THE AUSTRALIAN
The Australian has been Australia’s national newspaper since 1964. This folder contains reviews and articles written by Eric Myers and published in The Australian since September, 2015. Text published in the newspaper is reproduced here, with the addition of photographs which may or may not have appeared in The Australian.
Michael Griffin
MICHAEL GRIFFIN QUARTET: PUB JAZZ SPRINGS TO LIFE IN SYDNEY’S KINGS CROSS
by Eric Myers
The Australian, November 27, 2019
In Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross, an oasis of art music has been thriving on Sundays for 12 months, courtesy of the Michael Griffin Quartet, a reminder that this seedy area was once inner-Sydney’s most pleasant bohemian enclave. Griffin plays bebop, (or ‘bop’) a style of jazz featuring brilliant improvisations over structured chord changes, sometimes at impossible speeds. Around for 70 years, it is the common language of most modern jazz musicians and remains the most influential style in the jazz canon…
Phil Slater
PHIL SLATER: A CONSTRAINTS-LED APPROACH TO MAKING MUSIC
by Eric Myers
The Australian, December 31, 2019
Trumpeter Phil Slater’s latest album The Dark Pattern springs from a self-imposed discipline of improvising on his instrument while on walks around Mt Keira, a dominant feature of the Illawarra escarpment south of Sydney. But although he uses a nature-inspired metaphor to describe the structure of his compositions, the album is not an attempt to paint a landscape in sound. Instead, he says, he wants to develop an understanding of place “through a musical experience and engagement with it”…
Hamish Stuart, Mike Nock, Jonathan Zwartz, Julien Wilson
NOCK STUART WILSON ZWARTZ IN CONCERT
Reviewed by Eric Myers
The Australian, February 12, 2020
This performance by four fine jazz musicians had so much going for it, that a large audience, and this reviewer, were left speechless. The venue had excellent acoustics, the sound balance courtesy of the celebrated Ross A’hern was faultless, and the musicians played beautifully. Pianist Mike Nock, drummer Hamish Stuart, saxophonist Julien Wilson and bassist Jonathan Zwartz launched their warmly received album This World…