AJAZZ ARTICLES & REVIEWS 2019-
This folder contains reviews and articles written by Eric Myers for the Australian Jazz Museum’s magazine AJAZZ. Myers commenced writing occasional pieces for the magazine in November, 2019. Readers may click on the INDEX button for a list of reviews and articles in this folder. Click on the title of any review or article that you wish to read.
Christopher Hale
CHRISTOPHER HALE: RITUAL DIAMONDS
Album review by Eric Myers
AJAZZ 98, August, 2023
On first hearing Ritual Diamonds, one is struck by how beautiful the music sounds on the surface. Subsequent attempts at analysis do not very much disturb that initial impression. There’s a unique soundscape in operation here and, given the dominance of electric instruments, it’s primarily electronic. Leader Christopher Hale is on electric bass (among a bewildering variety of other instruments), keyboardist Andrea Keller is on electric piano, and Theo Carbo is of course primarily on electric guitar. Such an electronic soundscape is relatively unusual these days, even unfashionable, but it’s so well put together here by extraordinary musicians, that it sounds fresh and innovative…
Gai Bryant
GAI BRYANT’S CARIBE: DISTANT WATERS
Album review by Eric Myers
AJAZZ 98, August, 2023
Caribé is a nine-piece band which melds musicians and dancers from Sydney’s Cuban, jazz and Latin communities. This group was formed by Gai Bryant and the Sydney-based Cuban dancer Adrian Medina in 2017 to perform in Sydney’s Afro-Latino Festival. Distant Waters is their debut album, and the personnel are listed above. Some of the musicians are not household names, but their playing is exceedingly impressive on this fine album, suggesting that Bryant is able to tap into an unprecedented surfeit of well-educated and experienced jazz musicians in Sydney, who not only excel as section players, but also produce the sort of convincing improvisations essential to first-class jazz performance…
Gary Daley
BUNGARRIBEE: HUNGER
Album review by Eric Myers
AJAZZ 99, November, 2023
The name of this band Bungarribee derives from an Aboriginal word which, according to leader Gary Daley, means an idyllic place with two elements: a bird and an expanse of water. Also it’s a “meeting place, (partly my interpretation),” writes Daley, “and perfectly encapsulates my vision for Bungarribee, that is a meeting place of free, open-minded musicians from disparate backgrounds. A meeting place where each musician is free to bring their tradition & contribution to the table. Improvisation (not only jazz) is central to the philosophy & aesthetic of the band”…