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.

THIS WORLD AT FOUNDRY 616

Performance review by Eric Myers

Limelight, April 3, 2022

Pianist Mike Nock, bassist Jonathan Zwartz, tenor saxophonist Julien Wilson and drummer Hamish Stuart recently named their quartet This World, the title of their celebrated debut album, released in November, 2019.  This makes sense, as the group’s music, as much as that of any comparable quartet in Australia of which I’m aware, tends to epitomize contemporary jazz. Unlike many modern jazz groups on the scene, their music is not merely a celebration of a past genre, but is very much in the now…

JAMES RYAN LIVE IN MUMBAI

Album review by Eric Myers

AJAZZ 93, May, 2022

This album, featuring four virtuosic Australian jazz musicians, was recorded in Mumbai, India, in 2009, but released on Rippa Recordings only in July, 2020. An outstanding album, full of  inspired playing, it should be better known. It resulted from an invitation extended to Australian saxophonist James Ryan to bring a group to India, on the Bay of Bengal in eastern India, for the fourth edition of the Chennai Jazz Festival. This festival took place over three days, with a mix of workshops, interactive sessions and performances…

THE BEAUTY OF THE WAY AND THE GOODNESS OF THE WAYFARERS

Album review by Eric Myers

AJAZZ 93, May, 2022

For some reason, I’ve always been drawn to the music of Tim Stevens. His distinctive appeal as a jazz pianist dates from his emergence in the 90s with the Browne Haywood Stevens Trio, with drummer Allan Browne and bassist Nick Haywood. Their two albums King, Dude & Dunce (1995) and Sudden in a Shaft of Sunlight (1998) impressed many people, including the artistic director of Italy’s prestigious Umbria Jazz festival, Carlo Pagnotta, an influential figure in international jazz. While in Australia in 2000, Pagnotta heard the two BHS trio albums in my car as I drove him around Sydney from place to place over several days. Later he heard the trio live at Wangaratta, and invited Stevens to bring the group to the next Umbria Jazz, to take place in Perugia, Italy, in July, 2001…