MISCELLANEOUS POSTINGS

This folder includes miscellaneous articles on jazz subjects, including performance and album reviews, written by Eric Myers, which may or may not have been published elsewhere. Readers can click on the INDEX button to peruse a list of contents in this folder.

EMMA PASK AT THE WOMEN’S JAZZ FESTIVAL

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Sydney Women’s International Jazz Festival

Mary’s Underground, October 31, 2020

Legend has it that James Morrison, at Kirrawee High School in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, heard a 16-yearold Emma Pask singing with a school ensemble and, impressed with her natural ability, immediately invited her to sit in with his own group. Pask survived this baptism of fire, and Morrison later took her under his wing. Welcomed into what one might call the influential Don Burrows/James Morrison stable, Pask has not looked back. On the second night of the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival, at Mary’s Underground, Pask showed that, two decades on, she has considerably built on that natural ability and evolved into a consummate performer...

MY JAZZ ODYSSEY

by Eric Myers

AJAZZ 88, February, 2021

I was born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1945, but grew up in Singleton, a small town in the Hunter Valley. Studying classical piano as a child, my connection with jazz during those years was tenuous. My teacher, a nun at the local Convent, would teach me stride piano, courtesy of the Art Shefte method but – significantly - only at the end of each year, after the classical exams were over. Jazz was then thought to be a trivial pursuit - for fun only - while classical music was regarded as Serious Music – a view which, in certain circles, I’m sorry to say, still survives to this day. In the late 50s, aged about 13, I visited my uncle and his family in Sydney, and my cousin played me the Dave Brubeck Quartet album Time Out, which I found fascinating…

GREGG ARTHUR: A QUINTESSENTIAL JAZZ CLUB EXPERIENCE

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Foundry 616, May 7, 2021

I first heard the singer Gregg Arthur on his CD Last Call in October, 2017, shortly after I succeeded the late John McBeath, reviewing albums for The Australian. Confronted by an unusually smooth stylist, I wondered whether he was a genuine jazz artist or merely a run-of-the-mill cabaret singer so, for an informed opinion, I consulted the writer John Clare, whom I knew had heard Arthur in live performance. Having been assured by John that we were dealing with an authentic jazz artist, I concluded my positive review rather pompously: “If [Arthur] has stage presence, the sky’s the limit.” Before long, I saw Arthur for the first time at the Camelot Lounge, and found that there was no doubt about his stage presence: impressive indeed…