through ABC Music…

JAZZ AUSTRALIA: IS THERE SUCH A THING AS AUSTRALIAN JAZZ?

by Gil Wahlquist

(Probably) Sun-Herald (probably 1967)

You ask a silly question and the answer might not be what you expect. The Australian Performing Right Association Music Foundation recently asked four Australian jazz musicians to lead groups of their own choosing for the performance of original works. Each composer was given 13 minutes on an LP to do whatever they liked. The only limitation placed was in the number of musicians, which was to be no more than eight. The result is Jazz Australia (CBS SBP 233450) a remarkable and important record. Don Burrows is first on the disc with a suite called Lonely Girl. It's a story, played out by the instruments…

WHERE’S THE PIANO?

by Ian Muldoon

December 22, 2020

The individual Bernie McGann was born into a very culturally conservative Australia. Possible motivations for Bernie’s submitting himself to a musical life recall Einstein’s witty comment: “One of the strongest motives that leads men to art and science is escape from everyday life, with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, and from the fetters of one’s own ever shifting desires." Within the jazz world he may have been something of an outsider as well, at least at first. His documented legacy and impact on music and Australian culture has been deep-seated. McGann was a striking individual musical voice and I would argue that the individual musical voice is the most distinguishing feature in the music known as jazz…